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54
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,
[DECEMBER, 1909
here under the provisions of the Bill it is
proposed to value the entire land—every
holding—and if that is done and that valua
tion comes out, as it must, over Griffith's
Valuation and over the Poor Law Valuation,
in future you will find that this country will
have to pay income tax on the basis of that
valuation.
I do not like to occupy your time
too long in discussing the provisions of this
Bill, but I mention these two instances for
the purpose of illustrating what I referred to
at the opening of my statement, that the
Bill contains a number of provisions which
require a trained mind to understand (hear,
hear), and if, as I say, we have a chance of
getting
the public
to understand
these
provisions we will be doing our duty, I think,
to our country (hear, hear).
There is one other matter referred to in
the Report that I would like to call your
attention to—it is the reference contained
in page 8 to the Labourers (Ireland) Act,
1906. Under the provisions of the Labourers
Acts the Local Government Board prepared
a draft Order, which they subsequently issued
on the 2nd July, 1909.
When that draft Order was prepared the
Local Government Board communicated with
me, as President of the Incorporated Law
Society, andafter consulting the Council I had
an opportunity of meeting the Vice-President
of the Local Government Board and the other
members on several occasions, and I must
say that the Vice-President went to much
trouble and took a great deal of pains to
understand the many objections which I had
to put forward on behalf of the profession
to what was contained in the draft Order.
Before I refer to the schedule of fees which
appears in that Order, I would like to mention
that the draft contained clauses and pro
visions which were, I think, most objection
able from the professional point of view.
For example, there was a provision in it that
a Rural District Council could pay the
Solicitor a fee to the amount mentioned in
the Order for attending inquiries, or such
lesser sum as should be agreed upon. Well,
the insertion of these words made it probable
that Rural District Councils might induce a
Solicitor to tender for their work, and it is
right to state that when I drew the attention
of the Vice-President to these words and
explained the nature of our objection, and
pointed out to him that of course the Local
Government Board, under the provisions of
these Labourers Acts, were bound to protect
Solicitors as well as Rural District Councils,
he agreed to the omission of these words and
similar words—that is. words which would
have the same effect in different parts of the
Order. For that, gentlemen, I am obliged
to the Vice-President and the other members
of the Board (hear, hear).
But then we came to the schedule of fees.
and with regard to that Schedule there was,
of course, great difficulty.
There
is
no
doubt
that when
the Labourers Acts
passed,
the Legislature thought that the
costs and charges of carrying out that
Order—of carrying out the provisions of
the Act—would
be
reduced,
and
no
doubt
it was with
that
object
that
they directed the scale of fees should be
prepared by the Local Government Board.
But the Legislature could have reduced the
amount of work (hear, hear) necessary in
proving titles and in making titles to each
of these plots. They did not do that, save
in the case where the purchase money is
under £60.
In those cases an attempt was
made in the Act to reduce the work, but in
other cases the work remains—each Solicitor
must carry out just the same work, although
the compensation was small, as if lie was
carrying through a sale for a very large
amount. However, knowing the members
of my profession, I believed I was justified in
agreeing to take a reduced scale of fees,
because I know the profession would wish to
encourage the carrying out of this Act which
is of such advantage in the rural districts
throughout Ireland. As you will see in the
schedule of fees contained in the new. Order,
you will have owner's and lessee's costs, and
though the scale is not according to the fair
scale which has been fixed in other similar
matters, and does not give the Solicitors
their full remuneration,
I believe I was
justified in accepting on behalf of the pro
fession those charges as they are set out in
the Order, and in this the members of the
Council agreed with me (hear, hear).
There was one matter besides owner's and
lessee's costs in which further difficulty arose.
It is with regard to the costs of the occupiers.
This is not yet in a satisfactory way. There
is only a small fee allowed—a small fixed