The Gazette 1908-9

13

JUNE, 1908]

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

second a candidate for the Council, should have paid his subscription on or before the 3 ist October. The President then formally moved his motion, so as to make bye-laws 4 and 30 read as follows : 4. The Secretary shall, on or before the ist day of July in each year, send a notice to every member whose subscription is in arrear, in– forming him of the fact; and any member whose subscription shall not be paid on or before 313! October following shall thereupon cease to be a member. 30. Every candidate for election on the Council must be a member of the Society, and must be nominated by two members of the Society who shall sign their nomination paper. Such nomination paper shall contain the name of the proposed candidate and of each of his nominators, and shall be in the form in Schedule A to these Rules annexed in the case of a can– didate to be elected as an ordinary member, and in the form in Schedule B in the case of a candidate to be elected a provincial delegate. Every nomination paper must reach the Secre– tary on or before the 6th day of November, between the hours of 11 o'clock a.m. and 4 o'clock p.m. MR. COLL1NS, V.-P. : I have very great pleasure in seconding the alteration of the bye-laws as proposed, and in doing so I think it would be hardly fair if I omitted to say that I hope Mr. Rooney will feel, at all events to some extent, compensated for the intelligent interest he took in the question of the con– stitution of the Council (hear, hear). It will be remembered by those who were at the meeting this time twelve months, and also at the meeting in November, that Mr. Rooney very clearly and eloquently brought the subject before those meetings ; and the resolution that has been submitted to you to-day is really in redemption of a promise, or something in the nature of a promise or pledge, given by the then President, Mr. William Hayes, who stated that whilst he regretted he could not permit the adoption of Mr. Rooney's motion at those meetings, the matter would be taken in hand. It has been taken in hand by the Council, who, of course, were in no sense responsible for the existing bye-laws, which were adopted in 1852. At all events the present Council, who have only been in office a few months, have gone into the matter, with the result that candidature for the Council is now open to every member of the profession belonging to the Society; and every member of the profession can be–

come a member of the Society by contributing the small sum of ^i a year to its funds. Up to this as you have heard a man should be a solicitor ifor a period of seven years before he could properly become a candidate ; but now the day after this resolution is passed any member of the profession who is a member of the Society is quite competent to be nominated for the Council. I am sure the alterations will meet with the approval of at all events the younger members of the profession ; and as they have received the approval of the Council, we are anxious that they should be brought forward. MR. ROONEY: I am afraid I had very little to do with the result achieved ; but I think it will be a great benefit to the Society at large that any member of the Soc.i'ety is eligible for election to the Council. There is just one point Is it the intention that a non- practisingmember of the profession can become a member of the Council ? THE PRESIDENT : Yes, if he is a member of the Society. MR. ROONEY: Is it the reading of the Charter that you have no right to interfere with a man who has voluntarily retired from, practice ? THE PRESIDENT: That is so. MR. ROONEY: It seems to be an extra– ordinary thing that you can practically have a Council composed of non-practising members of the Society. A VOICE : The voters have it in their own hands. THE PRESIDENT : I don't think there is much likelihood of that, Mr. Rooney. The motion was passed unanimously. The University Question. THE PRESIDENT : I am going to ask Mr. Fry to move a resolution in reference to the position of our profession as regards the University Question. MR. STRITCH : We have no right to dis– cuss a motion of which no notice has been given. MR. FRY: I am not going to discuss any motion of a controversial character. MR. STRITCH : With all due respect, I do not think we should be rushed in this way, although I have no doubt that what Mr. Fry is going to say will be quite in accord with my own opinions. But a motion should not be sprung upon us.