The Gazette 1964/67

James W. O'Donovan, 448 ; William J. V. Comerford, 443 ; Thomas V. O'Connor, 427 ; Thomas H. Bacon, 407 ; George G. Overend, 403 ; Brendan A. McGrath, 401 ; William A. Tormey, 400; Desmond Moran, 384; Peter D. M. Prentice, 374; James R. C. Green, 354; Raymond A. French, 331 ; Gerald Y. Goldberg, 316. The scrutineers returned the foregoing thirty-one members as duly elected ordinary members of the Council for the year 1964-65. The following candidates also received the number of votes placed after their names : Edward J. C. Dillon, 308 ; Charles Hyland, 296; Brendan T. Walsh, 254 ; Samuel V. Crawford, 253 ; Robert W. R. Johnston, 250. The audited accounts and balance sheets for the year ended 30th April, 1964, circulated with the agenda, were adopted. Messrs. Kevans & Sons were re-appointed as the Society's auditors. The President, moving the adoption of the report of the Council for the year 1963-64, said : Ladies and Gentlemen : Before my report for the year I have first to record with deep regret the deaths of the members of our Society which occurred since our last ordinary meeting. James Fagan, died 25th July, 1964, late of 57/58 Parnell Square, Dublin. Andrew J. O'Flynn, died i st July, 1964, late of 4 Cecil Street, Limerick. Mr. Edward B. Williams, died I4th July, 1964, late of Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Mr. Patrick McDowell, County Registrar for Wicklow, died i7th August, 1964. Mr. John C. Callan, died nth September, 1964, late of Kings- court, Co. Cavan. Mr. David H. Charles, died 15th September, 1964, late of 4 Clare Street, Dublin. Mr. Seamus O'Connor, died ist October, 1964, late of 30 Bachelor's Walk, Dublin. May I, on my own behalf, and on behalf of my fellow council members, express to their relatives and friends our sincere sympathy. Finance The Accounts and Balance Sheet of the Society have been circulated to you and they set out very clearly our financial position. Expenditure is still rising and our annual profit continues to decrease. The Finance Committee meets regularly each month and investigates fully all items of expenditure and revenue and does everything possible to ensure that revenue is maintained and expenditure kept in check. Outgoings, however, continue to rise and in spite of representations made by a number of my predecessors our Society is still bound to make an annual contribution of £530 to the Incorporated Society of Law Reporting. This is a public service which should be financed out of public funds and I look forward to the day when this will be realised and accepted and when we will be relieved of the responsibility of making this annual contribution. John Maher, 445 ;

Law Calendar and Directory The second part of the Laiv Calendar and Directory namely, " The Directory", has now been amended as a result of suggestions made by several members of the profession. We would welcome your views in due course as to whether the Directory is now sufficiently complete and meets with general approval. Bar Associations I renew the appeal which I made to every solicitor, especially newly qualified solicitors, when I spoke to you last May. Bar associations are still and will always be necessary and vital if unity in our profession is going to continue. In the year which is now ending I have visited a number of towns in Ireland where there were extremely flourishing bar associations and on the introduction of the Succession Bill almost all bar associations over the country provided inspired and intelligent criticisms which were a great help to the Council when they had to consider and suggest amendments to be made to that Bill. I would like to thank all these associations for the work they have done and for the interest they have shown and in particular I would like to thank them for having sent so many representatives to the special meeting of the Council which was held recently in connection with the Succession Bill. During the month of October I spent five days at Folkestone as a guest of the Law Society of England and Wales at their conference and while there I learned that the local bar associa tions in England are becoming more and more important each year and their growth is encouraged and viewed with pleasure by the councils there. Similarly we will always continue to encourage united bar associations and would like to see one in every county in Ireland. Legal Education and Training In the month of July, 1961, your Council prepared a memorandum on legal education and training and when later on the Commission on Higher Education was established the Council forwarded a copy of their memorandum to that Commission for consideration. In the month of May of this year, representatives of your Council were invited to attend before the Commission on Higher Education to amplify and discuss some of the matters mentioned in the memorandum. Reference had been made to certain defects in the then educational system on the grounds that it was too rigid and could not be adapted to suit changing circumstances ; this was because of the fact that the system was established by Statutory Enactment and could not be changed except by legislation. The five year term ofapprentice ship and some of the other Statutory requirements had been handed down for hundreds of years and the Council took the view that power should be given to the Society to prescribe the whole system of legal education and training for the profession exercisable by Statutory regulations subject to the aoproval of the President of the High Court. We had also stated that the system of apprenticeship was unsatisfactory as the course was far too crowded to permit an apprentice to acquire any real acquaintance with the practical aspects of a solicitor's work and that it should be possible for the apprentice to spend more time in the office with his master. The memorandum had also stated that the Council was not satisfied with the quality of instruction in some of the university law schools and drew attention to the fact that there was not one whole time lecturer in the law faculty. The Council made five main recommendations and submitted six other matters which they considered were specific require ments of the solicitors' profession. A deputation made up of Mr. James Greene, Mr. Peter