The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1456, 16 October 1878, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1878.

One of the many nuisances which hav assailed the public mind for a considerable time past is generally known by the name of the cattle nuisance. Throughout the year, aud especially at spring time and in the fall when green feed is not plentiful, the bolts of the city, as well as the outside streets, are overrun with horses and cows, owned by persons who derive no small profits from the lax manner in which the police ordinances affecting cattle trespass are practically put into force. And the nuisance is growing apace, notwithstanding the many complaints which one hears on every side. During the week, for instance, residents in the belts aud in Oxford terrace have had especial cause for giving vent to their grievances, and we believe that remonstrances without number have boon made to the police on the subject. Let alone the fact that so unseemly a state of things as wandering horses and cattle being, day after day and night after night, permitted to perambulate the public thoroughfares of the city is unlawful, the damage that these animals do to street channels, aud to the footpaths is a perrons tax upon the City Council. In various places besides, some of the newly laid asphalting has boon considerably cut up, while it is no uncommon occurrence for owners of well kept gardens to find on rising in the morning that their plot has boon tenanted during the nrht hy some prowling beast that had managed to the gate open or taken advantage of its being msecurely fastened. The pod??; WO may state, is hardly tv Jylamo for not seCl’s that the provisions of the la\v in respect of cattle trespass within the city ftp

.strictly enforced. As things are done in the Resident Magistrate’s Court in reference to offenders against the Ordinance, the nuisance to which wo allude has attained such proportions as to render it absolutely impossible for the inspector to detail a number of men sufficient for-the duty. As it is, members of the force are continually employed in stock-riding stray animals hero and there, hut to little or no purpose. The root of the evil lies with the Resident Magistrate, who, strange to say, has made it a rule to inflict none --but-r the lowest, penalty in every conviction secured before him. The result of this singular idea is that owners of cattle and horses find it highly profitable to run the risk of being fined the traditional 55.. of Mr, Mellish, especially as that gentleman never thinks of-, increasing the penalty in cases where a whole drove of animals belonging to the same owner is impounded. The absurdity of this way of carrying out the dictum of that especial statute is flagrant and the practice of the last few years has abundantly proved its fallacy. When Mr. Inspector Hickson assumed charge of the ‘city police, one of his very first official acts in conjunction with the business of the Magistrate’s Court was to beg the Bench to inflict higher penalties in the case of constant offenders, who, in fact, wore daily customers of the Court. The Inspector spoke in no uncertain terms at the time, as to the absolute necessity existing for making an example of owners of trespassing cattle who, it was well-known, made it a business to turn their aniraals upon the streets night after night, and during the whole of the Sundays, content, as they were, to pay the stereotyped 65., which was but a mere flea-bite,, when they came to balance their books of debit and credit, in reference to the advantage they derived by freefeeding their beasts. The Bench, who listened to the Inspector, was composed of those two well-meaning gentlemen, Messrs. G. L. Lee and Dr. Doamer, J.P.s, who, mirabile dictu, delivered themselves of the extraordinary piece of magisterial wisdom, “ That it was the Resident Magistrate’s custom never to fine more than 5 s for cattle trespass, and that therefore they were bound to follow his lead.” A more ridiculous utterance never fell from the lips of a Bench. Magistrates and judges are expected to be guided solely in their decisions by what they think the circumstances of the cases upon which they immediately sit, demand. No wonder that Mr. Inspector turned dejectedly away, looking volumes if he guardedly never breathed a word. How Mr. Mellish could ever find in his magisterial heart of hearts any satisfactory reason for applying in different ways the operation of different statutes, we cannot imagine. In the usual daily charge sheet, for instance, the previous convictions of all offenders are set out as is the case in the Supremo Court, and before meting out the amount of penalty which follows a new conviction, the Bench invariably weighs the contents of that dossier. Why and wherefore in the case of cattle trespasses, Mr. Mellish should stand alone of all the Resident Magistrates of the colony, in declining to recognise previous convictions is beyond our comprehension. And without a doubt as long as ho perseveres in such an unprecedented mode of carrying out that special piece of legislation, so will that perfect pest, the wandering cattle nuisance, continue to increase to the detriment of the comfort and interests of the law-abiding portion of the community. In Dunedin, we find the City Council have lately been obliged to bring pressure to bear upon the local Bench, although the latter have been in the habit of varying its fines in cattle trespass cases, which, as is well known, was never done by Mr. Mellish here in one single instance. The Mayor of Dunedin officially conveyed to the Resident Magistrate the expressed views of the Council on the subject, drawing his attention to the difficulty which the Corporation officers found in enforcing the bye-laws as regards cattle trespass in the city. “The fines inflicted by the Bench,” said the Mayor, “ for offences of this “ nature are really so trivial as to invite “ offenders to continue wilfully to break “ or evade the law, the benefits derived “ from free grazing considerably out- “ weighing the penalties incurred. There “is considerable vigilance . necessary to “ secure any conviction at all in cases of “ this nature, the ownership of cattle not »being very easily proved. I would “ therefore respectfully suggest to the “ Bench the advisability of inflicting “ heavier fines in those cases than for a “ long season have prevailed; otherwise “ there is not much object in our con- “ tinuing to employ officers to keep “ cattle off the town belt and reserves.” As this ever-recurring nuisance can only be abated by a more vigorous action of the Bench, by which offenders would be practically punished instead of simply diminishing their grazing profits, it would be well if the Christchurch City Council did also take practical steps towards pointing out to Mr. Mellish how his decisions in these cattle trespass cases are sotting at defiance all attempts of the police to bring down an evil by which the interests of the ratepayers as well as those of owners of property continually suffer.