THE SUTTON INQUIRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1977, 29 April 1885, Page 2

THE SUTTON INQUIRY.

Ojf resuming at half-past two yesterday, Mr Bayloy was asked who fprwarded. tlie wool containing scab to him, Mr Bayley replied that he. had promised the writer of tho letter not to divulge the name. He had given the Wipe answer to a Committee of the " J|/ir''Suttpu: It is of jmpprjanpp to know thi?. I have fce'ii IjifpieHhaji'a kjUep! belonging tp"'Mp''E. Mpi ; fe4itl}, and payj; pf flj'e sk'p epnfainin'g tlie earmark was serif tp the pulge'ai lin'gtori,.. Tips I ppnsjder was a gej for me, and I wish to know whp wa.s the person that did this, Mr Bayley declined to answer,

In reply to further questions, Mr Bayley said that when he received a letter, pi) the information it contained, .w'enj; tp to look for scab. He tpld'lhsp'eiit.or Urummond tjjat slieep lia| ]).ee^ l 'diyjilge liy'TOnJ: Jif searcKij^g'for it'lie was'iiccompanfed by'ahratjier of 'tljp "gwnp'r of the station, who also helped lum lp Fpun.fi up the sheep. They caught a hogget wether, and his notes showed that the gcab on it was about three months old. ' MpSufton; Could you positively say jt'waj 59 f 1 gppljj pn]y fgrni an ppinjpn; jt ps a. gijoifeff patcji.' Mr Bayley sajd taking jptp consideration the newspapers reports pro, and con, he deemed it necessary to take his own course, independent of anybody. Mr Sutton: Bad the Department any fault to find with me whilst in Marlborough? I can only repeat that the only fault I

found with you was a want of tact in dealing with people, and you made enemies where there waß no occasion—a brusque rougli maimer that was not necessary. I never knew you to be incompetent in dealing with scab.

.ToMrDavy: But here his district was too large for him to be able to deal, He'was not indolent, but over-estimated his powers. 3 •;

Mr Sutton put a few questions to Mr Richard Meredith, who was brother to the then owner of the run, who had since died.

In answer to Mr Davy, Mr Bayley said he thought it would have been impossible for Mr Sutton to put down the Bcab without more assistance, except by- taking a very long time..

Mr Sutton asked Mr Meredith if ho recollected when Messrs Bayley and Drummond came to him. -v.;.

Mr Meredith replied in the affirmative, and kid Mr Bayley informed him that an infected sheep had been killed in Whareama district, and he proceeded to examine a flock of sheep he (Mr Meredith) had just turned put. After dinner Mr Bayley asked if he'would place himself at his disposal for the afternoon, as he wished to examine other flocks. He and his brother consented;, and Mr Bayley showed him a sketch plan, and told him that a scabby sheep had been killed and thrown in the creek, and he instructed Mr Drummond to. examine the creek. In company with his brother, he assisted Mr Bayley to examine every mob of sheep in which it had been supposed the sheep in the creek may have been drawn from. Mr Drummond called out that he saw a suspicious-looking sheep, and Mr Bayley and himself then caught the sheep and examined it. It had young scab, the spot being about the size of his hand;' He judged the scab to be three weeksVold, there being only one scab spot. rMr Bayley examined the sheep and asked Mr Drummond for his glass, and they all examined the sheep and then put it in a toi bush and burnt it. Mr Bayley then left for Tinui. Mr Bayley told him that if this proved to be a,case he would make it a very warm one, and asked him (Mr Meredith) if he desired to see scab gotrid 1 of.

To Mr Davy; He took it that Mr Bayley would make it very warm for his brother. It was difficult to say where the scab originated. On the run where thisßcabby sheep was found, there were two flocks of sheep, whioh were put on this run about a month or two previous. One came from Goathurat farm, and the other from Mr Smith's property Grassingdale. These sheep had only just got their certificate, and they had heard smco that they were not clean when they were sold. Tho manager of Orassingdale had since told him they ; were not cloan, He believed Mr Drummoiid passed the sheep. Mr Bayley said Goathurst Farm had not been on the infected list for five or six years.

