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PROCEEDINGS AGAINST
SOLICITORS.
Pursuant to an Order of the Chief Justice made
under Section 3 5 of the Solicitors Act (Ireland),
1898, the name of Michael T. Davis who formerly
practised at 107 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, has
been struck off the roll.
Pursuant to Orders of the Disciplinary Com–
mittee under Section 18 of the Solicitors Act, 1954,
the names of the following solicitors have been
struck off the roll:
Robert F. Coonan, Naas, Co. Kildare.
William J. Carlos, Galway.
By order of the Disciplinary Committee Andrew
J. O'Flynn, Solicitor, Gort, Co. Galway, has been
suspended for a period of six months from ist July,
1955-
SOLICITORS' GOLFING SOCIETY.
THE Autumn Meeting will be held at Royal Dublin
Golf Club on Thursday, 29th September, 1955,
when the following competitions will be played
(Stableford).
1. Incorporated Law Society Challenge Cup
(handicap limit 18) with prize presented by Mr.
T. A. O'Reilly, President of the Law Society and
the Golfing Society.
Prize for the runner-up
presented by the Golfing Society.
2. Ryan Cup (handicaps 13 and over) with prize
for winner and runner-up.
3. There will also be prizes for
(a)
First Nine,
(b}
Second Nine, (<r) by competitor resident more
than 30 miles away and
(cT)
best of 3 cards draws
by lot.
Competitors may arrange opponents and start
from 10.00 a.m. onwards. There will be frequent
drawn between 2.00 and 4.00 o'clock.
The Annual General Meeting will be held in
the club house at 6.45 p.m., followed by Dinner
at 7.00 o'clock (for competitors and non-competitors)
at which the President will preside. Members
will be circularised in due course.
Intending
members will be cordially welcomed
RECORD OFFICE REQUEST FOR
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS.
IT is generally known that when the Public Record
Office was destroyed in 1922 a vast collection of
valuable historical and legal documents perished.
The loss of practically the whole of the collection
of wills and related documents prior to 1904 (1900
or 1901 in the case of District Registries) except
some District Registry Will Book, has been felt
particularly severely by the legal profession and
its clients.
Since 1922 efforts have been made to repair the
losses so far as possible by obtaining substitutes for
destroyed documents, especially original probates
and official copies of testamentary documents.
An appeal to solicitors to deposit in the Public
Record Office any such documents in their possession
not currently needed was issued by the Government
in 1924, and in 1926 a further appeal by the Assistant
Deputy Keeper was published in the Law Society's
journal. Many solicitors and others responded
generously to this appeal, with the result that in
the testamentary section there are now over 10,000
of such substitute documents, which applicants
have often made use of in the absence of the originals.
The donors of these documents have thus done
a valuable public service.
It is greatly to be hoped that such presentations
will continue in the future, for it seems likely that
further substitute documents might still be collected.
The Keeper of Records will be extremely grateful
if anyone possessing documents of this kind would
deposit them in the Public Record Office, either
permanently or temporarily. In the case of temporary
deposits, copies would be made and the originals
returned to the lenders.
Original probates and administrations and certified
copies are of special value, but plain copies and
extracts are also worth preservation owing to
their genealogical interest. Copies of any legal
documents obtained from the Public Record Office
before 1922 are also valuable, e.g., extracts or
copies from census returns, patents, hearth money
rolls, Exchequer and Chancery bills and pleadings,
and marriage licence bonds.
Donors will always, of course, be able to inspect
documents presented by them and to obtain certified
copies free of charge.
DECISIONS OF PROFESSIONAL
INTEREST.
^Solicitors' Common Law privilege and obliga-
~
tion not to disclose professional com'
munications.
An important decision has recently been given
by the High Court in New Zealand on the question
of a solicitor's obligation to supply information
concerning clients' affairs to the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue. The defendant was a solicitor
who was charged with an offence under section 149
of the New Zealand Income Tax Act, 1923, of
failing or refusing to furnish in writing information
and to produce documents which the Commissioner
considered necessary or relevant for a purpose