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who
is compulsorily dispossessed of his
lands
will only receive a sum which is not even sufficient
to cover the expenses of his valuer, let alone his
solicitor and counsel. We had a preliminary meeting
with the Land Commission and now intend to
submit a new and reliastic scale.
Another ground for public dissatisfaction with
Land Commission Acquisition procedure arise
from the payment of the purchase money costs
and expenses in Land Bonds which stand at a
discount on the Stock Exchange.
Thus 4f%
Land Bonds first issued in 1953 now stand at about
81.
The Land Commission bring the Bonds to
credit on taking possession of the holding but the
owner cannot receive them until after the examina
tion of Title has been completed. There is usually
an interval of 12 to 18 months during which the
owner is powerless to help himself and the result
is that an owner whose land has been compulsorily
acquired finds himself facing a
loss of almost
20 per cent, in his purchase money from the price
as fixed by the Appeal Tribunal. Surely elementary
equity demands that such an owner should receive
the purchase price of his land in marketable Bonds
worth their par value at the date of allocation.
Legislation in the Oireachtas.
As the result of representations made by the
Society which resulted in the moving of an amend
ment in the Seanad certain obnoxious provisions
in the Gaming and Lotteries Bill which migat
have enabled the Gardai to enter solicitors' offices
and require information concerning clients' business
were removed.
The Council also received a copy of the Statute
of Limitations Bill which proposes to consolidate
the Statutory provisions of this complicated subject.
The Bill was considered by the Legislation Com
mittee who requested the views of the Society's
examiners and lecturers. These gentlemen kindly
examined the Bill and submitted their observations
which were referred to the Department of Justice. I
wish here to acknowledge particularly the valuable
sendees of Mr. Tarlo the Society's lecturer on
Real Property and Equity who prepared a very
detailed and comprehensive report on the whole
Bill which we transmitted
to
the Department.
Many of you will have seen extracts from Mr.
Tarlo's report which were printed in the
Irish Law
Times
and
Solicitors Journal.
The complexity of modern legislation makes it
extremely difficult for bodies such as ours to keep
track of it and to deal with the many points upon
which the interests of the profession and our
clients will be affected but we endeavour to do
this by reading the bills which appear to be of
interest to us and making immediate representations
to the appropriate Government Department where
necessary.
Sometimes an apparently innocuous
statute will contain a sub-clause of a paragraph of a
sub-section which may be of vital interest to us. As
an example I refer to the provisions in the Gaming
and Lottery Bill which I have already mentioned.
So far as we can we try to watch these matters.
Solicitors in the Local Government Service.
We are still pressing our claim with the Minister
for Local Government that the solicitors in the
Local Government service who are paid by full
time salaries should have parity with the County
Medical Officers and County Engineers.
We
believe
that
the County Managers' Committee
approved of the claim and we are now endeavouring
to get it through the Department.
Justice in this
matter is long overdue as the initial claim was made
in 1948. The solicitors concerned are few in number
but we feel that their claim is of importance both
for the standing and position of the profession as
well as in their purely personal interests.
Delays in Government Departments.
I come now to the question of delay in Govern
ment Offices.
This is a current and continuing
complaint; and quite a lot of our time at Council
Meetings is taken up with consideration of such
matters. At the last General Meeting, a special
resolution was adopted unanimously, complaining
that there was great and unnecessary delay in public
offices and departments and requesting the Council
to take steps to rectify matters.
The Council were of opinion that their best
course was to tackle the evil at its principal source,
namely the Valuation Office. I refer to the Valuation
Office as the principal source of delay, not in any
critical spirit but because delay in that office has
repercussions principally in the Estate Duty and
the Stamp Office. We approached the Commissioner
of Valuation who received a deputation;
and I
must express our appreciation of the courteous,
sympathetic and helpful attitude of the Commissioner
and his principal officers.
The Commissioner
frankly admitted that the present state of arrears was
unsatisfactory but he explained that they had been
working with a depleted staff, who had been
burdened by the large increase in cases concerning
Revision of Rateable Valuations.
However, he
explained, that a re-organisation plan had been
put into effect and that as and from June 1956 he
would regard a complaint of delay as legitimate
where the delay :
(a)
in city cases exceeded six weeks.
(b)
in country cases exceeded six months.
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