R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1898, 26 January 1885, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

■ TINUI.—FRIDAY. ', (Before. JlvMaunseli, and R. Lanqdon, J.P.'s." Richard Kyffin Eenrickwaachaiged'on the information of. Sydney .Greenland that he did, on or about the 10th day of Nov. last, felonously steal,.- take,,:«id lead away,, one-haygeldirig, tlie'property <?f the-said Sydney Greenland;:;., Mr Beard' for the prosecution, Mr Skipper for accused. The evidence was chiefly that of - native witnesses, produced for the purpose of proving- the. ownership of the horsei' The Court dismissed the information; 1 considering that tho case was one for a civil action and not for a felony. William Street and two other men were charged with having followed their ordin-. ary occupation and worked .on' a Sunday. The alleged, offence was that defendants' unloaded and re-loaded certain'timber on a dray on a Sunday, Mr Beard appeared for tho defendants ind explained that it was hecessary that the timber- should be remdved from the dray to enable the de--feudants to load some wool on to the dray ! so that could §over it the rain whioh was commencing, The Court dismissed the; information in the first case, and' the .Constable' withdrew, the remainder. : . •- MASTERTON,—MONDAY,

(Before H, S;'• Wardeli, R,M.) V; ?ho!nsen (1 v J. ; Andersen,—Debt £4, three pounds being for;the;'-use of two. horses, and the price' of a whip 2os, ■ Mr Bunny for defendant. The defence waa that the liorae hire Au'e was only 30s, and the whip was worth only about 3s 6d. Defendant lirtd ofiered to pay the plaintiff at Mauriceville, but the latter refused his-money, saying that he would put him to further expense. Judgement for £3los and costs.

E.C.: Hood.v Caspar Meir.—Charge of stealing two sheep, Talued at £l, between December ), 1884, arid January 5,1885, •ill 1 Dreyer acted as interpreter for the accused. Defendant said lie found the sheep on his own land lying dead, and that in Switzerland, where he came from, he was entitled to any animals found dead in such a manner.

Mr Beard for the information asked the Court to caution the accused as to the difference between the laws in New Zealand and Switzerland. Mr Hood did not desire to press tho charge and would withdraw it if it was understood that the offence would not be repeated, The Court agreed to allow :the information to bo withdrawn cautioning.the defendant that only wild animals • were the property of the person onwho3e landthey W6re found, - Drummond v H. Bellias. -Breach of Sheep Act, Mr Bunny for informant, and Mr Beard for defendant, who pleaded not guilty. The case for the informant-waa that on the 9th of June defendant was fined for failing-to'Clean his sheep in compliance with an order served upon him, and six months after the flock was'still infected.

John Drummond deposed that on the 11th and 1 12th December he inspected defendant's flock and fQUP.d two aheep scabby. : The scab was not very old. The state of the flock was scabby, and had been scabby the whole time, The area of therun was-about 2500 acres, Messrs' Maunsell, Hon. J. Johnston, Mataikuna, and other large runs'adjoin, These runs 'are-large and; the Hocks on them aro clean.

■Cross-examined by Mr Beard': One ,o\ye and one lainb was allhe found scabby. ;o'Utof 1200; He -had- seen the aliaop betweon June and December but had not examined- them. There -'was * something wrong that he could not bring to light, au'd he judged that%6ft.bby sheep had beenor otherwise. new. ; R.Q»b would not have turned up, The sheep could be. mustered well oriough',. if ."Mr Belljss attended to. them instead of running away to Road Boards, and County Councils, and .'neglecting, his run..' Insects' speedily die .after the sheep is killed, Although he did not consider the insects would.last throe weeks, he did not con, aider it aafe to turn cheep on the ground for. three.'months, ; In answer to the Court.

He had made it'his business to study the question and he waa 1 of opinion that most inßects would mostly be found dead after 24 hours, he should say a fortnight would find them totally destroyed. Mv Beard for. the defence .argued that Inspector Drummond having" in his evidence acknowledged that he had given his opinion up to the 10th December, the sheep were clean and having done so he conlcj not come into Court and obtain a conviotion by an opinion in the opposite direction. /

His -Worahip iaid the .point raised was very ingenious but he could not entertain it. '/' Hugh Belliss deposed that he defendant in the case. Oh the 10th of December he was firmly of opinion that his flock was entirely froe from scab and he had examined them with Inspector Vallance who found no scab and exposed an opinion that.they were right. Mr Drummond found a lamb with a scab about the size of his hand which scab was about six weeks old and on the ewe the soab was only - the size of half-a-crown, His fences were not in bad repair as' stated by Mr- Drummond,. There was one hundred acre patch: of. Government land bad, broken, bush, which he had great difficulty in getting his sheep out of. By the Court: He had not; dipped his sheep from the date of the, Conviction, to the end of December.. ■ . .

By Mr Bunny :The Government patch was a timbor reserve which he would not have at a gift for the clearing, He was never urged'by any inspector to get his shearing done earlier. Mr Drum.-. mond was, not correct in stating the sheep was more scabby than the lamb. His Worship inflicted a penalty .of £25.. and cosjis payment.to be made on 'or lie*'fore the;'2nd of FebriiSty.'.J . aVtsecopd." caed" "betwpen the Baaj. partiea. Mr.Bunny .said the Inspector aakej the Court.'for an.order.enabling him to" enter the defendants property for the pur-'

pose of cleaning the defendants flock and. lor the expenses in connection therewith. Mr Bunny said defendant was a small flock-owner surrounded by large runholders whoso, flocks were larger and had been cleaned at a great cost; These neighbours were liable, to become infected thntygh 'the' tfeglec't' 'or : lnabilitjr ; of-"ti» defetfaß to keep his rilfr ciean. : iy ;the fences were not in repair. fls.far.Lw. a' - •Becured'b6uridary,-and ; there was. : eiMiihger of contagion and he would.in consequence ask' the Court to make..the order. The step'w.OUld be an advantage : to. the defendant ahd-lfe'would be fitted thereby. ... ■ Inspector Drummond-' was: sworn and ; stated he knew the; defends;'® 'htij'e" been in possession of his land for Bor 9." years, and it'hnd years. The- most aheeft iTefendani " • eter reported, was 1530. ; fliere . nothing to' prevent the.run being : cleaned**/ if pjrpmpt'measurett9rßSken.;-.'Witiieaa p .and . others' had'goffered 7 - '4o - assist defendant" in':' cleattiiig . his. 1 run, but he had declined. 'If v ''M'eh v ftn order were made .ai the ongjppliedjnr. '■' there would not be .iinv tdiftioufrißk ! speedily cleaning:" : " tiling he would do" would bo;>|o)pufc.ti» fence in repair.- «...// Hlb Worship said/he was nutprepared to make an. orderfor -'the. jslmrgeaJr incurred in fencing' round-and/Buboiviling. the.iun'.. 'Alkapplicant had wasthe;negle'ct : otdefendant,.'., v p:..U*v. (Left Sitting) H"1