The Gazette 1911-12

[DECEMBER, 1911

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

60

into disrepute and bad odour with the powers that be, because we took the manly stand which several members of 1he Council did on different occasions. Our action has gone as far as we can possibly put it. It now rests with the public themselves to insist that the present deadlock shall cease, and that a remedy shall at once be obtained in the public interest. (Hear, hear.) I will say no more on that subject, but if it arises here again, and if I can get any information as to who this dog-in-the-manger is, I will call for a special meeting of the Society and have the whole thing discussed here in public. I am very pleased to see that the Council during the year have taken very proper steps with reference to persons appearing at different inquiries and in different Courts other than Solicitors. Great efforts have been made for some years past—efforts which strange to say are assisted by the Treasury who nobble all our licence and. other duties— to facilitate gentlemen who call themselves Trades Unionists acting in the interests of those Trades Unionists in the capacity of what they would call, if anybody interfered with their little pickings, " blacklegs," or " scab " labourers. These gentlemen forget —no doubt some of them are very able men and deserve very great consideration—but I must tell them as a Trades Unionist myself and belonging to a body that is a real, genuine Trades Union body in a sense, that I am not going to allow them to act " black leg." If any of them wish to join the pro fession I will be willing and always anxious to stand beside them, but I will protest whenever this effort is made by a Secretary or President, or any other person who is not a licensed advocate, to appear in the interest of any person or any body. I am sure I will have the honour of Mr. Gerald Byrne's company, as I had some years ago, when, with the assistance of this Council, we endeavoured to prevent and succeeded in preventing the Government passing a measure which would have given assistance to Trades Union officials to represent their bodies at legal inquiries, such as Coroners' inquests. So long as we have to pay the big fees attaching to our profession we ought not to allow these encroachments on our profession. No one will be more strenuous to down them than I will be when they endeavour to encroach as

procedure in Ireland for some time past. The public after all are really the people interested and concerned in this matter. We only endeavour to relieve them of the unquestion able defects that exist with regard to' the present County Courts procedure in Ireland. Now this dog-in-the-manger policy is being pursued, and the pretence is that it is being pursued in the public interest. I don't agree with that at all. I believe it is being pursued by reason of personal interests involved and not public interests. So far as the procedure in two or three of the County Courts in Ireland and the Recorder's Courts is con cerned, after the issuing of a Civil Bill now, where a defence is entered, it really means that one could carry through a very involved and troublesome Chancery suit in the time that is now occupied in having a Civil Bill decree obtained, where a defence is entered. That is a shocking and deplorable condition of affairs, and whoever is responsible for it deserves, in my opinion, grave censure ; and (here ought to be no hesitation, if the Council are aware who the opponent of the measure is, in naming him to the public, and let them know who is behind all this humbug. The Chamber of Commerce has approved of the Bill which this Society after great labour, got introduced by my friend Mr. Brady into the House. I understood, too, that all the mercantile associations throughout Ireland have given their approval to this Bill. Why is it opposed ? The public gro;vl and say, " You never bother about County Courts procedure nowadays. We never get a decree. We never hear the end of our case. The result is that when .we do obtain a decree, it has taken such a long time to obtain it that recovery is hopeless—absolutely hope less." Now, I do not desire to name anybody in particular in regard to this matter, but I say that practitioners in the County Courts have suffered very severely the burthen of this delay. The whole County Courts pro cedure in Ireland is suffering from the defects. If the Government were worth their salt they should make this a Government measure in the public interest and not allow these people to adopt the dog-in-the-manger policy. I wish the public to understand that so far as this Society is concerned, we throw the onus on the public now to remedy the evil. We have done our best—many of us have got