The Gazette 1912-13

JUNE, 1912]

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

13

Mr. Birrell informs me that he has not yet heard from the County Court Judges in reference to the County Courts Bill. We have reason to believe that the deliberations of the County Court Judges are nearly at an ^end, if they have not concluded, and that|twe will hear from them shortly. Under^these circumstances I think it wellj to^show you we were not losing sight of the matter, and that we are trying Lto do ^something to induce the Government to remedy the existing County Court procedure. As you all know now what has been done, I leave it to Mr. Craig to say whether he now should proceed with his motion or allow it to stand over for the present. It might be well to allow us to proceed as we are at present, and let us get the report from the County Court Judges. If, then, it be necessary to call a meeting we won't hesitate to do so. MR. T. H. R. CRAIG said he was in many respects very much indebted to the President for having said what he himself intended to have said in moving his motion. He thought the facts disclosed in the correspondence entirely justified the motion that he wished to bring forward to-day (hear, hear). Whether the meeting would accept his motion or not was for the meeting to say, and if the meeting, having regard to what had been stated, desired to adjourn the further con– sideration of the matter, .he was quite satisfied. He felt it his duty, however, to bring forward his motion, and leave it to the general body of the profession to say whether they approved of it or not. It had been suggested that this was a matter which had been pushed by Dublin practitioners, or what he might call Dublin practitioners, because they happen to live in Dublin, and practise in the County Court. He thought the men who practised in the Recorder's Court in Dublin were just as much County Court practitioners and as much interested in the matter as if they practised in the wilds of Donegal (hear, hear). At the last meeting, held on the 2nd of January, he explained the reason why he brought forward this matter was because it was a matter of public importance and not a matter that affected the profession only (hear, hear). He stated that the debts recovered in the County Courts in Ireland amounted to

£600,000 a year, or £100,000 more than was recovered by common law actions in the High Court of Justice (hear, hear). Was it to be said that this was not a matter of urgent importance and a matter worth the appoint– ing of a Commission to see what the position had been for years, what the defects were, and what improvements might be effected in procedure ? The President told them that the resolution passed by the Society calling for a Commission, was forwarded to the Chief Secretary and acknowledged within ^three days. Then, apparently, whoever had charge of the matter went asleep, because they heard nothing of it again until Mr. Brady, as one of the members of the Council, had to go and stir up the Chief Secretary on the 20th of February. Apparently the question had been pigeon-holed in the Irish Office for six weeks and was forgotten, although it was a matter of recovering £600,000 a year in Ireland. Mr. Birrell wrote on 2nd March that he had consulted his advisers in Dublin, but they did not seem to have given him very much more advice than he had already. He (Mr. Craig) presumed that when they considered the Bill in 1911 the County Court Judges brought all the matters forward. Had the Recorders been consulted in reference to these matters ? Had the Recorder of Dublin been consulted with reference to it, in whose Court nearly 7,000 civil bills were disposed of in the year ? Why wasn't he consulted as to what the improvements and amendments ought to be ? After what had taken place, matters were now apparently in exactly the same position as they were, and probably they would remain so for some time. He did not suggest, and he was prepared to amend his motion lest it should be thought that he meant that the County Court Judges were not competent to go into this matter (hear, hear). He thought that the County Court Judges were quite com– petent to deal with the matter, but they did not want them to make their report when they were all dead and gone (hear, hear). They wanted the report now at once, so that it could be dealt with in the present Parliament, and in a Bill brought in before the long vacation. If the matter was left in the position in which it was now there would be nothing done till next year. Why could