SALE OF GAME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 September 1938, Page 11

SALE OF GAME

TWO DEFENDANTS FINED HEAVILY. FORMER ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY OFFICIALS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) BLENHEIM, August 31. Fines, costs and fees totalling £69 were imposed by Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning upon Robert Henry Gridley, Blenheim, wood sawyer, and Walter Frederick Millard, Riverlands, farm manager, who both pleaded guilty to three charges of selling native grey duck to Wellington hotelkeepers. Both defendants were former officials of the Marlborough Acclimatisation Society, Gridley being immediate past-presi-dent and an honorary ranger, and Millard a past-member of the council of the society and an honorary ranger. Proceedings were taken under the Animal Protection and Game Act by the Acclimatisation Society’s ranger and concerned the dispatch of cases containing ducks marked “dead rabbits” from Blenheim railway station on May 7 and 24. Millard was charged with selling ducks to Thomas Coltman, Wellington, hotelkeeper, on May 7 and 24, and Sidney McDonald, another Wellington hotelkeeper, on May 7. Gridley was charged on identical counts. The packages weighed one hundredweight, three-quarters of a hundredweight and two quarters 201 b. respectively. Fines imposed on Gridley amounted to £3O, with costs £7 19s, and Millard was fined a total of £25. with costs £6. Mr A. A. McNab, for the Acclimatisation Society, stressed the seriousness of the offences, particularly because defendants had both held prominent offices in the society, the integrity of whose administration they had stained. The offences' were also viewed seriously because the sales had been on a commercial basis. It would be appreciated that offences of this nature were particularly difficult to detect and obtaining proof had involved inquiries extending over a long period. People were very reluctant to give information about offences of this nature. In the sales of ducks sums totalling £l2 8s 9d had been received. The maximum penalty of £25 on each charge was asked for. Mr Maunsell: “You ask for £75?” Mr McNab: “Without hesitation.” Counsel for defendants, Mr A. M. Gascoigne, pointed out that it was the first prosecution under the Act in this district for a great many years. Millard knew the sale of native ducks was illegal, but restrictions had not been enforced for a very long time and accordingly he believed the offence was not looked upon seriously. Mr Maunsell: “Why, then, did he mark the case ‘dead rabbits.’ ” Referring to the case of Gridley, Mr McNab said it was this defendant who negotiated the sales. Coltman gave information only when he discovered Gridley’s official connection with the society. Had he known the position, Coltman had said, he would never have dealt with him. Gridley was fully cognisant of what he was doing. He had been in charge of the administration of the Act in the district and knew the efforts being made to stop the practice. He was not entitled to any consideration whatever.