Mr Meredith said there were some merino rams bought from Goathurst that were sold and afterwards killed because they proved to be scabby. The rams were sold to Mr Etchings, and when the scab broke out at Riversdale, he sent for Mr Drummond to come and'examine these rams, and he "did not discover any Bcab, but it afterwards broke out, and they were killed before being put to his flock. What he stated was not of his own knowledge, but hearsay. The sheep were not given a certificate by Mr Drummond, as they held one already. Mr Sutton said he only wanted to show that scab broke out from contact with the sheep that were brought on to the run, but did not originate there. ■ Mr Meredith said such was the case in his'bpiniou." The s'cab was only on that wart'of Jjje.'run where Jh'es'e b'oughj;'sheep" isf.ere"pu| ; The' : fj^kp : '|er| advertised Separately jjejsp M? £ 'Sui|'r} : p}<fjnJs the district, each flock holding a separate certificate", and }f qi}9 \yas* iijftjcterj, that oertificate wag canpel}e,dj put tliey could deal with the remainder. Jfr Sutton made the whole run U> footed. If a man got even a qqrnep of hiß flock infooted, the whole run was ad? vertised as infected. Mr Buttons measures had the effect of making the owners more vigilant. • To Mr Bayley: The Bheep he got at the period referred to were of various breed;;, and came from various places. If Si hogget or lamb had been scabby for ttvrcMnonths; it would be a mass of scab, ' u TtiMrtjaVf: 'Th'efe'-wta'oirjy'''about jfchree weeks' Scab:''"''" 'Of;"'"(:/;''■' 'fc'Bayiey j'ead oxjirac^; from Mr had I jfyuhd some ,of pie sheep" yot shabby, '"'' %x%. he Mr' Prunirnond for not jiij,yinggivenju'hja Jle cqiiidnpttel! ]iq'w inan'y thne§")(o ljad Rut did not qpstjpn tjje flf Mr Bayley on the subject, ~ . Mr Bayley looked through the quarterly reports, from which it appeared that Mr R. Meredith's name did not appear on the list at all, Mr Sutton, examined by Mr Bayley, said he remembered the letter written on the 22nd April. On the 29th he was at Blahlogie and Kohiwai. He went to see sj}een glnpod at Blajrlogie, He received the first l'iptiliii'afciflnipf aj,Riyers.da!e from Mr E, Meredith -on • the' 2nd' May, That was tho same day. that Mr'Bayley was mustering on another part of the run.' The letter was written about two or three (Jap before, He went toKohiwai for a iipafe-iifirse, . Ho had '"appljed for six itrfahtlifeJeive of- fobsWe, tyfiMr Bayley did not tell hiin that lie could trot get: it unless'he went to Nelson! He really (inly wirited to ! have the chargei cleared 10 '"' ' l ""' :i ''' ' ; ' "'•'-•' ; -■'•■•.. • Mr Bayley ;Tlmre is nfi chargp. Sir "S'utf on:' I' was virtually • charged wjtti breach'of duty, and'iihat amoupts to j)i charge.'"'' ftflffirtljanflSputh W<WTO ill AP ril 188,1, bfitlj beipg thpn fljseased. After ai)pi}t 'twelve jppnthY Sfjutl) Wairarapa TO free from dij!easg._ fle h a fl one PV two cages in Ooiirt frpm South Wajrarapa that would show that there was disease when !l« took Re. found that theie was a pat deal of scab in North Wairarapa, especially on the Coast, and adjoining large blocks of Crown Lands. At that time Mr Bayley was not Superintendent of Inspectors. He applied through the Department to the j|ojjrn Lands Commissioner'fqr authority tp ' i deßtsy' ! alj"tyuij' sjpg running on Pfawfi'Lajicls." 'Ho received 1 !no reply. Spine }8 months afyer of-the ■ijpast stafcjpjig jirplje p|)t scabby thrpugh |]ie wild sheep. He then received a letter from tho Department wishing to know how it was that those wild Bheep had not been destroyed, (Letters read urging that wild sheep should be destroyed.) Those letters Bhowed that if they had considered his first letter the station on the Coast would never have been infected. When he came up to the difficjrjie ■ Jopnpj' matters very >jii3atis''Among\oiHei''l{iin^ ii fJi9''Qoast }i)}ewas Bhut'up7and l peqp|e ijrerg 'debarred from bringing tjjerf"fa)' 'the market. Ho allowed peppleijiaj! had fat sheep to drive them to market through infected runs on the road to Masterton, jmjjjifl understanding that: they dipped hefflre siaiiting,. eighlspiinipnths spme 80.000 fat sheep pajsed thrpughinfo tho Wellington District, That:eansed annoyanoe "to'some :flookholders, as it brought prices down, No harm had ever happened through that. He was told before ho did it that he would : have - the big runs on to him. Immediately he left

the new Inspector closed the district to the market. While working for the Gear Co. he gave noticethathe would be on the Wdimataona certain day with a large mob of sheep, and Mr Drummond replied that, owing to the large number of infec; ted runs, lie would not allow shejflttO pass through. It was chiefly througMfift action of Messrs Handyside, Roberts' 1 & Co that the restrictions were removed, ,

Mr Bayley; No complaints Were made to me about driving sheep through the district.

Mr Sutton said he knew, at any rate, of one complaint made in a letter from Mr. Mackay. It was addressed, to-Mr \& f Beetham, and then forwarded to the Department.

Mr Bayley said ho had taken no notice ofit. .

Mr Suttonstill adhered to the opinion that it wasthrough the complaints made by Messrs Beetham and Buchanan that it was" decided to remove him.- He re-1 ceived an intimation from the Department that Messrs Smith and Vallance, who were his rabbit agents, had been;:appointedinspectors. That was done.without he (Mr Sutton) being consulted. .'Regarding the Riversdale question, he'wished to show that the scab broke out in one of the bought flocks. He did not know that he would get into trouble.through his action on the Coast.> There -werea«few sheep used for mutton by Messitfflßetham at an outstatjori that were>'4cftbby. He knew he would get into-hot; water through bringing people .to Court.: For eighteen months he' was ■ confiitually • having people up for not cleaning their sheep. When he left the Department' : he received a testimonial signed by'pe'ople.in North and South Wairarapa. It was got' up spontaneously when theyheardhewas being removed.

This concluded the enquiry, but dersteod that a statement from Mr J! Drummond is expected before Mr DaVy will report to the Government.