any one else, that any recommendation made by
this Association which aims at producing greater
simplicity in the legal enactments of this country,
with the object of bringing them either in sub-
stance or in form into more convenient harmony
with the legal arrangements of other countries,
will be most attentively and swiftly considered
by me; and if I am convinced, as I should
expect to be convinced if there was agreement
amongst all you gentlemen, of the desirability
of that which was recommended, I should cer-
tainly be willing to make legislative proposals
in Parliament in this country, and I have no
doubt that, fortified by such authority, the
prospects of such proposals would be good. I
shall, I hope, be excused for making more plain
than I have tried to do, that I regard it as a privi-
lege to have been asked here to-day. I am most
unfortunately-and no one regrets it as I do-
unable to allow myself the pleasure of hearing
the later speeches, because in the pressure of
labour under which our lives are lived to-day I
have an imperative engagement which takes me
elsewhere almost immediately.
Give me leave, Sir, to say, as I do in the most
hearty and unreserved way, that on behalf of all
my colleagues I welcome you here to-day, and
we sincerely hope that your deliberations will be
fruitful in their results. We assure you of our
desire not to be lacking in anything which can
add either to your comfort as you deliberate or
to your help in those deliberations. It is for you
to apply great and unprejudiced minds to great
and immeasurable distress.