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showed us that he had mastered the new Companies
Act of 1963 and underlined some of the more
important differences between this Act and the
previous Acts of 1908 and 1959. Tape recordings
were made of all three lectures and may be hired
from the Society by any Bar Associations who
require them. The lectures will in the near future be
printed and published by our Society. I think that
we owe a deep debt of gratitude to our three lecturers
for their very able work.
SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS
I would like to remind you all that our Society's
other publications
Administration of Estates Act, 1959.
The Statute of Limitations.
Married Womens' Status Act, 1957.
Civil Liability Act, 1961.
The Stamp Duty Legislation, 1890-1962.
are all available and can be obtained from the office
here in the Four Courts.
I must also pay a tribute to the Provincial Solicitors
Association for publishing an excellent booklet under
the title of " A Guide to Death Duties ".
Your Society has obtained from counsel a draft of
Standard Contract Form Clauses in Sales by Auction
and Private Treaty and this draft is at present being
studied by the Council.
There are also available now supplies of the new
form of stock transfers for the use of our members.
COMPENSATION FUND
It is satisfactory to know that everyone who
proved a claim against our Compensation Fund has
been paid in full. We have now in reserve a sub–
stantial fund over and above the amount provided
by the Solicitors Act and whilst at this stage there
is no suggestion that the Solicitors Annual con–
tributions may be further reduced, it is, I believe,
extremely improbable that the contributions will
need to be increased in the foreseeable future.
INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION
In his address a year ago, to the meeting of our
Society held at Bundoran, my predecessor, Mr.
Frank Lanigan, told you that the next meeting of the
International Bar Association would take place this
year in Mexico city, and he said that it was open to
any member of our Society to go to this conference,
and pointed out how necessary it is to retain an active
interest in the Association.
In January of this year I spent two days in Madrid
as a member of the committee which had the task of
arranging the agenda for the conference of the associ–
ation in Mexico City, which commences on the z6th
July and closes on the 31 st July. The Law Society of
England has chartered a plane to take all the European
delegates to Mexico, and I hope to attend this con–
ference with Mr. John Carrigan.
I will make a
further report when I speak to you next December.
The distance to Mexico city from this country has
proved too great an obstacle for several other
members of our Society who have attended previous
conferences. It is hoped that the 1966 conference will
be held somewhere in Europe where the problem of
distance will not be so great for our members.
TRAINING OF APPRENTICES
Your Council is extremely concerned at the
increasing amount of knowledge which solicitors'
apprentices must absorb if they are to succeed in
qualifying as solicitors. The course is both long and
difficult and the percentage of apprentices who pass
any of the law examinations at the first attempt is by
no means high. The Court of Examiners have been
asked to consider the whole position and to report
to your Council. I cannot help wondering whether
the standard set for
the leaving certificate
is
sufficiently high in these very competitive days. I am
aware that a very high percentage of students are
successful each year in this examination. I wonder,
however, whether the percentage of passes in the
open public matriculation examination is equally
high. I doubt this extremely. I am aware that some
employers are not impressed by a candidate for a
position who simply obtained a leaving certificate,
but are much more inclined to favour one who has
obtained a pass in the open public matriculation
examination. The results in this examination do not,
of course, get anything like the same publicity as the
results of the leaving certificate. The marks are not
published, nor is it easy to get particulars of the
numbers of candidates who have failed.
Your
Council will do everything possible to ensure that
solicitor's apprentices will be taught comprehensively
and adequately, but it is well to realise that our
apprentices are usually in an age group of 17J to 19
years when they enter into indentures, and it is going
to be difficult both for them and for us if at that stage
their standard of education is insufficient to enable
them to undertake the very heavy programme of
work which faces them before they finally qualify as
solicitors. There is no doubt that now-a-days when a
solicitor passes his final examination he is, in my
opinion, really well qualified to deal with any and all
legal problems which may arise in these very difficult
days.
LAW CALENDAR AND DIRECTORY
By this time you have all, I hope, obtained your
copies of the new Handbook of the Incorporated
Law Society and the Law Directory for 1964. Your