21 / 120
JUNE, 1914]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
17
to send on the Bill at once to the Govern
ment's own advisers for a report, and stated
that he would communicate further in the
House with Mr. Brady. A report emanating
from the Irish Office was received by Mr.
Brady from
the Chief Secretary in
the
beginning of the month of February, and by
him transmitted to the Council, and I am
sorry to say that this report is very adverse
to the prospects of our Bill.
It is too long
to read here in full, but I shall give you some
extracts from it. The Report says :—
" This Bill is practically the same as that
introduced by Mr. Brady in 1911, with the
addition of five new clauses and some new
provisions. The Bill of 1911 was regarded as
highly contentious, and would have been
opposed vigorously if it had gone to second
reading, and there is no reason for supposing
that this Bill would meet with a more favour
able reception.
Indeed, some of the new
clauses and provisions are likely to provoke
further opposition. The object of the Bill is
to amend the existing County Court Law in
Ireland, and the opposition appears to arise
from the belief that the Bill
is anduly
favourable to creditor plaintiffs and the legal
profession. Many .of the proposals of the
present Bill were embodied
in Bills
in
troduced by Lord. Ashbourpe in the House of
Lords in 1901 and 1902. These Bills passed
the House of Lords, but were abandoned in
the House of Commons on account of similar
objections. Whether the objections were well
founded or not, there is no doubt that the
Bill is largely the outcome of representations
made by traders and commercial bodies who
seek for further facilities for the recovery of
debts and realisation of decrees in the County
Court, and that a number of the clauses do
in fact grant such facilities."
The report then analyses several clauses of
the Bill, and proceeds :—
" These clauses are cited not because it is
suggested that the proposals are unfair or
improper, but in order to explain the grounds
on which the opposition to the Bill is based,
and to show that, whether the opposition is
justified or not, it is quite impossible to treat
the Bill as an agreed measure."
The Council at once sent a detailed reply to
this report, which would occupy too much
time to read now, but I think it right to state
here publicly that we still find it difficult to
:
believe that the Bill would meet with any
serious or sustained opposition if it were
introduced as a Government measure. The
notices of opposition hitherto given to the Bill
in the House of Commons were few and from
unimportant quarters, and if we were only
informed more definitely from whom the
opposition foreshadowed in the Iiish Office
report is anticipated, I think we should be
able to go a long way to overcome it.
It is,
of course, quite true to say that the provision
in the Bill would improve the antiquated
procedure for enforcing the payment and
collection of debts through the medium of
the Co. Court, but it is not true to state that
the legal profession is in any way favoured
by its provisions.
I cannot believe that any
opposition could be described as serious
which was based merely on the principle that
Irish creditors should not be made to pay
their debts, and if serious opposition exists
it must rest, or rather ought to rest, on some
firmer ground. We may be on the eve of
great legislative changes in Ireland, and I
have reason to think that the true genesis of
the
threatened opposition arises
from a
feeling in some influential political quarters,
that ours is a Bill which would be better dealt
with by an Irish Parliament and as part of a
larger reform in the whole Co. Court system
in Ireland.
If this view prevails it means the
postponement of the consideration of our Bill
for probably another three or four years,
though the reforms called for are urgently
needed. Moreover, I was quite unable to
understand how in any way the passing of
our Bill, which merely seeks to improve
procedure, would impede the carrying into
effect
of
greater
reforms
hereafter,
if
such were found necessary. Whatever the
cause of the opposition, it is deplorable that
this humble Bill, which is approved of by the
Bench, the Bar, and the Solicitors' Profession,
and is urgently demanded by practically the
whole trading community in Ireland, should
not be able to make any headway in Parlia
ment. The Council has received no rejoinder
from the Irish Office dealing with our reply
to their report, but we are in frequent com
munication with Mr. Brady in the House of
Commons, and I have his authority for
stating that for the present, at all events,
there is no prospect of making any progress
with the Bill. Another matter which arose