The Gazette 1914-15

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

JUNE, 1914]

17

to send on the Bill at once to the Govern ment's own advisers for a report, and stated that he would communicate further in the House with Mr. Brady. A report emanating from the Irish Office was received by Mr. Brady from the Chief Secretary in the beginning of the month of February, and by him transmitted to the Council, and I am sorry to say that this report is very adverse to the prospects of our Bill. It is too long to read here in full, but I shall give you some extracts from it. The Report says :— " This Bill is practically the same as that introduced by Mr. Brady in 1911, with the addition of five new clauses and some new provisions. The Bill of 1911 was regarded as highly contentious, and would have been opposed vigorously if it had gone to second reading, and there is no reason for supposing that this Bill would meet with a more favour able reception. Indeed, some of the new clauses and provisions are likely to provoke further opposition. The object of the Bill is to amend the existing County Court Law in Ireland, and the opposition appears to arise from the belief that the Bill is anduly favourable to creditor plaintiffs and the legal profession. Many .of the proposals of the present Bill were embodied in Bills in troduced by Lord. Ashbourpe in the House of Lords in 1901 and 1902. These Bills passed the House of Lords, but were abandoned in the House of Commons on account of similar objections. Whether the objections were well founded or not, there is no doubt that the Bill is largely the outcome of representations made by traders and commercial bodies who seek for further facilities for the recovery of debts and realisation of decrees in the County Court, and that a number of the clauses do in fact grant such facilities." The report then analyses several clauses of the Bill, and proceeds :— " These clauses are cited not because it is suggested that the proposals are unfair or improper, but in order to explain the grounds on which the opposition to the Bill is based, and to show that, whether the opposition is justified or not, it is quite impossible to treat the Bill as an agreed measure." The Council at once sent a detailed reply to this report, which would occupy too much time to read now, but I think it right to state here publicly that we still find it difficult to

: believe that the Bill would meet with any serious or sustained opposition if it were introduced as a Government measure. The notices of opposition hitherto given to the Bill in the House of Commons were few and from unimportant quarters, and if we were only informed more definitely from whom the opposition foreshadowed in the Iiish Office report is anticipated, I think we should be able to go a long way to overcome it. It is, of course, quite true to say that the provision in the Bill would improve the antiquated procedure for enforcing the payment and collection of debts through the medium of the Co. Court, but it is not true to state that the legal profession is in any way favoured by its provisions. I cannot believe that any opposition could be described as serious which was based merely on the principle that Irish creditors should not be made to pay their debts, and if serious opposition exists it must rest, or rather ought to rest, on some firmer ground. We may be on the eve of great legislative changes in Ireland, and I have reason to think that the true genesis of the threatened opposition arises from a feeling in some influential political quarters, that ours is a Bill which would be better dealt with by an Irish Parliament and as part of a larger reform in the whole Co. Court system in Ireland. If this view prevails it means the postponement of the consideration of our Bill for probably another three or four years, though the reforms called for are urgently needed. Moreover, I was quite unable to understand how in any way the passing of our Bill, which merely seeks to improve procedure, would impede the carrying into effect of greater reforms hereafter, if such were found necessary. Whatever the cause of the opposition, it is deplorable that this humble Bill, which is approved of by the Bench, the Bar, and the Solicitors' Profession, and is urgently demanded by practically the whole trading community in Ireland, should not be able to make any headway in Parlia ment. The Council has received no rejoinder from the Irish Office dealing with our reply to their report, but we are in frequent com munication with Mr. Brady in the House of Commons, and I have his authority for stating that for the present, at all events, there is no prospect of making any progress with the Bill. Another matter which arose