ILL-TREATMENT OF HORSES.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1919, Page 7

ILL-TREATMENT OF HORSES.

LOCAL EXPRESSMAN--FINED. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr. A; CSrooke, S.M., Wesley Hooker, carrier, was charged wtyh driv- *"** a horse in an ei'press when the **W animal was not in a fit condition **-Vork, and also with working a horse *™ a sore shoulder. The informations ■ ve *ft brought by the inspector for the ;""tety f or t ], e p re v e ntion of Cruelty

■ Animals, for whom Mr. R. C. Hughes fcppeared. Defendant pleaded not guilty to both charges, and was represented by Mr. P..E. Wilson. The inspector (Ralph Collins) said on the 19th February ho saw defendant in Currie Street working a bay horse in an express. He drew Constable Hsdler's attention to the horse and they went to see it together. The horse had a sore on its hip, and was in very poor condition and not fit to work. It was a very old animal. Defendant also had a roan horse in the express which had an open sore, about an inch in diameter, on the shoulder. The horse wan lame then, and remained lame until to-day. He drew defendant's attention to the condition of the horse, but he said the horae was all right.

To Mr. Wilson: His business was not to know what was the matter with a horse; it as sufficient for his purpose as inspector that the horse was being driven while lame.

Constable Hadlcr, Fitzroy, in corroborating the evidence of the inspector, said the sore on the bay horse appeared to have had nothing done to it. No disinfectant had been used, or anything done to keep the flies away from it. He said the lameness of the roan horse might have been due to being newly shod.

To Mr. Wilson: The sore on the bay horse looked as if the horse had rubbed itself against some sharp object on account of some irritation. These were cuts across it, some of them two or three inches long, and the flies were in the wounds.

To Mr. Hughes: There was no sign of the wounds on the horses having been treated in any way. The inspector, re-called, said he had seen the roan horse that morning in the police yard. The sore had healed up. It was still lame—in fact it had not a leg to stand on. To Mr. Wilson: He had not tcstedsit; he simply looked at it; that was sufficient for him.

Defendant, in evidence, said when the inspector came to see his roan horse on February 19, it had a heat spot on the shoulder. Heat spots broke, and he used a certain cure for such troubles. The directions with the cure said that the horse should be worked while being treated. The lameness was due to shoeing, and he had had the shoe taken oft" since and the lameness had disappeared. Tn regard to the bay horse he admitted the hair was rubbed of the rump, but there was no sore. It was an old horse, and was only worked on slack days. To Mr. Hughes: He had had the bay horse several years, and knew it was an old one.

Mr. Hughes submitted that the case was proved, but that as it was not an aggravated case he did not press for a heavy penalty.

A fine of 10s in each case was imposed, with costs amounting to £1 15s.