I move that the Bill be given a Second Reading. Since the Bill was introduced it was suggested that it should be withdrawn and recaptioned so as to include various amendments that have been suggested by Deputies on all sides of the House. If it were withdrawn now, or if Deputy Ryan's amendment was put and carried, it would mean that the several hundred pounds that have already been spent in bringing the Bill to its present position would be lost, and the protection which the Bill would afford to the general public would be indefinitely postponed.
I am indebted to several Deputies for suggested amendments which undoubtedly improve the Bill as it was originally drawn. My co-sponsors of the Bill have undertaken that those amendments shall be proposed to the committee that will be appointed if the Bill is given a Second Reading. It is doubtful if the House as a whole have any knowledge of the losses which fraudulent auctioneers have in the past inflicted and are in the present inflicting upon the public. The public are protected to a certain extent if a stockbroker or a solicitor makes default or is guilty of fraud. If an auctioneer does away with the money of his client the client has no redress whatever, and at present there is nothing to prevent an auctioneer from repeating the transaction as often as he can. Anyone at present, no matter how shady his antecedents or how small his capital, if he can scrape up £10 for the purchase of a licence and advertise sufficiently, finds himself able to help himself to other people's money. On the 15th March of the present year an arrangement was carried for £5,000. That was to pay 4/- in the £ in five instalments, spread over 18 months. Anybody who has any knowledge of getting payment of a debt by instalments will realise, of course, that they are exceedingly lucky if they get the first instalment. On the 20th May a judgment was given for £149 and another for £795, and as far as I know nothing has been realised on these judgments.
[An Ceann Comhairle resumed the Chair.]
On the 20th June a client here in Dublin paid an auctioneer a deposit of £200. That £200 has probably gone to swell the total of the November Handicap Sweep receipts. Certainly the unfortunate owner of the £200 is in the position of the person who has not drawn a horse in the sweep. On the 9th July there was a fraudulent conversion registered against another auctioneer. On the 8th July there was another arrangement for £5,000. There is a total for the present year of £11,145. In December, 1930, there was a fraudulent conversion registered for £4,700. In the same month another well-known firm failed for £8,000, and another for £4,532, and still another for £18,744. On the 16th June a complaint was sent in to the Auctioneers' Association that an auctioneer in Dublin had sold property in 1928, and from that day to this the owner of the property has been unable to receive any dividend.
I could go back to 1925, but I do not want to weary the House with further particulars. I can vouch for all these items. They are taken from official documents, and there are many other cases which have never been reported, but which we know of. I have only mentioned those to show the importance of a Bill such as the one I am proposing for the protection of the general public. Something like ninety per cent. of the present auctioneers have agreed that this Bill is necessary. The particulars of the Bill have been in the hands of members of the House, and any amendments that we consider improve the Bill have already been printed and are in the hands of every member in the House. Deputy Haslett, Deputy Cole, Deputy McFadden and myself have undertaken that those amendments shall be proposed.
I do not propose to go through the various sections of the Bill now. Deputies, I am sure, have studied it. I would like to point out, however, that the really important section is Section 25, in connection with which there is a suggestion dealing with the bond which the general committee of the association say should be given by anybody practising as an auctioneer. It is suggested that the proceeds of any bond, or of any security held on behalf of registered persons by the council shall in all cases be applicable solely towards the discharge of the obligations of such registered persons upon any sale, letting or transfer of land or other property in respect of which the registered person, or the firm or company by whom he is employed, has been declared liable to their clients by a decision of a competent court of Saorstát Eireann. I formally move the Second Reading.