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We will maintain our attitude towards any provisions which

do not appear to be in the public interest. Irishmen and women

seldom if ever make inofficious Wills if they make a Will at

all.

I have heard from a reliable source that the number of

Grants of Probate and Grants of Administration Intestate are

more or less equal in number. I, personally feel that if a man

wants his family to share his assets, he can refrain from

making a will and achieve the desired effect. If he wants to

change this, he can make a will but his power and right to

leave his property as he wishes should not be curtailed.

If

wives or husbands have fixed rights, it really means that every

married man or woman must compulsorily die intestate as to

part of his estate and this I feel is altogether wrong. My

predecessor mentioned in his address that 8.77 of the Old

Bill dealing with witnessing of wills was being kept. Since

then, I believe better counsels have prevailed and I note that

the old law in this respect has remained unchanged.

The time has been too short for the Council to make a

thorough examination of the New Bill. I only succeeded in

getting it last Thursday. I would welcome the views of any

solicitors or Bar Associations on the provisions contained in it.

EXCEPTED BODY STATUS

For a long time, agitation was rife among solicitors employed

by Corporate Bodies, Local Government authorities and

analogous bodies. They had no body which could represent

them in any claim or dispute concerning salaries or conditions

of employment. They approached the Law Society to help

them and I am glad to be able to say that after negotiations had

taken place between the Department of Industry & Commerce

and ourselves with strong support from Local Government

Solicitors' Association that the Minister made an Order on

zgth March, 1965 giving the Law Society "exempted body"

status under S.6 (6) of Trade Union Act, 1941. This means

that if ever a dispute does arise that we can sally forth for the

protection of our brethren who may need our help in this

matter. We are grateful to the Minister for acceding to our

application which we feel in justice was well founded.

COMPENSATION FUND

The Committee dealing with this fund have worked very

hard. They have examined every case that came before them

and are not in the slightest degree in arrears. All proven cases

have been disposed of and the Claimants paid. We have

achieved the desired effect proposed by the Solicitors Act.

No person who has been defrauded by a Solicitor has been

unpaid if he, the applicant, has proved his claim and as well as

this we have succeeded in building up a substantial reserve.

There is a possibility that the question of reducing the annual

contribution may come up for consideration by the Council

after the Summer Recess but such reduction might not be

possible till next year. I personally feel but I do not now speak

for the Council that it might be reduced as the effect of the

Solicitors Act and particularly of the Accounts Regulations

made under it are now beginning to be felt. There has not

been in the last year any really serious defalcation by any

solicitor in the entire country and I am proud to be able to

say this.

The Council as ever are taking an active interest in the educ

ation of apprentices and with the help and co-operation of the

Lecturers and Examiners are doing their utmost to keep the

curriculum up to date and to ensure that the utmost we can

do to help to educate our apprentices is being done all the time.

As you have heard, we did submit a Memorandum to the

Commission on Higher Education and a deputation attended

on the Commission. We await their report eagerly. The

number of apprentices seems to have increased this year

and we await future developments to see if this continues.

Not all qualified solicitors practice as such. The qualification

of a solicitor does now seem to be a form of "Open Sesame"

to many careers in industry and public life. I could name many

persons holding high offices in Public and Semi-State Bodies

who are in fact qualified solicitors. This is pleasing and does

help to ensure that our profession is not overcrowded. There

can only be room for a limited number of solicitors in a small

country like ours and despite very common misconceptions

to the contrary taken as a whole, solicitors are not a wealthy

class of persons unless their incomes are supplemented by

other private means.

Mr. Desmond Collins in his address last December said that

the Council had obtained a draft Standard Form of Contract

for sales by Public Auction and Private Treaty. Many meetings

were held by a selected Sub Committee to go into this matter

in great detail and the draft was settled, resubmitted to Counsel

and reconsidered by the Committee. This Committee had a

final special interview with Counsel and all outstanding matters

were dealt with and the Council directed publication. In the

meantime, the Land Act, 1965 became law and certain extra

clauses were considered necessary. As soon as these are settled

we will proceed to have the forms printed and made available

to the profession in general. If general use is made of them, it

should help to ease the negotiation stage a little but it must be

borne in mind that the real work is done in preparing the

special conditions, space for which will be provided by way

of Schedules. The contracts will not have the effect of making

conveyancing any easier or less exacting or make for any real

simplification of the important and arduous work carried out

by solicitors in investigation of title. It will enable them to be

relieved of niggling details and allow them to concentrate on

the heart of the matter and in this way make for more accurate

conveyancing and the general improvement as far as may be

possible of the high standard of work already carried out by

the solicitors' profession in this field of their activity.

The provision of £225,270 in an estimate for the Land

Registry and Registry of Deeds is said to be mainly due to

increased remuneration. This may be so but the fact still

remains that considerable delays do exist in the services which

are being rendered by both places, especially the Land Registry.

The Minister hoped he might bring the Registration of Tide

Act, 1964 into operation before the end of the year. If he does,

he must do it in a very limited way unless he creates further

space for staff and documents and succeeds in getting the

necessary extra staff. I feel that the failure to get staff up to this

was due to the remuneration offered not being attractive enough

to induce practising lawyers to forego the glamour, if I may

use the word, of private practice for the possibly rather

monotonous routine of a Government job.

As against this, the Minister has said that he intended to

improve the Land Registry by adding two storeys to the

office and sought to attract twice the number of staff by

increased rates of pay.

I hope he will be successful and that his target of having the

extension in operation next year will be achieved but I feel I

must voice my doubts in the matter ; the arrears must be cleared

first.

This question of arrears and lack of sufficient staffin Govern

ment offices, particularly in the High Court is a constant source

of worry to the Council. Complaints come in regularly to us

and representations made to the Department of Justice seem

to have little effect. The Accounts Office in the High Court

has come in for particular mention recently. There seems no

reason why copies of accounts could not be obtained quickly.

Banks and Building Societies and Insurance Companies can

give out copy account with ease and celerity. Photo copying

is the rule everywhere to-day and machines are available in the

Courts.

Other offices have merited mention but improvements have

been made.

It is something however that the Departments

of Justice and Finance should look into as the work in many