THE AFGHAN DIFFICULTY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1953, 31 March 1885, Page 2

THE AFGHAN DIFFICULTY.

(by electric telegraph—copyright.) (rEUTER's TELEGRAMS.) Melbourne, Tuesday. It has transpired that the Government recently received an unofficial warning from Singapore to the effect that several Ruß3ian cruisers had left there and proceeded in a northerly direction, and were again warned on Friday that the Russian ironclad General Admiral (sic)l6guns, 4600 tons, waß at the Cape. In consequence of the news Mr Service communicated with the Premiers of the various colonies in cypher, and it has given rise to an unusual activity in matters of defence. Adelaide, Tuesday. The Government is in communication with Admiral Tryon, commanding the Australian squadron, with regard to' the measures necessary for the protection of Port Darwin, London, March 30, The Daily News publishes a despatch from its St. Petersburg correspondent stating that the reply of the Russian Government to Earl Granville's communication of the 16th is now on the way to London, and. further'that it is couched in conciliatory language likely to lead to a pacific settlement of the difficulty,

.-. OOKJEtESPONDENOK. —♦ THE 49th SECTION OF THE PRE. | \ SENT SHEEP AOT. To the Editor, Sijt,—lf you will allow me space in your columns to have a say in, a matter that was ventilated at the Resident Magistrate's Courtyeaterday morninE; at fclie expense of an unfortunate drover. The person who framed the above section of our Sheep Act must have had very limited knowledgo of what was required, as any ordinary intelligent person acquainted with the working of sheep must know. It is one of the most vague and undefined pieces' of legislation that was ever framed. In the first place you are required to give twenty-four hours notice to any holder of a run where there are sheep depasturing. I endorse this as just and right, but then what is a run ? Is a farmer who owns 50 acres of ground alongside a main road who has left a piece of land unfenced entitled to notice because he keeps a few sheep for mutton for himself ? Then again I was lately driving a mob of sheep where the manager of the run we were aoing through had hi? own ideaa of the Sheep Act (the road, a public one, unfenced and unformed), came with one of his. shepherds and drove us through the run at a pace just doubly too fast for the description of sheep we were driving, The circumstances of the'case are these. A mob of sheep travelling through a run, night falling, it becomes necessary to camp the sheep. The sheep are actually camped partly on the road line, and partly on a sufficient area of. ground alongside the road.' 'ln flic morning there is a bill for I camping, liamely "£3 for 3,000 sheep,! which was subsequently paid to prevent litigation. Now we will put it this way to illustrate the fiasco of the present Sheep Act, Supposing a farmer from Waipawa comes here and buys sheep; he is only acquainted with the road from his journey down here, and he takes it in hand to drive his sheep home, he must fish out the names of all the small farmers that oWn sheep along the road and give legal notice; oi; he qan'assiiredjy bqmulqted in a penalty, on the same ground as Mr Millnian was yesterday.' If any of thq owners of land have unfenced ground and a few of his sheep get over the prescribed widtli of the road- and invariably these small holdershavo wretchedly bad fences'— and travelling'sheep are vory prono'to whcjrj the clrovor'goes'to bring those sheep out he is literally liablo under the reading of the Act as defined by"'the; Resident-'Magis-. trate yesterday morning, 'fcy'the Act it'is' not necessary to give notice to any land owner that there is a 'formed/ vpad running thrqugh his fenced "oi' unfenced, 'but J a]'n inclined tp, tljjrik that if the said owner q'f uj}fenced land got' a small wing (jfanmb flf ajieen over the width of the road, that under the present stringent onfareement of the Slieop Act, the drover would be liable, Then again, there is no provision far boxing, that is to say, when you are going along a formed wad through nnfonued land and you mix with some sheep which are depasturing on this land. Here, if a drover cannot draft them out, what is he to do? Supposing the drover resolves to do what is said'o be the correct thing, and fetches thorn on to the nearest yard and then drafts and has them conveyed to the nearest public pound; should the owner, of these sheep oyertako the drover with the mob and see some of his slieqp amongst them, why, what is there tq prevent a man from going to the extreme of laying an information for sheep-stealing. Now, to revert to Section 49 of the Sheep Act again, I think it would be oonduciveto pastoral interests to have this simplified, as to who to give notice to, the pace you are required to travel with sheep, and the margin you are allowed eaoh side of a road going through uufonced country. In order to do this effectually it would b j a wise plan to revert to one of the old Canterbury; sheep ordinances re 'sheep driving. Notice where it specified that it is'only required to give notice when going through lpcj hel|fr<)m ! the Crown by pastoral lease, as once a man acquires freehold property,'he is naturally expected to fonoe it in, I should he very glad to go according to % Wardeli's interpretation of Section 49, but I live in dread of being brought before otljer Resident' Magistrates who would give it a different interpretation and make me pay for his rendition, _ By giving this publicity you may be instrumental in, effecting an alteration in a matter of much importance ; to many of your readers, and the pastoral i interests of New Zealand in particular. ; i lam, &c., ' h Sheep Drover, 11

PRESENTATION TO REV. L. M. WITT. A farewell entertainment was given by the'members of the Wesleyan Bible and Improvement Class to the Rev. L. M. Isitt, at the Wesleyan schoolroom last night. The programme consisted of songs, recitations, and pianoforte solos, in which Mrs Redman, Misses Galloway, Jago, and Marshall, and Messrs Isitt, Minifie, Smith, R. Hornblow, and E. Hornblow took part. During an interval the rev. gentleman was presented with a gold pencil case, and the following address signed by the members of the Class;— ' ". ' We, the undersigned members of tho ; Wesleyan Biblo and Improvement Class wish hereby to record our sincere esteem and regard for our president, the Rp" L. M. Isitt, who is leaving. Masterton Jte/e have found in Mr Isitt a true frienflmd a patient instructer, and our earnest wish is that his work amongst us may continue to bear fruit long after he has left us, and that in other spheres of labafljfc may enjoy the continual conndence\Htiends, and that his work may be increasingly blessed.