The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1868. SPIRIT OF THE SCAB ACT; 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 178, 30 July 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1868. SPIRIT OF THE SCAB ACT; 1868.

We have received several communications from our country subscribers, requesting us to furnish, >for their information, ' a concise and intelligible summary' of the provisions of the new Scab Act, passed during the last Session of the Provincial Council. We have endeavored, as far as possible, to comply with their wishes in this regard, and the following will, we believe, be found to give a sufficiently accurate interpretation for all practical purposes of its various clauses.

Certain portions of the province of Nelson, described as ' the districts comprised in the basins of the Waimea, Takaka, Aorere, and the Motueka below Dovedale, with the Suburban Electoral Districts, and the City of Nelson,' are under stricter scab regulations than the rest of the province, inasmuch as Clause 10 enacts that in these localities, which may be called the clean districts, 'Every owner of sheep infected with scab not having a license from the inspector to hold such diseased sheep shall be liable to a penalty of five shillings for every sheep so infected, unless such owner can show that the infection was so little apparent, that he was unaware of its existence.'

All sheep are deemed to be scabby for which a clean certificate is not held by the owner of the sheep, and hence it follows that any person depasturing sheep in any clean district, must have a clean certificate, if his sheep are clean, and a license, if his sheep are infected, or he renders himself liable to the penalty provided by clause 10. If his sheep are scabby, the license does not protect him from the penalties provided against permitting them to 6tray or be driven, but if his sheep are clean, and he has no clean certificate for them, he is equally liable to these penalties, if he permit them to stray or be driven, as well as the penalties of clause 10.

So much may be called the Act in particular, but there are numerous other clauses which are in operation in every part in the province. These give authority to Inspectors (clause 6) to enter all sheep lands and premises ; (7) to impose an annual payment of one halfpenny per head on all sheep depasturing in the province on the Ist January in each year; (21) empower Inspectors to require the persons in charge of any sheep, whether travelling or depasturing, to give evidence as to their condition ; (22) make it necessary to give 24 hours' notice to the occupier before driving any sheep across his land, or along any public highway passing through a sheeprun, unless it be bounded on both sides by a sheep-proof fence; (24) make it compulsory for sheepowners to give a notice of 24 hours at least to their neighbors before yarding their sheep after mustering them from land not properly fenced; (25) make sheepowners responsible for any loss or damage caused by diseased sheep straying, and in case the owner, after 48 hours' notice, shall not remove them and pay all expenses, &c, or if the owner cannot be found or shall be unknown, permit the Inspector to take possession of them, and cause them to be destroyed or burnt ; (29) impose a penalty not exceeding £50 for every offence, for refusiug to make returns, or (30) for making false returns, not exceeding £100; (31) render the Inspectors

liable to fine and imprisonment in certain cases, such aa making false returns or certificates, and to vacation of their oflice and fine, for exacting auy fee or reward other than those authorised by the Act ; impose penalties for dealing in scabby mutton; for removing sheep from another man's land without his permission; and for wilfully communicating the disease called scab.

The regulations for the admission of sheep into any of the clean districts (except the Amuri) may be summed up as follows: — On arriving at any district where the 9th and 10th clauses are in operation, the person in charge must get his sheep inspected by the Inspector, who will have them dipped aud branded with the Government brand, aud grant a clean certificate; but the fees must be paid be" fore the certificate is giveu.

It appears to us that sheep coming from Marlborough, Motueka Valley, &c, will under the new Act get through with one dip, if clean, and as many dips as the Inspector thinks necessary, if infected. The travelling permits, and the Inspectors' mileage fees are now abolished. In addition to the several dips requisite for infected flocks, it would appear from the 12th clause that a penalty not exceeding ss. per sheep is also incurred for driving them along the public road.

Before a clean certificate can be granted to any sheepowner, it is now required by the 1 9th clause that he shall be in a position to make a declaration to the effect that his sheep have not applied to any of them any scab-destroying preparation, and that they have not mixed with any scabby sheep for three months previously, whilst by the 13th clause, any person introducing sheep into any clean district, contrary to the provisions of the Act, is liable to a penalty of not less than five shillings per head for every sheep so introduced, provided that in case the number of sheep be less than 400, any sum short of £100 may be exacted. We believe that this is a fair and correct outline of the leading provisions of tbe new Scab Act, as it now stands, but we would suggest that those of our readers who are interested in the subject, should provide themselves for their guidance with copies of the Act, which our present summary may probably more intelligible.