AKAROA RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 546, 7 October 1881, Page 3

AKAROA RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Befo'ie Justin Aylmer, Esq., R.M, Tuesday, October 4, 1881. breach of tug borough bye-laws.

CIVIL CASES. R. Main v. B. Shadbolt. Claim £10. Mr C. M. Henning for plaintiff. Mr Henning said the action was for the destruction of a valuable dog shot by defendant's son. Defendant being a minor the action had been taken against his father. The following evidence was called for plaintiff : —

Joseph Barwick, sworn, said. lam in the employ of Mr Lee, I remember the 26rh of last month. Betvveen 9 and 10 that morning Mr Lee gave me orders to hurry up and take a dog and put some sheep out of a paddock of Mr Lee's. The dog belonged to Robert Main. I went and found the sheep in the paddock and put the dog round the sheep to drive them into Mr Shadbolt's paddock. The dog went round the sheep quietly, and when I was returning and the dog was coming to me in answer to my whistle, I heard a shot fired, looked round, and saw William Shadbolt going away with a gun in his hand. A lad named Georg • Bryant who was with him, called out to me " there he is lying there," meaning the dog. I then went home and told Mr Lee and he informed Mr Main. I was only away a quarter of an hour. I never knew the dog worry sheep or heard him badly spoken of. I have heard Bryant j say that if he caught him round Shadbolt's way he would try and kill him. The dog was only quietly driving the sheep from Mr Lee's paddock into Mr Shadbolt's when he was shot; he was not worrying the sheep or doing any harm to them whatever. He was a quiet dog. By Mr -Shadbolt.—The dog was a little black dog, a fox terrier, I think. Ido not think it was a dog to work sheep. I never heard of the dog worrying any sheep of yours or driving them into Mr Brook's verandah. By the Court.—The dog was in Mr Shadbolt's paddock when the shot was fired. Robert Main, sworn, said, I am the owner of tha dog in question The dog was not a sheep worrier, and I never had a complaint about him. When I sent in the account to Mr Shadbolt he sent me in a contra for £50. Tho fence between Mr Lee's paddock and Mr Shadbolt's was in bad repair; it was, I believe, Mr Shadbolt's duty to repair it. If the fence had been in good repair the sheep could not have been trespassing in Mr Lee's paddock. lam on good terms with the lad who shot the dog, and the other young Shadbolt, but I believe there is ill-feeling between Bryant and myself.

By Mr Shadbolt.—l never knew if yon had any private malice against me in any way. I was not with the dog when it was shot, so I cannot tell if it was worrying the sheep or not of my own knowledge. The dog was registered in Mr Cotton's name. I will not swear that your boy shot the dog or not, as I was not there. I would not have taken £20 for the dog if I had known he was going to be shot. By the Court.—The dog wns a valuable one, there were only about three like him in Christchurch. He was a dog that would always have brought money. Ho was a small terrier, black and tan. John Henry Wallace, sworn, said, 1 remember a conversation between George Bryant and myself in my shop one day last month. He said in refi-rvnce to Main's dog that he would "kno.k the b——y wretch over " if he got a chance. I told Main he had better keep his dog tied up in consequence. The dog was not a sheep worrier. If he had been mine I would not have taken £10 for him.

By Mr Shadbolt.—The dog was an English terrier, he was not a " beef terrier." I am not a judge of dogs. I do not think the dog was a sheep worrier; he was too small. I don't think he could drive sheep into the tops of trees and destroy them in that way, he was too small. I think he was a terrier because I was told so. I keep a dog myself; I have kept several, but I never knew that they worried sheep. Edward Brooks, sworn, said, I heard a conversation between Alfred Shadbolt and George Bryant about Main's dog. George Bryant said it was revenge on the man and not on the dog that they wanted. George Bryant said they would shoot the dog the first chance they got. Arthur Hussey, sworn, said, I am a good judge of dogs—l breed terriers. I know the dog that was shot; I should value him at from £9 to £10. Ido not see how such a dog could worry a sheep. The dog was saleable ; pups of a similar description are worth a pound each. By Mr Shadbolt —The dog was a black and tan terrier. He could not worry sheep for he could not get his teeth through a fleece. He could run after a sheep and chase it into a creek. I know the difference between a shorn sheep and an unshorn sheep. The dog might leave a mark in an unshorn sheep. Joseph Barwick, recalled, said, the dog was not more than a minute or a minute and a half on Mr Shadbolt's side of the fence before I heard the gun go off. By Mr Shadbolt.—The dog was about two chains from the fence when I picked it up dead. For the defence Mr Shadbolt called William Shadbolt.

William Shadbolt, sworn, said, I shot a dog on Monday week that was worrying the sheep ; I did not know whose dog it was at the time. I thought the dog was doing harm to the sheep, and I considered it right to shoot the dog according to my father's instructions. I did not know who the dog belonged to. I have seen it about Mr Lee's yard. George Bryant was with me and he said it was Robert Main's. The dog was worrying a lamb in tho creek. I and Bryant were not lying in wait for tbe dog, we were going to shoot another dog, a black and white one, that was after the sheep in another part of the run. I acknowledge I shot the dog according to my father's instructions to shoot any dog I found amongst the sheep. I was a quarter of a mile away from home when I shot the dog.

By the Court.—The black and white dog we went to shoot was in the direction of Mr Lee's paddock. It was after I shot the dog that Bryant told me it was Robert Main's. I saw the dog kill a lamb before, about three weeks old, on the same day. I then hunted the dog home off our placo. I told my father it had worried a lamb. I never heard Bryant say he would kill the dog. I never heard him talk about the dog till after it was kilied. I am sure he killed a lamb that morning and was worrying an.'Aier when I shot him. I could not cat-h the dog to take it home.