59 / 112
DECEMBER, 1909] The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
55
fee allowed
in respect of costs of each
occupier, and these would not, of course,
remunerate or repay the occupier for the
expense which he would be put to if he had
to make title ;
but I thought, rightly or
wrongly, that all occupiers, all tenants were
becoming, fast becoming, purchasers of their
holdings, and that the scale for owners and
lessees would apply—as admittedly it does
to all holdings which have been purchased
under the provisions of the Land Purchase
Acts ; and I thought also it would apply, and
I believe it should and must apply, to all
occupiers in respect of whose holdings agree
ments have actually been lodged, whether
the sales have been carried through or not,
but whose agreements have been actually
lodged
in
the Land Commission. That
matter has apparently not yet been quite
settled, as the Taxing Officer appointed by
the Local Government Board raised an
objection to taxing the costs in respect of a
|
plot taken from an occupier who had signed
I
an agreement under the scale applicable to
|
owners and lessees. That is a matter on
j
which I have made representations to the
Local Government Board, and as they are
still considering the matter, and have been
sent
the advice of Counsel, which was
!
obtained by this Council, I think I had better
pass from it. But the Order as issued in
July, 1909, I approved of, after considering
all matters that might be said for and against
!
it, hoping that by concessions by the members
of our profession we might help on this
Labourers Act, and that, on the other hand,
it would prevent friction in the future such
as there has been in the past (hear, hear).
Of course I know that there will be some
cases of hardship, especially with regard to the
occupiers, but I thought that those would be
few and would rapidly diminish as existing
tenancies and the occupiers became pur
chasers, or entered into purchase agreements.
The report contains other matters, such
as the Irish Land Bill. With regard to
these I do not propose now to occupy your
time. The Irish Land Bill will pass, but in
;
what form I certainly don't know, there have
been so many amendments inserted.
I
With these remarks, I beg to move the
i
adoption of the report (applause).
MR. C, ST. G, ORPEN (Vice-President)
seconded
the motion,
and said the only
point he wished to touch on was as to
the number of members. The number was
put down as 756, which was not quite
one-half of
all
the Solicitors in Ireland.
Everyone realised the fact that the efforts
of
the Society were
in
the
interest of
the profession as a whole, and it was, there
fore, regrettable that metre members did not
come in.
MR. PATRICK J. BRADY said he was
glad the Vice-President had called attention
to this matter. He (Mr. Brady) learned from
their Secretary
that
there were
1,570
practising Solicitors
in
Ireland, and he
thought it was very much to be regretted
indeed that so many of them had not joined
the Society. There was a motion of his
(Mr. Brady's) in reference to that matter
later on in the Agenda, and he did not know
whether it would be necessary to move it,
because he was not asking in that to make
membership compulsory, but he was simply
asking the Council—
THE PRESIDENT: Of course you are
referring to the notice under your name, and
I have to state that unless some gentleman
here raises any objection to it, the Council see
none, and are
prepared
to consider the
matter, and think that this resolution might
be adopted. The resolution is :—" That the
" Council of the Incorporated Law Society
" consider
the
question
of
compulsory
" membership of the Society in the case of
" practising Solicitors, and report thereon to
" the meeting of the Society to be held in
" May next."
MR. PATRICK J. BRADY, proceeding,
said it was very much
to be regretted
that
the
expression
of
regret
in
the
report was
a hardy annual, and it was
to be deplored
that it should be neces
sary
to
introduce
it at every Annual
Meeting as regarded the lack of membership.
The work of the Society was of enormous
importance, and there should be co-operation
in their movements and efforts. They were,
to a certain extent, a little commonwealth,
and much depended on the united action of
individual members
(hear,
hear).
The
President had pointed out in a very forcible
manner the advantage to be derived from
membership of the Incorporated Law Society.
He had referred to the Labourers Acts' fees.
Only a little while ago a professional storm