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DECEMBER, 1914]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
57
to you more fully on the subject because we
are actually engaged
in making
formal
representations to the Judges on the matter,
with the assistance and with the hearty co
operation of the Bar Council.
The Annual Report records the passing of
The Government of Ireland Act,
and the fact that the Prime Minister has
announced his intention to introduce at a
later stage a Bill to amend that Act. The
merits or demerits of this most important
measure involve questions of high politics
with which we have nothing to do in this
Hall, but I think it is permissible to express
the hope, whatever the ultimate form of the
Act may be, that the unity of our Profession
will not be destroyed, and that no Irish
Solicitor will be deprived of his Statutory
right of practising his Profession in every
part of the country.
The Council regrets that it has not been
able to make any progress with our
Bill for the Reform of County Court
Procedure.
I am sure you will quite understand that
owing to the state of business during the
Summer Session of Parliament, and to what
is described as " the tension of parties"
during that Session, it was quite hopeless to
expect that our humble measure would be
given a hearing.
The Council have no
intention, however, of allowing this Bill to
drop, and will press it forward again at the
first convenient opportunity, either at home
or abroad.
I reported shortly to you at our last Half-
yearly Meeting the work done by the Council
in connection with .the following important
matters referred to in the Annual Report:—
The new Rules as to costs made by the Local
Government Board under
the Labourers
Acts, the question of costs of claimants under
the Housing of the Working Classes Acts,
delays in the Land Registry, the suggested
amendment of
the
service out of
the
Jurisdiction Rule, and I do not propose to
make further reference to these matters on
this occasion.
But there
is one matter
referred to at the last Half-yearly Meeting and
in the Annual Report which I am anxious to
bring under your consideration again, as it
is a matter of great interest and importance
to the Profession.
I mean'the subject of
Legal Appointments.
The Council have quite recently circulated
amongst the Members of the Society a special
report on this subject giving exact facts and
figures and references, so that every member
is now able to judge for himself the exact
extent to which the Solicitors' Profession has
been unfairly treated
in
this matter of
appointments to legal offices.
I should like
here to give credit to Mr. Quirke for the great
industry and research he displayed in the
preparation of this report, as the work of
preparing it was almost entirely his.
I shall
be surprised if the figures do not come as a
revelation to many who h'ave not given much
previous thought to the matter. You will
see that a gross sum of £336,759 is paid in
salaries of offices of a legal nature in Ireland,
and of this sum Solicitors receive only one-
fifth share. Barristers hold 170 legal offices,
in respect of which salaries are paid amounting
to approximately £200,000 a year ; Solicitors
hold 126 appointments, with salaries amount
ing to under £69,000 a year. Contrast these
figures with the fact that there were last year
1,587 practising Solicitors in Ireland paying
certificate duty to the amount of £10,500 a
year, and 438 practising Barristers paying no
annual license duty whatever.
The dis
proportion in the number of these appoint
ments given to members of the Bar and non-
professional persons has, I regret to say, in
recent years been steadily on the increase,
and the virtual boycott of Solicitors is a most
serious matter for the Profession.
I know
that the opinion is held by some of our
members that the successive Councils of the
Law Society are somewhat to blame for this
unsatisfactory state of affairs, but I have
never heard any such criticism from any
member who has had actual experience of the
working of the Council.
I can testify myself
to the fact that during the years I have served,
the Council has done everything possible to
obtain a fair share of these appointments for
Solicitors. The most recent example of our
action you will find referred to in paragraph
11 of the report, where you will see it stated
that the Council had requested the Lord