Previous Page  645 / 822 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 645 / 822 Next Page
Page Background

following had been returned unopposed as Pro–

vincial Delegates :

Ulster:

John Gillespie;

Munster :

J. A. Blood-Smyth ; Leinster :

Reginald

J. Nolan; Connaught: C. E. Callan, and that the

following had been elected as the thirty-one ordinary

members of the Council, having received the number

of votes placed after their respective names :

Arthur Cox 490, Daniel O'Connell 449, Patrick F.

O'Reilly 447, Henry St. J. Blake 444, J. Travers

Wolfe 423, Thomas A. O'Reilly 417, William S.

Haye

412, Scan

(!)

hUadhaigh 408, William J.

Norman 402, G. A. Overend 398, Peter O'Connor

385, P. R. Boyd 384, James J. Lynch 372, John J.

Bolger 371, Joseph P. Tyrrell 370, John B. Hamill

369, John P. Carrigan 366, John S. O'Connor 365,

W. L. Duggan 364, Lughaidh E. 0 Deaghaidh 357,

Roger Greene 355, Henry P. Mayne 354, Joseph

Barrett 347, Dermot P. Shaw 326, Hugh O'Donnell

323, James R. Quirke 321, John J. Dunne 314,

William S. Huggard 309, R. A. Macaulay 304, Niall

S. Gaffney 302, John J. Smyth 299, with the

following as the supplemental list in case of vacancies:

Cecil G. Stapleton 285, John P. Gannon 247,

David R. Pigot 245.

The President, in moving the adoption of the

Annual Report said :

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I am very pleased to have the opportunity of again

addressing you and of meeting you here to-day.

Your presence is evidence of the interest you take

in the affairs of the Society and I know the members

of the Council are gratified with the support you

accord those meetings.

Since our last half-yearly meeting in May the

Council has continued to safeguard the interests

of our profession and has been called on actively

over the intervening months to consult and take

action in many spheres.

During this period death has taken away a number

of members of the profession. These include Mr.

Edward Mallins and Mr. Thomas J. Greene, former

members of the Council, William J. Girvan, District

Justice Meagher, William J. Keery, Patrick F.

Molony, William Morrogh, Robert W. Hamilton,

Joseph Fegan, Philip H. O'Reilly.

We deeply

regret their passing and to their relatives we tender

our sympathy.

During the past year in response to an appeal

made on behalf of the Council some 36 new

members have joined the Society. This is satisfactory

but our membership is not yet what it should be.

We should have as members of the Society every

practising Solicitor and I am hopeful that in the

near future we shall have attained this object.

Members present at this meeting can help by seeking

to encourage others to join,

The Solicitors' Bill has received the attention of

the Executive Council and the Department of Justice

has been engaged in the work of drafting the final

form prior to its introduction in the Dail. Rep–

resentatives of the Council have attended on the

Minister for Justice on two occasions and have

given the views of the Society on this most important

Bill which has been unavoidably held over so long.

It is hoped that in the coming months progress will

be made towards placing the Bill on the Statute

Book.

During the past year the activities of your Council

in safeguarding and forwarding the interests of the

profession have been varied and manifold.

I

think it will be apparent from the reference in the

Report to the number of meetings of the Council

and its Committees seventy in all or an average of

more than one meeting each week, not excluding

the Christmas

and Long Vacations that

the

members of the Council have no idle office. Of

necessity during the Emergency the chief burden

of Committee work fell on the shoulders of the

Dublin members of the Council, but I am sure

that with the coming of better travelling facilities

the Provincial members of the Council will be able

to resume their accustomed part in the work of

the Society. An important part of the work of the

Society is to watch legislation in its passage through

the Oireachtas with a view to ensuring as far as

possible that the rights and liberties of the citizen

and the relationship between solicitor and State

are not prejudiced by legislative enactment.

The

Secretary receives a copy of each Bill as it is intro–

duced and refers to a Standing Committee of the

Council any matters which seem to call for action

by the Society. You will see from the report that

the Council found it necessary to submit amend–

ments to a number of Bills during the year and I

should like to thank Mr. John S. O'Connor, T.D.,

and Senator O'Dea for their Parliamentary services

in this connection.

At this point I should like to refer to a matter of

serious importance to the profession, but of still

greater importance in its effects upon the constitu–

tional rights of the citizen.

I refer to the growing

tendency towards setting up quasi-judicial bodies

invested with far-reaching powers and important

functions affecting the lives of a great number of

people constituted entirely of

lay

adjudicators

without a lawyer either as chairman or as a member

of the board. In some cases the Act setting up the

tribunal or regulations thereunder expressly enact

that no party coming before it may be represented

by counsel or solicitor without the special permis–

sion of the tribunal. The idea underlying this type

of legislation has been translated here directly from

England where it is regarded by impartial and com-