The Gazette 1949-1952

ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY i 8 th M ay . The President, Mr. William J. Norman, was in the Chair. The following members o f the Society signed their names as being present:—Messrs. Thomas A . O’Reilly and Dermot P. Shaw, Vice- Presidents ; Messrs. Joseph Barrett, Henry St. John Blake, Patrick R. Boyd, John Carrigan, Desmond R. Counahan, Arthur Cox, John R. Halpin, William S. Hayes, Desmond J . Mayne, Reginald J. Nolan, Daniel O’Connell, James J. O’Connor, John S. O’Connor, Patrick F. O’Reilly, James R. Quirke, James J. Hickey, T. Desmond McLoughlin, Thomas J. Kenny, Patrick C.. Moore. The notice convening the meeting was, by per­ mission of the meeting, taken as read. The minutes of the Ordinary General Meeting held on 24th November, 1949, were adopted and signed by the Chairman. The President announced that he nominated the following members o f the Society to act as scruti­ neers for the Ballot for the Council to be held on 16th November, 1950 :—Messrs. John R. Mc.C. Blakeney, Desmond J . Collins, Thomas Jackson, Brendan P. McCormack, Roderick J. Tierney. The Chairman, addressing the meeting, said :— “ L adies and G entlemen , This is the first opportunity which I have had of addressing you since my election as President o f the Society, and I wish to welcome you here, and to assure you that the Council likewise welcome the opportunity which this meeting affords o f learning the views and opinions o f the general body o f the profession at first hand. Since our last meeting in November, death has taken its accustomed toll and it is with deep regret that I mention the deaths of the following members of the profession :—Charles B. W. Boyle, Frederick H. Croskerry, John J. Early, James J. Kearns, Charles T. Kennedy, Robert N. Matheson, Sydney Mathews, Richard W. Maxwell, Justin C. McKenna, Gerald J. Molony, J. Cornelius Rutledge, Francis Shields, James G. Skinner (who was admitted in 1892, and is thought to have been one o f the oldest practising solicitors), John J. Stanton, Arthur B. Watson. As members will have seen from the Annual Report which was adopted at the General Meeting in November, the membership o f the Society, now over 80 per cent, of the number of practising solicitors, is high and is in fact a considerable improvement on the pre-war position. Possibly the regimentation and restrictions due to the Emerg­

ency, and the example o f other bodies which set about organising for their own interests, convinced a number of those, who required convincing, of the advantages, indeed necessity, o f organisation in our profession. The organisation is always here; all that is required to make it function with the greatest benefit to the profession is that every solicitor should become a member. There is little need to stress the fact that an increase from eighty to one hundred per cent, organisation would command an influence and authority much greater in proportion than the mere increase in numbers involved, and this therefore our objective. In addressing these remarks to you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I know very well that I am preaching to the converted; my object in making them is to stress the advantages o f urging upon your apprentices, and upon your fellow practitioners who may not already be members, wherever you may practice their duty to the profession and to them­ selves of applying for membership o f the Society. I am sure that you all scanned your neswpapers with eager anxiety on the evening o f the Budget speech in the hope that the Minister for Finance would have seen his way to reducing the almost intolerable burden of the penal taxation on transfers of land and house property, whether by way of sale or voluntary conveyance. My predecessor, Mr. Boyd, commented forcibly on the subject a year ago in his speech at this meeting, and indicated that it was a subject which would continue to engage the active interest o f the Council. The Council did not relax their efforts and while the Minister was preparing his proposals for the Budget a resolution was sub­ mitted to him by the Society urging that the 5 per cent, duty should be reduced, and stressing the particular hardship which it imposed in the case of persons looking for houses for residential purposes, most frequently newly-married couples. When this new tax—and I say new tax advisedly, because to my mind, an increase o f 500 per cent, on an exist­ ing stamp duty is something unprecedented,—-when this new tax was first imposed in November, 1947, a deputation from the Council was informed by high ranking officials that it was purely social in its objects, designed to put an end to inflation in land values, and that the Government were not inter­ ested from the viewpoint of revenue. The Council were, therefore, disappointed with the Budget statement in so far as it proposed no alteration in this tax. It is true that the Minister expressed dislike o f the tax and his intention o f reconsidering the matter before the Budget o f 1951. The danger is that an injustice may gain a sham respectability on account o f age, and that if this duty is allowed to continue long enough, subsequent protests may be regarded as mere formalities. For this reason, I 3