THE FENCING ACT.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 325, 13 June 1874, Page 2

THE FENCING ACT.

Thk following Paper has been laid upon the table o£ the Vm\ ucifll Council . — Tie committee appointed to consider whether any, nnd if so, what amendments are required in the existing Fencing and ]mpouuding Act, have made free uuo of tho labour of a smiihr committee appointed in 1863, whose report, never auted on, is evidently drawn up with accurate knowledge of tlie subject. Your committee lnive gone through that report with cue, and, after making certain emendations and addition, bare now the honor to report as follow* -—I. That tho principles of the Fencing Act be extended to include landorder holders, and others who may be similarly situated. 2 Tnat provsion bo made for the cutting and repair of live fence?. 3. That in clause* 8, 11, and 12, Die word " beneficial" be struck out. 4. That section 4be made more explica, and that section 13, should bo amended by providing thatlbo total cost of the leuce shall not be estimated at mor» than 30a a chain. 5- That provision be made in clause 13 t!»at no person shall be able to fecover any sum beyond one-)«lf the actual \aluo of the fence (x Thut clauses IS, 19i tnd 20 bo struck out, a» being beyond the power of the Provincial Council to deal with, and already provided for by Act of the General Assembly. 7- That, in lieu of clause 21 of t!je .fencing Act, the follow ing ho put mas sub-sections, \u -^-Sub-section, 1. A stono wulL not Iws than four feet six incites in height, exclusive of the coding, and not less thaii two feet six inches in breadth at bottom. Sub-section 2. Iliat the rails to be used m any fence should be good and suWuntial, not longer thnn nine feet; post* to be good and Eiib^antial, not less, than seven feet long. The whole of the woil to be completed in a substantial and workman-like manner. That wood for pouts should include punri, pohuliikuwn, blue or rod gum, iron baik or stringy bark, heart of totam, or kauri, of tauekaha, of black roaire, ol kowhai, and o-f matau Woods for rails to be, heart of ninu, tanekaha, totarn, manukn, heart of Imini, kuuka, kowhat, nuro, puiriri, ratti, black maire, pohutakaua, blue or red gum, iron bnrk, stringy bark. Sub-section 3. That a wire fence, as follows, be legalised: Posts of the dimensions and oloneof the wood* foiim-rly named as Ut for posts, or iron staixlmds, no more than nine feet apart, or eightee.; feet with vprendert nith six wires at least, or five wires with one rail of wood, or four wires with two vails of wood. Sub section 1. A bank and dilcli three feet at tho top by three feet deep, with three wire posts oi standard*, ns above. Sub-section 3. That the tollowmg fences be legul fences :— A post and three mils, of any of the uoo^s mentioned above ; a post and two rails of the woods mentioned abovo, with bank and ditch Uiree feet wide at the top by three feet deep j a bank and brush fence, fi\e fwt high, with ditch three feet at the lop by three feet deep, b.mk to be plauled with white thorn, ot'age orange, Ungai-DO, ueiiem, or Vermont dumson, not to bo planted more than one foot apart. Provided, olio, that this feiico -lull not be put up for the purposes of linn ia unless by i

mutual consent; a b ink, faced or topped with stone, five feet high, and a ditch three feet wide ; a paling fence not less than five feet high, pouts and rails to boas mentioned abo\e ; a double ditch and bank, the bank to be four ieet iix inches at the baie in height, five sods o e eight inches each, ditches to be throe feet wide at the top, three feet deep, on thti top of the bank eighteen inches of brush or not less than one rail. Rails to be as mentioned above ; posts also, excepting as to. lengtlv Bank to be planted us above. Subsection G. That any other fence mutuilly ngrecd upon by adjoining proprietors be admitted as a legal fence for a boundary. 8. Kepeal section 21 of the Act, eieeptmg the proviso, to which add the words— 1 or from any road without the written consent of District Board,* also in the same proviso, for '■on any bank' read 'in any fence ' 9. In section 22 of the Act for 'Superintendent ' read ' Highway Board of the district,' and add these words : ' Provided also that such counsel shall not be given unless the road be ftt least one chain wide.' 10. That any boundary fence already erected according to the present Fencing Act ought to continue to ba considered a legal fence, a' though not ncluded in the description of fences above given. A difficulty, is left unsolved by the existing Fencing Act, which the committee have endeavoured to provide for in a manner which miy be deemed not quite satisfactory, but for which no sufficient substitute has been offered. When A desires to fence and B refuses to nareo, the procedure is explicit enough ; but where A and B are willing to fence but disagree about the sort of fence, a pmrision seems wanting for compounding the difference. The injustice of leariug the one who first commences operations waster of the situation is manifest. The committee suggest that the line separating the adjoining properties should be valued, and that ouch of the said proprietors should" make choice of a description of fence for one-half of the line, the first choice of the halves to rest with the proprietor who shall hare first proposed in writing the fencing of the whole line. Each proprietor to be bound to keep h s own half m repair, and" m default of this the other proprietor be empowered to lunLe repairs for the defaulter, and to charge him with the cost. 11. That the title of the new Act ought to be, ' The Boundary Fences Act.' 12. The committee recommend that no provision i>f this Act bo inserted in the Highways Act. Hran Carleton, Chairman.