R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1707, 10 June 1884, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

MASTERTON-MONDAY.

(Before H. S, Waedell, R,M.)

Dnimmonnd v Belliss.-Breach of Sheen Act,:' Mr Bunny for, plaintiff, and Mr Beard for defendant,

' Mr Bunny stated that the case was a rehearing granted'at the request of the defendant.

J. Drnmmond, Inspector of the Wairarapa North Sub-division, stated that in March, 1883 he found scab among Mr. Belliss' sheep, and gave notice under the 23rd Section to clean them.

Mr Beard'asked for,a copy of the notice./,. .■:.. . ■;

; Mr Bunny stated that' till recently it had been.unusual for, the Department to retain copies of.notices served, i

Mr Bunny called Mr Hugh Belliss to give evidence as to the order.' ■ -

• 'Mr Beard"': Mr Delliss will not give evidence.',..'-:. T" : m

; ;Mr Bynny,.-: Then Lean call teeondairy evidence. To Mr Drummo'nd rWhuFwere-lhe .contents of the order?

Mr Beard: I object to the question,

:,The Court: What other .course can be, taken,.:''-'. v? ■?::"■ )J

VMr Beard: We have the'order' in ■the-, Whnreama- bat are not ■prepared; to produce it as we expected;it. bo' bo■proved by the information in the usual way.""/.''

Mr Bunny submitted that the Court would assume' under "those circumstances that the order had been issued in a valid f0rm...., ~ ... ._...•■;

Mr Beard, rather than adjourn .the case, waived j.he' ; objection, lie had raised, ....... ..

J. Drummond (continued): "The order .was to .clean .a thousand sheep. found scab among the sheep. Defendant had been dipping between March and December.; 'Ho,gave'defendant notico toimuster but f fclie latter stated that the notice was : too short to comply with. •The age of tho scab was several months old. Witnessdesired defendant to shear in November ..but;, he did not 'do so till January.; -At: that date, including lambs there" wtsre'l 500 sheep in the flock. f The.' sheep; did inofc at the present time bold,a clean .certificate. To Mr; Beard:; He had asked defendant to get 1 his sheep ready for inspection.' The last inspection made was' in December. , He.co'uld not say whether; there was Uvo scab on the sheep at the present ■ time! Defendant •told him that he dipped some rough sheep in April. He. thought it -was not extraordinary for defendant to: dip some sheep to get others out.of the bush.' -But he did noUliink he should : dip thorn when he was expecting a visit from the inspector, It was wise to get rough sheep in' at any time, and'if they had/scab on- them,,to dip them immediately /whether' 'the' Inspector was coming or hot. ■■•• '" Mr Beard: Were you satisfied by the lengtliof the dip '■. / '• -

Witness: No, ' Defendant said lie should put up ut better dip. Mr Beard: You gave defendant notice to muster sheep, ; .'. Witness: 'Yes;-and it' was about four days after whenl was up.. , Mr Beard: The ground is bad for dipping at . - Witness: Yes.

\-Mr Beard: When did ..defendant; begin to shear. :

Witness: Jn January. It was the Bth when I wis there; and he had only been a few'days at it...

Mr Beard: Had defendant not shorn 800 sheep before January or December, Witness: I'cannot say, .' ; Mr Beard: The shearing season was very bad? Witness:' Yes

Mr Beard: Was all shearing in the Whareania done before the Ist Jan, ••Witness; No; All infected sheep were'shorn before Bth January. Mr Bunny: ; Are there largo sheepowners adjoining defendant's property. Witness: Yes. Mr Bunny: Aro there any infected sheep,on those runs 1, , \ ;' Witness: Yes, Mataikuna station finished in November as far as I remember, but Inspector Smith would know, If Mr Bellis had taken any trouble he might have got his sheep shorn, but he complained of having no night shed,.and all I wanted was to get the sheep clean, Mr Bunriy : Did defendant ask you to inspect the portion of the flock he had not dipped. . :.' Witness:. I, gave him fourteen days to muster them and then Inspector Smith saw tlinin. Defendant' was present oil the 14th March, but not on the 12th. : .' ■■'■■'■

The Court; Can you form any opinion of the condition of the flock. Witness: No,.as those'l saw were stragglers, '' The Court: Do you know how Ion" defendant has had this land in the Whareama district;

Witness: I don't exactly know, per haps 6 or 8 years,

The Court; Has lie hud scab bofore, . Witness: Yes and he has had infected sheep on all the stations round him, '

Samuel Keith Ilaleigh, called for defendant, deposed that he had been on Mafcaiknna station for 3 years, and the sheep were all shorn with tho exception of stragglers before the end of October and stragglers were finished about the end. of December. It was rather a rough-rim to muster on. To Mr Bunny: The weather was bad in November, bntit would be as easy to muster the sheep on Mrßellis's land as on Matajkuna. .The Mafaikuna sheep ambed from September to January; We had to shear the ewes while in lamb.

Inspector Wallace Smith stated that •he inspected the sheep oii Bejlis's rtin in January, and ho had to take charge of the (lipping. He was there in December, and inspected defendant's sheep, which wero scabby, and two or three which he caught were infected more or less with old scab, this was on Saturday December 8. To Mr Beard: It was in December, when he saw 200 or 300 sheep which were infected, ■•■•. He - caught them on Belliss' by the hind. leg. He only caught three. Mr Bellis was not with him at the time,'and when he next saw them they wero infected, Mr Bunny: VYou wero present at a dipping after that, ,■?•-;. Witness: !i 7 es, ; aud there were,some infected- then. This was in January last.

Mr Beard: Did you think they had been dipped straight offikeshears 5 . Witness-; Sqmo.ofthem looked as. if : theyjiad. ■. Mrj.Belliss was shearing in December and January. The month of November was'bad for shearing, , Mr Beard-: Since you., were in the Wliareahiitdistrict'tliis is the first time you know of Mr Belliss' sheep having scab?. ;.■■ ■:.■:■■■■. Witness: Yes. Mr Bunny: Shearing was going ou in December 1 ■ ; Witness: Yes, 1 believe so Those sheep you caught, wore they stragglers!. ; .. .-,.;■ '., ; ■•■•No-'; they were from the flock.: • Hugh Belliss called for the defence, recounted,tho, dilliculties he,had met with, jn ..cleaning;: his slieep. the state of the river obliged him to postpone shearing from time to 'time.. "■■'■■

.The Court,reduced thp;fine of,six : pence per sh'eep inflicted "at the first hearing' : to, fivepencej Von i tho ground that less negligence had been shown than was in the first instance apparent.