The Gazette 1940-44

[April, 1942

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland

46

the Bill in which he was so much interested pass into law. He had a fund of knowledge on all matters connected with the Solicitors' Profession, and of every individual member thereof; the Profession would no longer be able to have the benefit of his unrivalled experience. The President mentioned that every member of the Council was present either in person or had sent an apology and that even Solicitors from the extreme corners of Ireland, North, South, East and West, had come at great personal inconvenience to pay their last tribute to the Secretary. The President of the Incorporated Law Society of Northern Ireland and the Secretary of the Council there were both present at the funeral and he was sure their own Council appreciated very much this tangible evidence of the sympathy of their brethren in the North. Mr. W. S. Hayes, the father of the Council, in endorsing the President's remarks, said that no words could do full justice to the exceptional qualities of their late Secretary. The following resolution was then put to the Meeting and passed unanimously in silence, all members standing :— " The Council has learned with feelings of the deepest sorrow and regret of the sad death of its esteemed Secretary, Mr. W. G. Wakely and tender to all the members of his family its deepest and most heartfelt sympathy in their great loss. The Council feels that it is only fitting it should attempt to express in words, however feeble, its unbounded admiration for its late Secretary. He had been Secretary for over 50 years and it was largely dae to his unusual gifts that the Society had attained its present high position in the regard of the public. His undoubted abilities, his unfailing tact, his courtesy and his kindly disposition en deared him to every one who had the privilege of coming in contact with him. These qualities he showed in equal degree to the youngest apprentice and to the oldest practitioner, and each alike felt that in him they had a true friend and a wise counsellor.

heart appeared to be standing the strain well. Unfortunately, on Tuesday afternoon, he had a bad heart attack, and in spite of everything that the Doctors could do he died early on the afternoon of Thursday, the 26th March. The President said it was difficult to find words to express his own feelings, feelings which he knew were shared by every member of the Profession. From the first moment that he had come in contact with the Secre tary as an apprentice he had received nothing but the greatest courtesy, kindness and help on the many occasions that he had consulted Mr. Wakely. He knew that all his friends had the like experience. It was indeed one of Mr. Wakely's outstanding characteristics that he had treated everyone in the Profession from the oldest member to the youngest apprentice in the same way. Of few men could it be said with greater assurance that he had left not a single enemy behind him. Throughout his long life he had never done anything of which he had reason to be ashamed or to regret, and his sole thought had been the good of the Profession as a whole. A remarkable feature of Mr. Wakely's character was his youthful outlook which made him ready to sympathise at all times with the apprentices who had no stauncher advocate at the Council Meetings than Mr. Wakely. Various members of the Council had suggested to him on different occasions in recent years that the Council would be only too ready to appoint an assistant as they felt that with advancing years the onerous duties might, on occasions, be too much for him, and they were desirous of retaining his services as Secretary to the very last. It was charac teristic of him that he refused the offer of an assistant on the ground that to accept it would not be in the best interest of the Society. Such appointment, he felt, might limit the choice of the Council in appointing a suitable successor when his time came to resign. He had talked about retiring as soon as the Solicitors' Bill, now in draft, was on the Statute Book and expressed the view that this would be a fitting climax to his career as Secretary. Unfortunately, this was not to be, and he has not been spared to see