The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays) SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1878.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 312, 13 April 1878, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays) SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1878.

Draft copies are being circulated by Government, of a Bill entitled “ An Act to provide for the Eradication of Scab in Sheep,” and which it is intended to make law during next session. The Bill is presented as reported by the Sheep and Cattle Bill Committee, 30th October, 1877, and may therefore ho looked upon as acceptable to the framers, and a considerable portion of the members of the General Assembly. Acts and Ordinances from the year 1819 to 187G, are wholly, or partly repealed by proposed new Act. Many of the provisions and. penalties common to Sheep Ordinances are retained, but important • additions, are made, or at any rate, which are now here, with which it would be, well for all sheep owners to make themselves acquainted. , Generally, the intention of the Bill is to give power to the Governor to form districts convenient for inspection, each district to pay all its own expenses, and with very stringent regulations, with heavy penalties in regard to scabby sheep. Clause 8 provides that “ The Governor, by proclamation in the Gazette, may from time to time establish and define such, and so many districts, as he shall think fit to bo districts under this Act, and to part the same into subdivisions. To each such district and subdivision, there shall, in the proclamation defining it, be attached such name as the Governor shall think fit, and by which name it shall be thereafter known. Every such district or subdivision may, from time to time in like manner be altered or constituted anew, i.i such manner as the Governor may think fit.” Runs on the borders of different districts may bo included in one or other of the adjoining districts, as may be decided by the Governor. Such a provision as clause S being" in oj:>erat{on, .would readily allow of readjustment, under altered circumstances, and prevent the recurrence of the double authority, which at present exists in Patea County, with the Taranaki Inspector on the one hand, and the Wanganui Inspector on the other. The Governor will have the appointment and removal ot Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors. u If any Inspector of Sheep to he appointed, as hereinbefore provided, shall willfully make any false report, or deliver any false certificate, as to the condition of any sheCp examined by him, he shall be liable to a penalty of not less than twenty pounds, nor exceeding one hundred pounds, or to bo imprisoned for any term not exceedingsix calendar months. If any Inspector of Sheep shall, under color of his office or employment, exact or accept any fee or reward whatsover, other than his authorized salary or allowance, his office shall, on his conviction of such offence, become ipso facto vacant, and he shall be liable to a penalty of fifty pounds.” Such a clause as the above should be a guarantee against anything in the shape of political or inefficient appointments. The responsibility on Inspectors is so great, as to make any person, not thoroughly satisfied as to his competency for the position, hesitate before accepting office, while the penalty for any show of favoritism is so great, that self-interest alone would prompt the most avaricious or unscrupulous of men to do the square thing. If the Inspector is in doubt as to condition of any sheep, he may call upon the owner to make a declaration that a complete ' muster has been made, with a statement of number and condition. For refusing to make declaration in prescribed form, owner may bo fined fifty pounds; for making false declaration, the liability is one hundred pounds or six month’s imprisonment. It will be the duty of the Chief Inspector of any district to publish once a month, a list of all stations on which there are at that time .any sheep infected with scab or catarrh. Returns of sheep owned will have to be furnished annually in the month of April, the penalty for neglect being twenty pounds. The prhvisions for rating are as follows—“ The Chief Inspector shall, in the month of June in every year, transmit to the Colonial Treasurer a statement compiled from the returns furnished, in pursuance of the preceding section, of the whole number of sheep shorn within the .district,, and the Colonial Treasurer shall thereupon strike a rate to be paid for every sheep, of sufficient amount to pay the whole expenses of the department of the Inspector of Sheep for the then current financial year, and shall cause notice of such rate having been struck, to be given in the Gazette. In determining the amount of the rate to be struck, the Colonial Treasurer shall deduct from the expenses aforesaid, the amount of any fines and penalties paid to the consolidated fund in respect of disease in sheep, under authority of “ The Financial Arrangements Act, 1876,” daring the then preceding financial year.” If rate is not paid before Ist clay of August, it may be recovered summarilly in any Court of

competent jurisdiction. We do not think the provisions of the above clause will meet with very general approval in this, or other similarly situated districts, and it would be' more satisfactory that the present plan, oven if a higher rate was fixed, should be continued. In wide, and old established districts, with numerous large owners, or in districts of small area, with comparatively few but large owners, < as in Raugitikei, there could be no objection to the whole of the expense being obtained by means of -a sheep rate. In scattered districts like Wanganui, Patea, and Taranaki, with a large number of small owners, expenses borne wholly by rate, would be almost sufficient to crush the sheep farming industry, Raugitikei, a small, compact district, contains nearly 300.000 sheep. Taranaki, extending from White Cliffs, over nearly 100 miles of almost unoccupied (partly native, and partly Government) land, and including Patea, has considerably under 100,000 sheep, the greater portion of which arc at this end of the district. A moderate sheep rate would enable Raugitikei comfortably to pay all expenses. It would require a heavy sheep rate in Taranaki, to cover all costs. On account of frequent shipments from New Plymouth and Waitaia, it is almost necessary there should be a resident* Inspector at Taranaki. Patea, forming part of the Taranaki Provincial District, has, until the late temporary arrangement, been visited at intervals by the Taranaki Inspector, who necessarilly incurred heavy travelling expenses, in addition to losing much time in passing over long stretches of land unoccupied by sheep or Europeans. According to the proposed new Act the whole of this unproductive travelling expenditure will fall on owners in the form of an increased sheep tax. As sheep are largely (considering the population) fattened for export, it is of the utmost importance that this district should have the advantage of thorough and efficient inspection, to prevent the posibility of diseased cheep being travelled tu uthov parts. It is a matter of colonial importance that scab and other cattle diseases should be kept under, and we hardly think it fair that the progress of new districts should be so heavily handicapped as is proposed to bo done by the new Sheep Act. A uniform tax throughout the colony would come light, and while scarcely being felt by large and old established sheep districts, would enable newly settled districts to develope the sheep farming industry, and so directly and indirectly contribute to thejgeueral advancement of the colony. TV ith the facilities to he afforded by the new Act for the formation and variation of districts, according to requirements, the unsatisfactory state of affairs which has arisen on this coast is not likely to recur, or if it should, could he easily remedied. We feel sure that saddling each district, as at present formed, with the whole cost of sheep inspection, will be a serious blow to the developoment of the natural resources of this, and similar districts, and trust that Patea will do its share towards obtaining such modifications as will facilitate its progress in the direction of sheep farming.