MUNICIPAL POUND.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1157, 10 March 1874, Page 4

MUNICIPAL POUND.

[wESTTOKT EVENING STAB.] The question has been raised whether it is legally practicable under the provisions of the Municipal Act or Amendments to inflict fines by action in local law comt, on persons allowing cattle or horses to stray in the public streets, and also whether such fines can be appropriated as part of the Municipal revenues. The Act and amendments are so voluminous, and Municipal matters generally so new to the great majority of ratepayers, that this particular subject, among many others, has been apparently overlooked even by members of the Borough Council who have worked strenuously of late to aestblish the cumbrous institution—a Municipal Pound. As bearing on a topic of public interest, the following extracts from the particular clauses of Act referring to the subject may be of interest: —Clauses 42, 43. and 44, Part I, Schedule XIII, provide that if any cattle, &c , shall be found upon any land within the Borough, not being common land, or on public or private streets, without any person having charge of such cattle, the owner shall forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty shillings for every head of such cattle, and the proper officer of the Council may, if the owner is unknown, seize such cattle and place the same in some neighboring place for safe custod}-, pending the decision of a Magistrate or Justice of the Peace, before whom complaint shall be laid. Thereafter, if the fines inflicted and reasonable expenses incurred remain unpaid for twenty-four hours the cattle so seized may be sold. Clause 43 makes reference to impoundment, but it is not imperative on the Council to establish a " pound," in the literal-sense of the word, when a temporary place of safe custody can be utilized, and as the clauses form part of f;he schedule cf Municipal by-laws they may be amended or adopted in part only as the Council may decide. Next as to the appropriation of fines, Clause 389, Part XXII. Municipal Corporations Act, 1867, enacts that all lines and penalties paid or recovered under any of the provisions of tin's Act or any bij7aw made or adopted, shall be paid over to the Council of the Borough, and shall when received form part of the Borough Fund. From a practical point of view, the clauses referred to appear to give the Borough Council all the authority at present needed to keep the public thoroughfares free from stray fourfooted beasts, and thus the special powers given under the " Ordinance to authorise and regulate the Impounding of Cattle" may be well held in abeyance for yet another season.