THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, July 4,1846.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 226, 4 July 1846, Page 70

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, July 4, 1846.

Journal* become more necenary as men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty : they maintain civilization. D« TocauiviLLß. Of Democracy in America, vol. iv., p. 200.

We beg to call the attention of our readers to the following Hints for Ordinances affecting several matters of loyal importance in the settlement of Nelsonj proposed to be laid before his Excellency the LieutenantGovernor, in accordance with his desire expressed to a body of settlers on his late visit to Nelson. I, — A n Ordinance to prevent the Spreading

of Contagious Diseases among Sheep.

1. The owner of any sheep diseased with the scab, or other contagious or infectious malady, who shall negligently or intentionally suffer the same to be upon or to pass over any land, except such as may belong to himself or over which he may have an exclusive liberty of pasture, to be liable to a penalty of £ ' for every such offence.

2. In any case where it may be proved that other sheep have contracted disease by coming into contact with such diseased sheep, or by passing over any land where the diseased sheep have been so negligently or intentionally suffered to be, the justices of the peace before whom the information may be laid may award that the owner of such diseased sheep shall pay to the owner of the sheep contracting the disease from them such sum not exceeding £ as may to such justices of the peace, on the evidence of some competent witness, appear a fair and reasonable compensation for the damage done : provided always that it shall not be obligatory on the party injured to accept of such compensation, but he may resort to any other legal remedy instead ; but if he do accept it, and it be duly paid, it shall be final.

3. No sheep diseased as aforesaid to travel along any road or over any unfenced lands (excepting such as may be beyond the limits of any district in which sheep are depastured for the time being) in any other month than February ; and the owner of all diseased sheep travelling during that month shall be required to give notice in writing to the occupier of any land or sheep run where sheep are usually depastured, and along or over which it may be intended to drive such diseased sheep, at least two clear days before doing so. Penalty and compensation as in sections 1 and 2. [This provision is adopted from the New South Wales act. It may be questionable to what time the travelling should be limited.]

4. No diseased sheep to be allowed to travel in the month of February except by such roads or ways as may be determined by two justices of the peace; and notice whereof to be given in the local newspaper (if any), or by notice in writing posted in some public and conspicuous place, at least one month before.

5. Any person forsaking or abandoning any sheep diseased as aforesaid, either on a public road or elsewhere, to be liable to a penalty of £ . 6. Any such diseased sheep found at large, for which no owner can be discovered, may be impounded in any public or private pound ; and, if not claimed and all penalties, compensation, and expenses incurred under the ordinance (including the expenses of impounding and keeping) paid within .one week after the same shall have been advertised in the local paper, if any, or, if there be no such paper, by notice posted on some public and conspicuous place, the same may be sold by auction, and the proceeds, after deduction of such penalty, compensation, and expenses as might have been inflicted if the owner had appeared, shall be held for the benefit of snch owner if he shall claim the same within twelve months ; otherwise shall be paid into the Colonial Treasury nnd the owner barred.

7. Before any sheep imported into the colony shall be allowed to land, they shall be examined by a person to be appointed for that pu/pose by the Lieutenant-Go-vernor, and if found diseased as aforesaid they shall be disembarked only on such quarantine ground as may be appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor, and there shall remain till declared by such person as afore-

said to be free from such disease. Penalty £ for every twenty sheep.

8. The person who for the time being shall have the control of the sheep, to be deemed the owner within the meaning of this ordinance.

9. All penalties and compensation to be recoverable in a summary way, and such penalties to go to her Majesty's Treasury, &c.

10. The ordinance only to come into operation in such districts and at such periods as the Lieutenant-Governor shall appoint by proclamation.

II, — An Ordinance to prevent Entire Ani-

mals from going at large.

1. The owner of any male cattle, sheep, horse, ass. mule, goat, or swine not castrated, which shall be negligently or intentionally suffered to be at large in or upon any lands not belonging to such owner or over which he may have an exclusive liberty of pasture, to be liable to a penalty of £ for every such offence.

2. Any such male animal as aforesaid found at large may be impounded in any public or private pound, and may there be detained till the owner shall have paid the penalty and all costs under this ordinance, and all reasonable expenses of impounding and keeping the said animal, or until sold as hereinafter directed.

3. That when any such animal shall have been impounded, advertisement of the same, giving a description of the animal and stating the time when and the places where taken and impounded, shall be inserted in some local newspaper as soon after such impounding as may conveniently be, or, if there be no such paper, by notice posted in some public and conspicuous place.

4. That if such animal be not redeemed within one fortnight from the appearance of such advertisement, the same may be sold by public auction, and after payment of the penalty and all costs and expenses under this ordinance, the balance shall be held for the owner if he shall claim the same within twelve months, but if not, then shall be paid into the Colonial Treasury and the owner barred.

5. Penalties to be summarily recovered, and to go to her Majesty's Treasury, &c.

111. — An Ordinance to prevent Injury arising

from Trespass by Cattle, fyc.

Repeal the ordinance 7 and 8 Victoria, No. 19, now in force, which will revive 5 Victoria, No. 16, limiting the remedy to cases of trespass on lands substantially fenced ; and add full powers of impounding and selling. Enact also that mere lawful possession of the land where the trespass is committed shall authorize the impounding, without its being necessary to show a freehold title.

