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DECEMBER, 1916]
The Gazette ol the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
43
and loyal to our profession, and you will find
that the Bench and Bar will respect us, and,
I will venture to say, will be afraid to run
counter to us.
Benchers' Meetings.
As many of you are aware our profession
and the public suffered considerable incon
venience owing to the fact that the Benchers'
Meeting on the eighth clay in each Sittings
took place at 11 o'clock.
The result was
that if a case appeared in the list on that day,
the Solicitors and the parties interested had
to be in Court shortly after 11 o'clock, as no
one could say how
long
the Benchers'
Meeting would take.
If the meeting was
prolonged, the business of the Court might
not be taken up until 12 o'clock, 12.30, or
perhaps later.
Your Council, on more than one occasion,
made
suggestions with
the
object
of
remedying this inconvenience, and I am
pleased to say that the matter has now been
finally disposed of. The Benchers' Meeting
on the eighth day of each Sittings will now
take place at 3.30 p.m.
Unqualified Persons Acting as Solicitors.
You will see in the Report that, during the
last twelve months, we have successfully
prosecuted
two unqualified practitioners.
Your Council are determined to safeguard
the interests of our profession. This can only
be done satisfactorily if our brethren in the
country keep their eyes open, and report to
the Council cases of illegal practising that
come under their notice.
You may rest
assured that all cases brought before the
Council have been, and will be, most carefully
considered, and that wherever the evidence
warrants a prosecution proceedings will be
taken, and the guilty party will be made to
bear the penalty.
The War.
I have left until the end the part of our
Report which refers to the casualties that
have occurred amongst our soldier Solicitors
and Apprentices, and to the distinctions
which they have won.
I did this advisedly,
for I felt that once I began to speak on this
subject I would find it quite impossible to
return to other subjects dealt^with in the
Report. We are proud^of what the soldier
Solicitors have done :
113 Solicitors and 71
Apprentices have joined the Army since the
outbreak of the war ;
12 Solicitors and (i
Apprentices have given their lives for us.
Many have been wounded, including my old
friend Captain Frank Crazier ;
he has been
wounded twice—in Gallipoli and recently in
Salonika. He is now in hospital in London,
and I am happy to say that the latest reports
arc that he is well on his way to recovery.
We are proud of these men, and we are proud
of
the distinctions
that Solicitors
and
Apprentices have won. Here are some of
the distinctions :—D.S.O.—Captain John D.
McCallum, R.I.F., Solicitor.
Five Military
Crosses—Capt. J. J. Kavanagh, Connaught
Rangers, Apprentice (Capt. Kavanagh was
also awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion
of Honour) ;
Capt. A. M. Dunlea, R. I,
Regiment, Solicitor ;
Capt. Victor H. Parr,
R. Inniskillings, Apprentice ;
Lieut. J. K.
McGregor Greer, Irish Guards (since died of
wounds), Apprentice;
2nd Lieut. R. W.
McGonigal, R. Gar. Artillery, Apprentice.
Distinguished Conduct Medal—Sergt. Arthur
C. Crookshank, D Company, 7th Batt.,
R.D.F., Apprentice
(killed in action).
Is not
this a list to be proud of, and what are we to
say with reference to those who have gone
out and died for us ?
Have they not died
the grandest death a man can die—a death
for others ?
It is those who have been left
behind to mourn their loss that deserve our
sympathy—the poor lonely father or mother,
the wife, the sister, the brother, or the child.
Their hearts are sad and lonely. May God
comfort them. But as for those who have
died fighting for their country, they died for
others ; they followed the supreme example :
'' Greater love hath no man than this :
that a man lay down his life for his friends."
MR. JOHN H. WALSH (Vice-President)
seconded the motion for the adoption of the
Report.
MR. PATRICK RODNEY said :—If I
might be permitted I would like to say a few
words on that portion of the Report which
deals with the losses suffered by certain
Solicitors in Dublin during the Easter week
disturbances.
The Solicitors who suffered