The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1886. Infected Sheep.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1305, 3 August 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1886. Infected Sheep.

At the. Resident Magistrate’s Court this morning Mr Baddeley, while commenting upon a breach of the Sheep Act 1878 Amendment Act 1881, read the following clause from the original Act, which is still in force, and pointed out the serious risks incurred by the owners of sheep infected with lice : —lf any person shall, by himself, his agent or servant, drive, depasture, or negligently suffer to stray, any infected sheep across or upon any land not being the property of nor being rented ty such person, and not being land of which he shall have the right of pasturage, or upon or along any highway, such highway not being within the boundaries of the run occupied by the owner of such sheep, he shall for every day during which such sheep shall bo so driven, depastured, or negligently suffered to stray, bo subject to a penalty of not less than five pounds nor exceeding one hundred pounds : Prol vided that no person shall bo liable to any penalty under the provisions of this section for driving, depasturing, or suffering Ids sheep to stray upon any highway, so long as he shall do so with the written permission of the Inspector. Wc do not wish to lessen the force of Mr Baddeley’s remarks nor to condone the offence to which those remarks referred, but, by our reading of the various Acts bearing on the subject, the clause quoted by our worthy Magistrate does not apply to sheep infected with lice only. The Sheep Act 1878 defines

“infected sheep” ns any sheep infected with scab or catarrh, and although clause OS of the same Act gave tho Inspector power to declare sheep infected with lice “ infected sheep,” that clause was repealed by the amending Act of 1881, and as tho law now stands the penalty which may be inflicted upon the owner of sheep, infected with lice, which may be found in any pound, or in any public yard or yards, or in any yard or yards at which sheep are offered for sale, is not less than one pound nor more than tive pounds. There are, however, other penalties provided by the h ep Act 1878 Amendment Act 1884, and we may again quote the clauses in which they are set out. I hey ore as follows: (1) If any Inspector shall be satisfied that any slmep in a flock are infected with lice, he shall give the owner a written notice to dip such sheep forthwith to tho satisfaction of the said Inspector, or any other Inspector ; and if such owner refuses, neglects, cr fails to comply with such notice within a period of one month from the giving thereof, he shall be < [ liable, on conviction, to a penalty of not j Ices than live pounds nor more than fifty pounds. (2) If after the expiration of three months from the date of ( such conviction such sheep sha 1 ! not be < dipped to the satisfaction of any In- j spector, such owner cljall, upon con vie- f tion, be liable to a further penalty of • not less than twenty pounds nor more t than fifty pounds ; aud so on for every E tucceoding period of three months each. £ The Sheep Act 1878 Amendment a Bill now before the House of Bepresentatives proposes to repeal both the Amendment Act of 1881 and the a Amendment Act of 188-4, but to d re-enact the clauses we have just o

quoted and the clause repealing section (38 of the original Act, so that tho present and prospective laws appear as set out above.

Mr Howard Spensley’a Payment nf Members Bill barely saw the light In the , last British House of Commons, but It i was something, for the Democrats, to have extracted from Mr Gladstone an expreadon of sympathy With the principle of paid membership. A correspondent writing to a london weekly on this subject, says:—ln the prosp ct of an immediate dissolution of Parliament there is no more deplorable fact than that nothing should have practically been done to relievo candidates of the iniquitous imposition of cfticial election expenses. The ao-oallod Labor candidates in this matter have grossly neg’ected their duty. It Is a mockery of workmen to give them the franchise aud then fine those of their number who may propose to come forward as candidates largo sums which it is well known they have no personal means of paying. A candidate may be poor, honest, and capable ; our existing election arrangements tend to make him a mendicant, a timeserver, and an imbecile. Is it too late, even yet, to get a Bill through Parliament charging the accounts of returning officers on the rates 1 I look to Mr Labouchere, if to no one else, to bell the cat.

