PREVENTION OF CRUELTY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2915, 30 October 1916, Page 3

PREVENTION OF CRUELTY

Your committee aro glad to bo again able to report that the society has earned on its work, steadily and oftectiyely during another year (says tho annual report of. tho Wellington Society tor the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- ?? 7\,r ° I number of cases dealt with total 315, but this does not include minor cases dealt with by warnings and advice. Seventeen cases necessitated the offenders being brought beforo .tho Lourt, nnes being inflicted, Taurine: Irom £2 to =£6 18s., two (2) cases being dealt with by imprisonment, and thrco WJ_ cases being dismissed, tho evidence being insufficient for a conviction. No doubt but for the oxisteuco of tho society a much larger number of cases or cruelty would go unchecked. Your committee desires it to bo understood that its efforts aro mainly directed to the prevention of cruelty, and only where it is a gross caso, and it is behoved that milder measures would bo ot no avail, is tho aid of tho law invoked. The subscriptions and donations have unfortunately fallen off. Your committee are very grateful to those who have subscribed to the funds, moro especially •as tho carrying on of tho present great war has been a constant drain on tho chantablo public. ' During the year one of our lifo members, Mrs. Joseph Burno, has died; She was always a liberal helper of'' the society.

We have to acknowlcdgo with igratitude a legacy from the estato oF the late J. M. Richardson, of £50, without which our funds would have shown a decided decrease. The society is again indebted to tho Wellington City Council for their annual grant of £5. Our host thanks are again duo to the Railway Department, tho Earori, Miramar, and Eastbourne Borough Councils \for free passes granted to the inspector: also to our honorary solicitors. During tho year Messrs., Kirk and Rapley, of Otaki, have been added to the list of honorary solicitors. The committeo ateo desires to place on record their appreciation of tho valuable services rendered by the police, the Press, and those persons who have been good enough to bring before the society ,case s *of cruelty that havo come ■ under their notice. On the representations of your committee, tho City Council have been good enough to erect extra 'water troughs in various parts of the City where they wero sadly needed. Also by our efforts, backed up by tlio Acclimatisation Society, the opossums in the Wellington district have now been protected, and the destruction of these animals in a cruel and inhumane manner leaves the delinquent liable to prosecution.

•The balance-sheet shows receipts to a total of £498 Os. 3d., including £228 Is. Id., brought forward. Subscriptions and donations amounted to £199 2s. 3d. Payments amounted to £268 9s. 9d., leaving a balanno of £229 }os. Cd. to bo carried forward