IV. — An Ordinance to prevent Injury and Nuisance by Dogs. 1. The clerk of the magistrates to keep a book for the registration of dogs. 2. All dogs to be registered therein. 3. On the registration of any dog habitually employed in tending sheep (or cattle ?), of which fact the party registering may be required to make oath, a fee of one shilling shall be payable to the registrar for his trouble. On the registration of all other dogs a fee of ten shillings shall be payable, one shilling to go to the registrar, the balance to the Colonial Treasury. 4. All unregistered dogs may be destroyed by any person whomsoever. 5. Any person maintaining or having in his following any unregistered dog, to be liable to a penalty of for every week in any part of which he shall maintain or be followed by such dog, to be summarily recovered on the information of any person, and go to her Majesty's Treasury. 6. The registration book to be open to inspection during the usual hours of business at the Police Office, on payment of sixpence, to go to the registrar for his trouble. 7. In any action for damages which may be brought against the owner of a dog for injury done by such dog, it shall not be necessary for the plaintiff to prove that the owner of such dog knew of its propensity to commit the injury complained of. But the defendant may offer evidence to show that it was not to be presumed from the nature of his dog that it was likely to commit such injury, and such evidence may go in mitigation of damages if the jury shall think proper.* * N.B.— This clause is repugnant to the law of England, which, by the charter, the colonial laws ought not to be, unless where the peculiar circumstances of the colony require it, which in this case they seem to do* At all events, half the laws in

the New Zealand Ordinance Book are open to the same objection, and this may be allowed to pass as well as the others.

V. — An Ordinance to apportion the Expense

of Mutual Fences, fyc.

1. Where two or more persons shall have lands contiguous or adjacent, and one of them shall construct a fence, ditch, drain, or other improvement on his own land, or connected therewith, which shall be substantially beneficial to such contiguous or adjacent lands, the owners of such contiguous or adjacent lands shall bear such part of the expense of the same as may be proportioned to the benefit derived by them.

2. That if the parties cannot agree as to the proportion of expense to be borne by each, within one month after notice in writing given to the party sought to be charged, the same shall be referred to two indifferent persons, one to be appointed by each party; and if such referees cannot agree, then by such third person as such referees shall by writing appoint before their entering on the reference : provided that if the party to be charged, or his agent competent to act, shall for one fortnight after request in writing made to him refuse or neglect to appoint a referee, or if such party to be charged shall be absent from the colony without having such an agent as aforesaid resident therein, it shall be lawful for the other party to appoint a referee on his own account, who shall appoint another on behalf of the party to be charged, and the two so appointed shall choose an umpire and proceed to make their award as if they had been respectively appointed by the parties. The referees or umpire to make their or bis award in writing within one month from the appointment of the umpire, or within such enlarged time not exceeding three months as they may by writing appoint, and shall on payment of their expenses deliver an original part thereof to either party requiring the same.

3. That the award so made shall be conclusive between the parties ; and the amount awarded, together with a proportionate part of the expenses of reference and award, may be recovered in any of her Majesty's courts in New Zealand, according to the jurisdiction thereof in respect of amount, and the same, until paid, shall be a charge upon the lands in respect of which the same is awarded, and may be distrained for thereon on the warrant of a justice of the peace, to be issued as a matter of right on the part of the distrainor, on view of the award or a certified copy thereof at any time within twenty years after the making of such award : provided that no such distress shall be lawful unless the award shall have been enrolled in one of her Majesty's Courts of Record in New Zealand within six months of the making thereof.

4. The same provisions to apply to the keeping up and repairing of fences and drains, &c, when made.

Vl.— An Ordinance to prevent Injury by

incautious Firing of Bush, Fern, <ye.

1. When any person shall negligently or intentionally, with or without malice, set fire to any fern, bush, scrub, or other combustible vesture of the soil, whether on his own land or on any other, and such fire shall spread to the damage of any property, real or personal, belonging to any other person, the owner of the property so damaged may recover compensation not exceeding £20 on the award of a justice of the peace : provided that the party recovering such compensation shall not be barred thereby from any other remedy for an excess of damage beyond the amount awarded, nor shall the payment thereof release the party causing such fire from the criminal consequences (if any) of his act.

It was rumoured in town yesterday that intelligence of two further engagements between the troops and the natives, in the neighbourhood of Wellington, had been brought by a canoe arrived from Porirua. We learn, on inquiry, that the story has been greatly exaggerated, the facts being tnese : — A party of Massacre Bay natives, returning from Porirua, where they have been visiting their friends, arrived at Wakapuaka, we believe, on Thursday, and related that an officer and some soldiers had been tomahawked in the Hutt, since the engagement on the 16th of May, and their bodies thrown into the river. No definite number is stated ; but it is believed not to be greater than two or three. No body of natives had joined Ranghiaiata ; and several tribes, supposed to have been hostile to the Europeans, have declared their iutention to take no part in the quarrel.

We learn from the same source that to c'e ' Governor had not arrived at Wellington tfa c latter end of last week. At Taupo, a number of natives, suppose I to be upwards of fifty, lately took shelter i n a cave during a thunder storm, and while there the earth above gave way and burie i the whole alive. A party was despatched to Wellington to procure shovels to dig or t their remains.

We are glad to find that our settlers have been busily engaged during the late lovel y weather in getting in their wheat. In the Waimea, we are told, considerably moie will be grown than last year, and as it wl 1 generally have been sown early, no fear need be entertained for the crop. A novol circumstance in farming has taken place 1 1 Allington within the last fortnight. Mr. Duppa has cut, carried, and thrashed near fifty acres of wheat and barley, which had been sown unusually late, in consequence of the scarcity of seed at the proper season. Both crops, though light, were perfectly ripe and saved in good condition.