The Globe. MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1536, 20 January 1879, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1879.

In 7 Saturday’s issue particulars wore given of a case of gross brutality to cattle on the railway lino, a number nf beasts having been literally suffocated through being tightly packed in unsuitable waggons. Now without saying who is most to blame in this matter, the shipper of the cattle, the railway authorities, or somebody else, we must urge that it is high time such exhibitions of cruelty were summarily put a stop to. In last session of the Assembly an Act was passed for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which would precisely lit this case. In the fifth clause of that Act it is provided that any person slaughtering, branding, convoying, or carrying, or causing or procuring to bo slaughtered, branded, convoyed, or carried, any animal iu such a manner or position as to subject such animal to unnecessary pain or suffering shall Go hold to bo ill-treating, abusing, and torturing such animal [within the meaning of the Act. The fourth clause provides that for every such offence Iho offender shall bo liable to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. It will, wo presume, hardly be contended that to pack cattle in a railway in such a way as iu one case to cause the death of live out of eight in a journey of six hours is not subjecting them to unnecessary suffering. Again it is certain that any who authorised this cruelty would come withiu the meaning of the Act, and be liable to the penalty. Wo are by uo means anxious to fasten the blame ou any particular person iu tno matter, although there would doubtless be small difficulty in doing so. What wo want to know is, why, with such an Act, ou the statute book, and with such a glaring infraction ot it before their eyes, the police at Lyttelton have remained impassive 7 What is the use of Acts? What is the use of the Attorney-General or aujone else bestowing their lime on “ social legislation,” if the law is not enforced ? The Act to which wo refer is an excellent one. but it looks very much as if it was to remain a dead letter, like multitudes ol other useful enactments ot former years, simply because those who are appointed to carry out the law iu such matters do not choose to stir. Is it possible that the Constabulary Department are actually afraid to interfere iu anything where the Railway Department appears to bo concerned ? If so. the sooner an Act is passed definitely indamnifying the latter department against broaches of tbo Law for which ordinary citizens are liable to fine or imprisonment, the better. Shams are always abominable, find it is a china to nretcud Unit there is

any real care for the suffering of animals when such an incident as that described can occur without any stops being taken to prevent its recurrence. But ibis is not the only instance in connection with the export of cattle in which detestable cruelty has of late been shown. A few weeks ago attention was directed to the mode in which a lot of beasts were put on hoard a. vessel, a bare rope being used in place of a proper sling. In that case the Railway Department did not appear to ho immediately concerned; and yet no notice whatever was taken of the proceedings by the police, who could not have failed to bo aware of doings that woro the talk of the port, and were freely condemned by all humane people there. The real position of the matter seems to bo this:—lf a cab-driver or waggoner drives a lame or sore horse, or flogs his animal unduly, an information is laid fast enough : but if a merchant or railway official commits cruelty in a wholesale manner, the police straightway go blind. People of position aro not to bo lightly interfered with in these parts, for they all have the power of pulling wires. Now there is scarcely an official in the service who is such a ganglion of wires with ends reaching all over the colony and pulled by all manner of queer folks, as the honorable Colonial Secretary, the present head, worse luck, of the New Zealand Constabulary. Instructions have been given before to-day for the police not to meddlo in certain matters. Wo should, however, bo loth to believe that any such instructions have boon issued in the present instance. But havo any boon issued that the police are to interfere, that they aro to enforce the law, and put an cud to barbarities which disgrace our railways and our port? We strongly commend this question of the carriage and shipment of cattle to the attention of Commissioner Broham, believing that if the fussy old fogey at the head of affairs has left him free to act, whether the offender bo rich or poor, freeman or official, there will bo nu manner of difficulty in stopping such brutalities as those complained of. Further, the attention of the public may once again—for about tho tenth time—bo directed to the fact that there is in Victoria a society existing for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, similar to that in the old country, and that there is no manner of reason why a like society should not bo equally successful hero. Of course wo have little expectation that tho idea will he taken up. There might bo a good deal of uuunpleasantness, and possible collision with men of a kind of influence, if the work were heartily entered upon; on the other hand there could hardly be any monetary profit, or an extra feather conferred upon new-dodged gentility by having anything to do with such a project. Therefore tho idea will probably he allowed to rest for a generation or so, and we can but ask that tho police should do their duty in the direction of preventing such occurrences as that of Friday.