The Gazette 1955-58

Cork is now operating satisfactorily and at the last Sittings over 40 actions were listed and disposed of to the manifest advantage of litigants, witnesses and our profession. Bar Associations. The enactment of the Solicitors' Bill makes the position of the local Bar Associations particularly important, and it is, to my mind, quite necessary that every practising solicitor should be not only a member of the Society but also a member of his local Association. I have had the pleasure, during my six months tenure of office of President, of attending a number of their functions and I am pleased to say that the Associations, of which I had this personal experience, seem to be functioning very effectively. I regret, however, to have to report that in two areas the Bar Associations have, for reasons unknown to me, been dissolved, and before my term of office runs out I intend to make a personal approach to the solicitors in these counties or either to revive the Association or approach Associations in adjoining counties with a view to amalgamation. In conclusion I would like to express my apprecia tion of the help and assistance given to me during the past six months by my Vice-Presidents, Mr. Walker and Mr. Overend. They have only been too glad, at all times, and often times at personal inconvenience, to relieve me in the discharge of my duties. I would also pay tribute to the members of the Council, who both in Council and Committee, have worked individually and as a team in your interest. And finally a special word of gratitude to Mr. Plunkett for his invaluable advice and assistance, and for his unceasing efforts to modify and mitigate the duties of my office, and also to , his staff for their willing co-operation and help. On the motion of Mr. Henry St. J. Blake a vote of thanks to the President for his address to the meeting and for his services to the Society during the past six months was carried with acclamation. The President replied and declared the meeting at an end. EXAMINATION RESULTS. AT the Preliminary examination for intending apprentices to solicitors held on 26th and zyth of March the following candidate passed the examination. John N. Lavelle.

The trouble in the country is due to the fact that the staff valuers from Dublin visit each county twice yearly and that inspections of property can only take place on such occasions. The remedy is either to appoint additional staff or even better still—if I might suggest it—to decentralise the system and to establish regional offices whose resident local staff could deal with cases in their area, quickly, expeditiously and with knowledge of local conditions. It does too seem a pity that the office of Referee, who used to afford a satisfactory means of dealing with appeals, no longer exists. The position in the Probate Office and Land Registry, in our experience, shows some improve ment, if not entirely satisfactory. We have found that there is a genuine desire on the part of the officers in charge to help and to effect improvements and they are always ready to expedite cases of particular urgency. The fault, therefore, would seem to lie in the system. We accept that there is a shortage of skilled staff in many departments and that their ordinary work has been affected by additional duties imposed on them, such as the vesting of labourers' cottages in the Land Registry and the increase in Rateable Valuation cases to which I have referred. An analysis of the causes would show that delay arose : Firstly, because of a shortage of staff. Secondly, because of the failure to deal with a case comprehensively in the first instance or to raise quite unnecessary and unimportant queries. Thirdly—and here I speak as a provincial solicitor, because of the excessive centralisation of legal administrative work in Dublin, and in particular in the Land Registry and Probate Office. The Act of 1891 bore the title "Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act," and was intended to create genuine Local Registries. Yet, now the word local has been deleted (by an amending Act) from the Act of 1891, and all the work of Transfer of Land in any part of Ireland must be dealt with through the Principal Registry in Dublin. In like manner many of the District Probate Registries have been closed and the work transferred to Dublin. These offices, presided over by a solicitor, gave the most efficient and satisfactory services. The Registrar was available for consultation on points of difficulty. The records were available locally for inspection. There can be no doubt but that the closing of such offices was a retrograde step, and that the result has only been to create incon venience and delay to the profession and the public without any corresponding advantage. While speaking of centralisation, I am glad to record that the Trial of High Court Actions in