The Gazette 1961 - 64

were only names. This has been a real privilege and one of the pleasures which I will most long re member. I hope and believe that I have made many friends throughout the country and I look forward to continuing and renewing these friendships. I have also represented your Society at numerous functions and have been the recipient of much varied hospitality. The flow of invitations to public functions indicate to me the high regard in which your Society is held throughout the country. Frequently I have been accompanied by my wife and we were treated as honoured guests wherever we went. We both went to Scotland to attend the annual week-end of the Scottish Law Society at Gleneagles and to England to attend the Annual Conference of the Law Society held last month in Torquay. Both at Gleneagles and Torquay my wife and I were most warmly and lavishly received and entertained and I know that these continuing and ever-growing contacts between this society and our sister societies are invaluable, and to be fostered and encouraged. The Society hope to repay some of this hospitality to our English and Scottish friends at Bundoran next May. My wife and I with Mr. and Mrs. Ralph J. Walker, represented the Society at the International Bar Association Conference at Edinburgh last July. Several other members of the Society and their wives attended as conferees. We were all the recipients of the traditional Scottish hospitality. I would not be human if I did not admit that we both have enjoyed all the functions which we have attended but particularly the contacts and friendships which we have made. We have been at all times very conscious that we were your ambassadors and we hope that, as such, we have done credit to the Society. I would like to say how very grateful I am to my two vice-presidents, Mr. Frank Lanigan and Mr. Bertie Taylor, who have so ably and willingly supported me at every turn. They have always been more than ready and willing, no matter what their prior commitments, to take my place if required or to take on any duties which I asked them to under take. I could not have been better served. I have been more than fortunate in the Council with whom I have worked over the past twelve months. They have been diligent in their attendance and indefatigable in their energies. I think I might safely say that the burden of the work on the Council in the last year has been the heaviest ever as the programme of law reform has entailed a measure of study and research quite disproportionate to that which normally comes their way. I have had to call upon them individually to give

warning lights would be of inestimable value to the profession as a whole. Specialisation The foregoing leads me naturally to the question of specialisation. Solicitors are expected to know a bit about everything but the law in former days was much more straightforward and much less complex than it is to-day and it is becoming more difficult to do so. It is not for me to attempt to tell solicitors how to run their businesses but, in all walks of life, the day of the specialist is approaching and I think members of our profession should bear this very much in mind and contemplate at all times grouping into larger units rather than splitting into smaller ones. In a small country such as this, it is difficult to be a specialist and I think all we can hope to achieve is, while trying to be a general practitioner on the one hand, we should all endeavour to have a specialist line of our own as well. Annual Report I would commend to the members a careful study of the annual report of the Council. This does not really illustrate the amount of time and attention given by members of the Council and of committees to problems submitted by them by solicitors and to matters which are of general interest to the profession as a whole. Any member reading the report in full will not fail to appreciate the wide variety of matters which have engaged the attention of the Council and of the committees over the past year. Conclusion To-day you have heard read to you the names of the persons who will constitute your Council for the year 1962/63. At the conclusion of these proceedings the new Council will hold its first meeting and one of its first duties will be to adopt the bye-laws for the election of president and vice-presidents and to authorise the issue of ballot papers to the Council to elect my successor. While the Council which elected me as president has fulfilled its function and been replaced I will continue for a matter of a few weeks until my successor has been appointed. This, however, is really my swan song and I hope I may be forgiven if I conclude with a few personal remarks. I am very deeply conscious of the honour which the Council and .the Society paid me in electing me as president. I have endeavoured during my year to do all in my power to uphold, maintain and enhance the reputation of the Society. I have had the oppor tunity of travelling to many parts of the country and meeting many of my colleagues who, before then,