The Gazette 1914-15

DECEMBER, 1914] The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

ranks some new members, and they felt perfectly satisfied that these gentlemen would be a very valuable addition to the Council. In a short time they would share the views which the older members shared, that it was not always possible to do what one wished. They were met that day as a professional body under somewhat exceptional circumstances. As the President reminded them, and as the Report told them, the legislative year with which alone they were concerned had been marked by the passage of a very important Act of Parliament. He meant the Act for the Better Government of Ireland, as it was technically known, but sometimes referred to as the Home Rule Act. Of course, as the President had said, that was not the platform nor was that the Hall to discuss political ques tions, and it was very far from his purpose to do so ; but it was very important for them to remember as Solicitors that the passage of this Bill into law and its future operations in that country must have a very important bearing on their Profession, as a whole. It was obvious, whatever one's views might be as to the expediency or otherwise of it, that the existence of that Parliament in their midst would have a very important bearing upon their interests as a Profession. From that standpoint alone he wished to call their attention to the passage of that Act. One of the matters which would engage their attention at an early date under that Parlia ment would be the reform of County Court procedure. For the fifteenth or sixteenth time an attempt was made to pass through the House of Commons a Bill of a very simple character for the reform of the County Courts, and that Bill met with.the fate which all its predecessors met with, namely, abject failure. This was a case in which all the interested parties were agreed as to the necessity for reform. The commercial interests and the professional interests were identical in this matter. Nevertheless, the Bill failed to get to the Statute Book ; and it did not require any gift of prophecy to say that one of the legal matters to engage the early attention of an Irish Parliament would be the question of County Court reform. Again, Private Bill legislation must claim an important part in their legislative activities if they had a Parliament sitting in Dublin.

In conclusion, on behalf of the Council, I submit the Annual Report, confidently expecting that you will favourably receive it and adopt it unanimously. It has often occurred to me, as I am sure it has occurred to many a member of our successive Councils that these annual reports of ours may sometimes read as " bald and unconvincing narratives." The real truth of the matter is, however, that a very large proportion of the work done by your Council in the interest of the Profession cannot be made the subject- matter of report at all. I cannot tell you of the number of questions intimately concern ing individual members of the Profession which are submitted to the Council for decision, and of the number of private interviews which we have with Government Representatives, Judges, Members of Parlia ment, and others in the endeavour to advance the interests of the Profession. I can assure you that the Council for the past year, as the Councils of previous years, have in all such matters done their utmost to protect the interests and maintain the dignity of the Profession. MR. P. J. BRADY, M.P. (Vice-President), in seconding the motion, said the exhaustive review of the year's work and the analysis of the Annual Report to which they had just listened from the President made his task, he would almost say, an unnecessary one ; and he felt very much in a difficulty in adding anything to what had been said. The President had shown in the remarks which he had addressed to them that thoroughness which had characterised his presidency since he was elected to his high office. As the President said, the Council of the Society was frequently and properly the subject of much criticism ; b'ut he did not think any of it had been an unfriendly criticism, but sometimes it had been keen. He might be permitted to say, from his brief knowledge of the work, how difficult it was for a Solicitor who was not a member of the Council to appreciate the size of that work, and the unceasing watchfulness on the part of the President and the Council which that work called for in the interests of the Profession. Again, he thought he was but feebly giving expression to the feelings of some of the older members of the body in welcoming to the