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The trouble in the country is due to the fact
that the staff valuers from Dublin visit each county
twice yearly and that inspections of property can
only take place on such occasions.
The remedy
is either to appoint additional staff or even better
still—if I might suggest it—to decentralise the
system and
to establish regional offices whose
resident local staff could deal with cases in their
area, quickly, expeditiously and with knowledge of
local conditions.
It does too seem a pity that the
office of Referee, who used to afford a satisfactory
means of dealing with appeals, no longer exists.
The position in the Probate Office and Land
Registry, in our experience, shows some improve
ment, if not entirely satisfactory. We have found
that there is a genuine desire on the part of the
officers in charge to help and to effect improvements
and they are always ready to expedite cases of
particular urgency.
The fault, therefore, would seem to lie in the
system. We accept that there is a shortage of
skilled staff in many departments and that their
ordinary work has been affected by additional
duties imposed on them, such as the vesting of
labourers' cottages in the Land Registry and the
increase
in Rateable Valuation cases
to which
I have referred. An analysis of the causes would
show that delay arose :
Firstly, because of a shortage of staff.
Secondly, because of the failure to deal with a
case comprehensively in the first instance or to
raise quite unnecessary and unimportant queries.
Thirdly—and here I speak as a provincial solicitor,
because of the excessive centralisation of legal
administrative work in Dublin, and in particular
in the Land Registry and Probate Office.
The
Act of 1891 bore the title "Local Registration of
Title (Ireland) Act," and was intended to create
genuine Local Registries.
Yet, now the word
local has been deleted (by an amending Act) from
the Act of 1891, and all the work of Transfer of
Land in any part of Ireland must be dealt with
through the Principal Registry in Dublin.
In like
manner many of the District Probate Registries have
been closed and the work transferred to Dublin.
These offices, presided over by a solicitor, gave
the most efficient and satisfactory services.
The
Registrar was available for consultation on points
of difficulty.
The records were available locally
for inspection. There can be no doubt but that
the closing of such offices was a retrograde step,
and that the result has only been to create incon
venience and delay to the profession and the public
without any corresponding advantage.
While speaking of centralisation, I am glad to
record that the Trial of High Court Actions in
Cork is now operating satisfactorily and at the last
Sittings over 40 actions were listed and disposed
of to the manifest advantage of litigants, witnesses
and our profession.
Bar Associations.
The enactment of the Solicitors' Bill makes the
position of the local Bar Associations particularly
important, and it is, to my mind, quite necessary
that every practising solicitor should be not only a
member of the Society but also a member of his
local Association.
I have had the pleasure, during
my six months tenure of office of President, of
attending a number of their functions and I am
pleased to say that the Associations, of which I
had this personal experience, seem to be functioning
very effectively.
I regret, however, to have to
report that in two areas the Bar Associations have,
for reasons unknown to me, been dissolved, and
before my term of office runs out I intend to make
a personal approach to the solicitors in these counties
or either to revive the Association or approach
Associations in adjoining counties with a view
to amalgamation.
In conclusion I would like to express my apprecia
tion of the help and assistance given to me during
the past six months by my Vice-Presidents, Mr.
Walker and Mr. Overend. They have only been
too glad, at all times, and often times at personal
inconvenience, to relieve me in the discharge of
my duties. I would also pay tribute to the members
of the Council, who both in Council and Committee,
have worked individually and as a team in your
interest. And finally a special word of gratitude
to Mr. Plunkett for his invaluable advice and
assistance, and for his unceasing efforts to modify
and mitigate the duties of my office, and also to
,
his staff for their willing co-operation and help.
On the motion of Mr. Henry St. J. Blake a vote
of thanks to the President for his address to the
meeting and for his services to the Society during
the past six months was carried with acclamation.
The President replied and declared the meeting at
an end.
EXAMINATION RESULTS.
AT
the Preliminary examination
for
intending
apprentices to solicitors held on 26th and zyth
of March
the following candidate passed
the
examination.
John N. Lavelle.