The Gazette 1946-49

tants, were re-appointed Auditors for the year to end 3Oth April, 1948. The Secretary read the report of the Scrutineers of the Ballot of the Council for the year to end 26th November, 1948, which stated that the fol lowing had been returned unopposed as Provincial Delegates : Ulster, John Gillespie; Munster, A. J. Blood-Smyth ; Leinster, Reginald J. Nolan ; Con- naught, Christopher E. Callan; and that the following had been elected as the thirty-one ordinary members of the Council, having received the number of votes placed after their respective names : H. St., J.Blake, 418; Arthur Cox, 411 ; Daniel O'Connell, 389 ; William L. Duggan, 388 ; Patrick F. O'Reilly, 383; J. Travers Wolfe, 367; Joseph Tyrrell, 364; William J. Norman, 361; Joseph Baxrett, 359; Thomas A. O'Reilly, 351 ; Patrick R. Boyd; 351; James J. Lynch, 348; William S. Hayes, 345 ; G. A. Overend, 343 ; J. P. Carrigan, 340 ; Dermot P. Shaw, 335 ; Lughaidh E. O Deaghaidh, 335 ; Scan O hUadhaigh, 334; J. B. Hamill, 334 John J. Bolger, 326 ; Henry P. Mayne, 319; Roger Greene, 316; James R. Quirke, 307; William S. Huggard, 307; John S. O'Connor, 303 ; Peter O'Connor, 299; John B. J. Dunne, 296 ; Niall S. Gaffney, 288; John J. Smyth, 284; Francis J. Gearty, 266 ; Robert A. Macaulay, 263 ; with the following as the supplemental list in case of vacancies : Anthony J. Malone, 234; John P. J. Gannon, 232 ; Derrick M. Martin, 216. The President, in moving the adoption of the Annual Report, said: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I should first like to welcome you all here to-day. The half-yearly meetings of the Society are not as a rule very largely attended by the members of the Society. I think this must be evidence that the members of the Society are satisfied with the manner in which their interests are looked after by the Council. Like the shareholders in a well- managed company, they are interested more in the results than in how the results are achieved. It would, however, be desirable that the members of the Society should take an active interest in the everyday management of the Society, and it is therefore, in my view, regrettable that a larger number of members do not attend these half-yearly meetings. The Council are always interested in the view-point of the individual member. Any repre sentations or suggestions put forward at these meetings are always carefully considered by the Council, and if they are practicable suggestions, and in the interests of the profession, effect is given to them. Since the last half-yearly meeting of the Society the following members of the Society have died:

Mr. Archibald Clarke, Mr. Vesey C. Nash, Mr. Frederick W. D. Moorhead, Mr. Henry E. Donegan, Mr. Edward Thornton, Mr. Charles Jermyn, Mr. William Dwyer, Mr. Patrick Donnelly, Mr. J. P. Lonan Murphy, Mr. Richard L. O'Flaherty, Mr. Aloysius D. O'Riordan. We deeply regret their loss, and tender our sympathy to their relatives. Membership of the Society You have read in the Annual Report circulated with the Agenda for this meeting that the members of the Society for the current year number 1,084. This is a slight increase over the number for the previous year. During the past six years there has been a considerable increase in the number of members, but I regret to say that there are still almost 300 members of the solicitors profession who, while continuing to benefit from the activities of the Society, do not think it worth their while to pay the annual subscription of £i necessary for membership. This must strike you all as extra ordinary, but it is a fact. I doubt if there is any other profession in which such a large body of practitioners remain outside the professional organisation. I hope that as a result of the appeals made from time to time these members will join the Society, and that we shall shortly have a membership of one hundred per cent. Bar Associations NEXT to membership of the Society, the most important thing, in my view, is that each solicitor should be a member of a provincial Bar Association. The Society regulates the profession as a whole, and speaks on behalf of the profession when occasion requires. It is also charged with the duty of protecting the interests of the profession as a whole throughout the country. The Society, however, is not as closely in touch with the indivi dual solicitor as is his local Bar Association, which knows intimately the conditions affecting its par ticular locality and the general opinion of the practitioners in that locality. There are a number of matters with which Bar Associations are better qualified to deal than the Society, except as a last resort. In my opinion, the standard of professional conduct between solicitors among themselves and towards their clients, and the efficiency with which clients' business is transacted is raised and main tained by the existence of a strong and well- organised Bar Association. Unfair practices, such as canvassing for business and undercutting, which are as much against the interests of the client as of the profession, can best be eliminated by the action of the individual members of the profession operat ing through their local Bar Associations, In the