The Gazette 1908-9

59

The Gazette of the incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

DEC., 1908]

^250,000,000 more than we did, while in addition the population of France was smaller, 38,000,000 against our 42,000,000, and as to financial resources, in trades, industries, manu factures, and commerce the French were far behind. It seemed to be taken for granted that under these circumstances the British funds were higher in the market than the French, but this was not the case. The French funds stood at 96 ; Consols slightly below 85—11 points in the 100 in favour of France. As the security was the better, this could only be due to the unpopularity of the stock in the market, due to some defect; and he held that the undoubted unpopularity of Consols and Land Stock, par ticularly with humble investors, so numerous in France, was due to the bad system of dealing with them laid down by Government. It was full of difficulties, delays, and expense. The purchaser got no certificate for his investment, and every sale, purchase, ^or transfer required either personal appearance at the head office of the Bank of Ireland or else a power of attorney with a ten-shilling stamp, and various irritating formalities which caused expense, and none of which profited either vendor or pur chaser. The great public companies had abolished the antiquated, archaic system still used by the Government. They did so because they found ' the old system had a bad effect upon the value of their securities. He con sidered it lowered the value of Government securities by about ten per cent. They should be level with the French, and, if so, land pur chase could go forward merrily. The Asso* ciated Chambers of Commerce at Cardiff in September passed a resolution on the subject, and he (Mr. Stanuell) thought they should pass one in similar terms, and ask their friends and allies the Northern and Southern Law Societies to do the same, and invite the Chambers of Commerce of Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. He moved—"That, with the object of im proving the value of Consols, Land Stock, and other Government securities in the market, and thus aiding land purchase, the Government be requested to give greater facilities for their transfer by adopting the methods of transfer common to public companies generally." MR. J. L. SCALLAN seconded, and said the motion would direct public attention to a great anomaly in the machinery which regu lated the payment of dividends and the transfer of Government Stocks. It was a most remark able fact that the premier security of the country when they came to deal with it as a

separate sheet of paper, and there might be some objection to that. MR. ROONEY : There is not. MR. BYRNE : If you send out two papers, it is open to the same objection. He (Mr. Byrne) thought everything should be done above board. If that was done, they would put men on the Council who would attend and use their energies in fighting the cause of the general body of the profession. MR. SEDDALL said the Ballot Act only applied to Parliamentary elections, and was extended to apply to Municipal elections. It did not apply to the erection of the Council of the Society, and he failed to see how it could apply in fact. As regards Parliamentary and Municipal elections, the constituencies were flooded with literature, describing the quali fications of candidates. He submitted that the present system of sending out the voting papers for the election of Council was obviously the correct one. MR. JAMES BRADY thought there was nothing whatever in Mr. Rooney's objection to the present system. He believed if it was introduced all round they would have a better class of public representatives returned than at present (laughter and hear, hear). MR. ROONEY, in a general reply, con tended that there was no power to put any further information in the voting paper sent out than was contained in the Ballot Act. The voter should not be influenced at the poll. The motion was rejected. By leave of the meeting, MR. STANUELL leferred to the subject of better facilities being given for the transfer of Government Stocks, and in doing so said that, arising out of the Report, he wished to refer to a weak spot con nected with the funds required for land pur chase. He alluded to the low value of Consols and other Government securities in the money market. So long as the Government had to issue ,£115 of Stock toget^ioo cash, land purchase must continue to be blocked. He could best deal with the subject by an illustra tion or comparison. The French paid interest upon their national debt at 3 per cent., and the British upon theirs practically at 2-A- per cent. The difference of a half per cent, in the rate of interest was due to the better security of the British funds, owing to the fact that the French had a much larger national debt— ^1,000,000,000 against our ^750,000,000— so that they owed the enormous sum of