The Gazette 1974

Thomas (Patricia A.)— Evidence, 1972 (Cracknel' Series). Vaines (J. Crossley) —Personal Property, 5th Editi° n by Tyler and Palmer, 1973. . Wade (E. C. S.) and Godfrey Phillips— Constitution 31 Law, 8th Edition, 1970. Whitaker's Almanack, 1974. Who's Who, 1973. (The subsequent parts will follow in the J une Gazette)

Snell (L. H. J.) —Principles of Equity, 27th Edition, by Megarry and Baker, 1973. Starke (J. G. )—I n t r oduc t i on to International Law, 7th Edition, 1972. Stroud (F.) —Judicial Dictionary—4th Edition—Vol- ume 4. Telling (A. E.) —Planning Law and Procedure, 4th Edition, 1973. Tewson (M. ) —L a nd Law, 1973.

Presidential Address of FRANKL IN J. O' SULLIVAN, LL.B., Solicitor, delivered on Thursday, May 16th TO ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

once to a psychiatric hospital and one our of every thre e persons consulting his family doctor has a psychiatry aspect to his illness. These data were furnished if 11 * week by the Attorney-General. Furthermore, the nai ve belief in the removal of deprivations by means of tH e consumer society is no longer accepted as valid. J* 1 general fruits of the present affluent materialistic socie*) have been enumerated as : alcoholism, attempted suj' cides, deserted and beaten wives, vandalism and vi°' ence, drugs and drug abuse. In this milieu the profes- sional organisations which hitherto have kept a' 00 from value judgments on the larger goals of our society must think again and think deeply. While individual with specialised knowledge and experience have alway 5 sought to deal with social problems and suggest reffi e ' dies in an atmosphere of objective scientific truth th e collective professional expertise of the professions lS now required and must be made available to th

In an age when the controlling influence of the public sector on the private sector of society has increased alarmingly the professional organisations must reassess their relationships with the community and the manner in which they contribute to its welfare. " To promote and advance the contribution of professional organ- isations to the welfare of the community" is the first object of this Federation. Running right through our society today is the hidden assumption that the satisfaction of material needs results in greater progress and welfare for our people. In developing the welfare state we have now approached the position where almost 70 per cent of the gross national product is under the direct control or com- mand of the State and its agencies. T o cope with the multitude of decisions which this expansion necessarily requires, bureaucracy has the aid of computers and newly-developed organisational disciplines. This organ- isational trend easily leads to the temptation to develop a society with aims that can be achieved more easily in terms of the "mass" than in terms of the individual and the variable. This temptation will very quickly be translated into action if as a society we fail to dis- tinguish between the economic management decisions and those decisions which reflect social value judgments on alternative strategies. T he right to participate in shaping the values that govern our lives is the hallmark of democracy. It is for this reason we will see a growing demand for more direct democracy and the creation of loser and special representation on different subjects. This Federation has for a considerable time urged the wisdom of participation in a National Econ- omic and Social Council but being denied this direct participation they must in my view now consider whether they should seek more direct access to oui legislators on those matters on which they have a competence to speak. Th e greatest need of our society in this context of change and computerised control is to assess the value judgments on which modern economic planning is based. T he conventional belief that poverty is our greatest misery has been shaken by the growing aware- ness of mental illness in our society : one person in five surviving to the age of seventy will be admitted at least