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pension annuity insurance for themselves.
If at a
later date some method is discovered of setting up
a group insurance scheme with improved terms
this will be done.
I am also glad to say that the Minister of Finance
has accepted a submission from the Society that the
law should be brought into line with the existing
law
in England so that the parent of a person
serving under indentures of apprenticeship shall be
entitled to the full income tax child allowance for
such apprentice.
Previously this was only given
during full educational training which did not
include service as an apprentice.
I have always been keenly interested in the welfare
of the local bar associations. The Council fully
realise the important work which they are perform
ing. When I commenced practising 36 years ago
there were very few bar associations operating in
the country and in many areas the relations existing
between the local Solicitors were hostile in the
extreme.
The
formation
of
the
local
bar
associations has developed a much improved spirit
amongst the members throughout the country. The
local bar associations are often better able to deal
with a local problem than the Council, and are also
able to supply most valuable information to the
Council.
The social functions organised by
the
bar associations play a most important role
in
promoting
a
friendly, professional
atmosphere
amongst the members and in many Counties the
local bar associations have been instrumental in
checking that great curse of our profession, touting
and price cutting to attract business. One of the
most pleasant functions of the President of this
Society is attending the various social occasions of
the local bar associations.
I have enjoyed, like
my predecessors, much delightful hospitality from
the bar associations and if there is anything that
either I or the Council can do to help and further
their activities we shall be most happy to do so.
The vast majority of the Counties have now active
and efficient associations and I am glad to say that
some associations which had temporarily lapsed
have recently been revived and I wish them every
success, but it is a tragedy that there are still one
or two areas where there is no local bar association.
Some of the local bar associations have given
us a lead in making rules that their members shall
not act for both vendor and purchaser in a sale
unless the purchase money is quite insignificant in
amount. The Council have stated that it is un
desirable that a solicitor should act for both vendor
and purchaser but it has been pointed out to us
quite correctly that a statement such as
this is
useless unless it is enforced by regulation. Personally
I would like to see a regulation on these lines en
forced throughout the country.
I am certain it
would be in the interests of both the solicitor and
the public. No man can serve two masters and
every one of us has had experience of cases where
the vendor and purchaser were on the most friendly
terms at the time of the signing of the contract and
there did not appear to be any likelihood of conflict
between them and then some dispute has arisen
before completion which has placed the solicitor
acting for both parties in an impossible position
besides being most unfair to the vendor who has
then no adviser on whose advice he can completely
rely. There is also the grave danger of an action for
negligence against the solicitor since no matter how
careful and conscientious he may be the requisitions
on title and searches are seldom as carefully pre
pared and perused when there is no solicitor acting
on the other side.
Some local bar associations
would have adopted the rule but for fear of some
local solicitors leaving the bar association and so
gaining an unfair advantage for themselves. This
could only be prevented by enforcing the rule
throughout the State.
In other local bar associa
tions there has been opposition to the adoption of
the rule on the ground that solicitors might lose
established clients if a client purchased property
belonging to another client. This is true but the
few clients which a solicitor might lose in this way
would be made good by clients coming to him
from other solicitors in similar circumstances. It is
most significant that in those counties where the
rule is enforced, even if there has been some initial
opposition to the adoption of the rule, it has worked
well and solicitors who were formerly opposed to
it have been converted by experiencing it in
operation.
I had the honour as your President of being
invited to propose the adoption of the report of
the Solicitors' Benevolent Association at
their
annual general meeting and I would like to com
mend to you the work being done by this Association
which is one of our remaining links with Northern
Ireland, since the Association, I rejoice to say, still
operates throughout the entire country.
I think
every solicitor should be a
subscriber
to
the
Benevolent Association. Most of us subscribe to
some charity and surely our own charity which
provides assistance for members of our profession,
who perhaps through ill-health have fallen by the
wayside, and their relatives should have first priority.
In my opinion the annuities and grants now being
paid by the Association are quite inadequate, having
regard to the depreciation in the value of money,
but they cannot be adequately increased until more
funds are available, so I would ask the local bar
associations to advocate the claims of the Solicitors
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