An interesting debate took place in the House of Representatives last evening on the motion! for the third third reading of tti Loan Bill. Ultimately the Bill was passed by a large majority. The other business in the House last night was the second reading of the Deeds and Instruments Registration Bill, and the passage of the Public Trust Ollice Act, 1872, Amendment Bill. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court this morning, before Mr H. C. S. Baddoley, 8.M., Stephen Chapman and Samuel Mullins, charged on the information of the Sheep Inspector under section 5 of the Sheep Act, 1878, Amendment Act, 1881, were each fined 20s and costs as the owner of sheep infected with lice found in a public saleyard. Thirty unemployed, married men with families, were put on municipal works at Auckland yesterday. The railway authorities intend putting oO or 100 men on the railway to improve bad curves. The unemployed who have struck work at Mount Eden have declined to resume at the terms offered by the Railway Engineer.

Mr F. B. Brine, who is a pupil of Louis Frank, the great Indian illusionist, will give an entertainment of legerdemain at the Town Hall on Saturday evening Mr Brine is a local resident, and we have no doubt a Large audience will assemble to witness his entertainment. Wo notice that he will be assisted by some of the best musical talent of the district. The following is a list of letters received at the Ashburton Post Office from places, beyond the colony during the month of Juno, and remaining unclaimed on August 1,1886; —Neil Greenless (2), Joseph Mills, and John Smithson.

At tho II.M. Court South Eakaia, yesterday, before Mr E. S. Coster, J.P., and Mr C. Hardy, J.P., Edward Jones, charged with illegally entering premises, who had been remanded for medical examination, was brought up and sentenced to two months’ hard labor, the medical evidence showing that he was perfectly saneThe Marl; Lane Krjtrr-s-t, speaking of the agricultural exhibits at tho London and Colonial Exhibition, says “ One of the most remarkable stands in the New Zealand Court is one on which ryo grass, 9ft lin high, and fescue grass, 7£t, with other remarkable specimens, are to be seen. Tho grain, and especially tho wheat of all the Australian colonies, and the oats of New Zealand are superb in quality. His Excellency tho Governor is expected to pay a prolonged visit to Dunedin in January. Tho funeral of the late Hon James Paterson took place at Dunedin yesterday, and was largely attended.

At a mooting of the unemployed, held at Invercargill yesterday, about 100 men were present. The principal grievance brought beloro the Mayor was the impossibility of making wages at stone-breaking provided by the corporation, the men saying that owing to the hardness of the stone they could not make more than 3s a day. After discussing the question of providing work, it was resolved to telegraph to the Minister for Public Works, stating that a large number of men were out of work, and asking the Government to provide relief works.

It is stated that the Duntroon Company’s debentures were sold at £l)3 15s to two Banks about the same lime that the Government bought the Rotorua and Waimate through Major Steward for £l)s. At the Plumptoa Park Coursing Meeting yesterday an Ashburton dog, Mr W. Wilkie’s r b Wakanui, by Forest.Lad —Ruby, won the Sapling Stakes.

The contractors for the Mount Somers railway advertise in this issue for pick and shovel men.

Tho annual Farmers’ Dinner in connection with the Ashburton County Hunt Club will take place at the Commercial Hotel this evening, at (j o'clock.

The Mayors of Christchurch and Kaiapoi have exchanged congratulatory telegrams on the patronage His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has extended to Kaiapoi woollen manufactures. It is hoped by those worthy magistrates that the Prince’s Kaiapoi suit, which will rival Joseph’s coat and Jemmy Jessamy’s inexpressibles in point of historical interest, will bring our colonial industries more prominently before the English and foreign public.

We have received from the Union Steam Shipping Company its usual Time Tables and Pocket Guides for the current month.

An instance of a man-of-war arriving in Hobson’s Bay without having been signalled from any point along the coast occurred on July 22, when tho French sloop Ginchen

steamed up unobserved to an anchorage ot

Port Melbourne, having passed Queensclilla

during tho darkness. The captain is a strange a

to the Port. The vessel is on her way to

join the fleet in new Caledonia, and she

called in for fuel,