CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 942, 6 July 1878, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

THE SCAB CASE. In our last issue ,we'-gave a short ;the proceedings, at the of the Club held on Saturday laSt:' Thefreport of the scab commission, ajsgalready blished, "having been made" by Ms: .Fergusson,

..,, .MrMaclean.askedjbhe. Commission if they examined every sheepT ""*' "*"' Mr Jb'orgusshn said that' they' inspected the whole flock, and caught those to iiavo loose froniitlxe bite of a dog.- Tuey examined six or eight. the face : of a j Conviction; -fob scab, the Commission ought to have made,a more iiirmte ; exaiiiiua6iou.

Mr James Runcimann said the iemarks of the Chairman cast a slur on the gentlemen who formed the Commission, and on Mr .John Runciman as a public officer. Mr Maclean.s.aid he did not wish to reflect on any of the menibers of, the Commission, he had no doubt that they were perfectly satisfied in their own minds that they had examined ; the flock aufficiently to prove that no indication existed, but he thought Mr iTohn Kunciman, as a public officer, incurred a grave responsibility in pronouncing a flock clean, which had>been condemned byJ"a;,;-^ohyicti6n.; ; ati:the court. He wished., to withdraw any remarks he had made which ihight be thought offensive to the gentlemen of the Com mission, and .£ Mr mah. : > :i - a

Mr John Runcirnan > said he would take no further .Action iu the matter with regard, to having the flock . dipped, unless .the Government agreed to indemnify him in case ©f any action for damage.

' Mr James Riiriciman said the evidence of the witness Alexander .Ti'otter, was not worthy of consideration, because in a letter from Mr Jolly .to himself, Mr Jolly hadln--closed the following fronf a lette'V from ..Hcsketh. ,and Richmond •STvo'tWiy' the Whaiigarei witness, told our Mr Hesketh'. that sinco the case, he had very -carefully inspected the skin, and he had'chauged his views,, and had he made the same examination of the skin 1 before he gave his evidence, he would not have said what ho did. '■' (Signed) HeskeJi and Rishuiond."

Mr Lewis (who had been invited to attend) said he was present at the request of the Club, and did not intend to make a long speech in defence of this action, but would be glad to answer any questions that might be put to him. He was sorry that his first introduction to the gentlemen of this district should have been such a "scabby" one. He wished the matter to be sifted to the bottom. There appeared to be some secret about this case which .thev might find out. He was very glad the Club were trying to get to the truth of this matter. When sheep came to his market and he found they were scabby, lie condemned them, if they belonged to his nearest friend, and if he found it necessary to.iustitute legal proceedings, he;- only endeavoured that the lightest penalty should be iuflicted. Before he left Auckland people were advising him not to go to the Waiknto, they A said *• You will be eaten: up if you go there." But instead of any eating up he had found a cordial reception, and it gave him great pleasure to meet the members of the Club for the discussion of this question. He had Drought with him a copy of the evidence of the case, as given in Court. Mr Cunningham, the Clerk of the Court,,supplied it to him, but since, he had received a private note which forbade him to vlet the evidence go into the hands of any other gentleman. He was, however, at liberty, to re.id'., it 'to them.. He wished first to say something- about Mr Short's case. He was looking at the sheep, and said it was scabby. Short, who : was L close by said, " What, scab oh the hind' leg! whoever heard of scab on the hind leg ? that's the bite of a dog." And lie still went on in an offensive manner to handle the sheep. Mr Lewis said to him, "You mind your own business and I will mind mine." He never in his life used the words, "Shut up" to any one, and hoped he never would, he would never think of doing so, as he considered them most offensive words. " Mr Lewis then read over the evidence for* the prosecution. The reason why he had called Mr Buckland's man Schmendle, as a witness, was to connect another witness with the case, that was Mr Howard, who had had thirty years experience in sheep. The reason he had the skin saved was, that the case depeuded upon the evidence of Mr Hunter's man, Richard Olney, who, if he could not recollect himself, the case might fall through, r, He liked to be certain that he had a good case, and was'sure to get a conviction before he went to Court. He took legal action because the rsheep were driven along the public road, after he had condemned them, and after they wore yarded Mi 1 Hunter gave his word that they (the condemned sheep) should be carted away and dipped.

At the request of the Club Mr Lewis read over the evidence for the defence. When he came to the part whore the skin was produced, he said he wished to explain about it. When it was produced, somebody pointed to a different part of the akin (o where the patch of scab was, and said, "Call that scab?* He (Mr

| Lewis) said, in perhaps a hasty manner, "That's not it —that's not the skin."iv ( His manner, he said, was rather Unfortunate when he -was in perfect good humour and per , fee tly well pleased. His tnne-Or voice might lead those who <«i l not know him to suppose that ne was very in a. -Jemper, or irritate§/ bubi?it natural -tone and he could not' help it.) However, lie turned.over the akin, and 'found the place. ...As.to. examining the skin then, be must beg them to remember the state the skin was in. It was full of maggots, and in a putrid state. He -would ask any of the gentlemen present if they wiuld' take a skin iu that, state home to their wives and children, and examine it there. He had no other place to clo it in. The evidence for the defence having- been read over,' Mr Lewis said he would be glad to answer any questions asked him.

The Chairman called lipon the members'of the Club to put questions to Mr Lewis if they wished to do so.

Mr James Runciraan asked Mr Lewis, when he beard that the sheep had been slaughtered, why he did not have the skin properly washed and put aside—not thrown away and covered up in a place where dogs could get at it? "Why did he not take it home and examine ifc ?. Mr, Lewis said that, when he had firsfc'seen the sheep, he put some dirt on its head to mark it, and Mr Hunter's man ear-marked it. After he heard that it was slaughtered, he went to the mau (Carter) at the slaughterhouse, and asked him if such and such a sheep had been killed. The man replied that lie .remembered Mr, Lewis then told hi in tJrfind the skin. The man looked them all over one by one, and Said that he could not find the skin. He told him to look over them again, and then found one which he identified by the fresh earmark, and the patch of scab. He told the man to take it to Mr Clayton, and keep, it for him. When Mr Runcirnan telegraphed for the skin, ~it could not be found, bee iuse a dog had carried it away, and a day or two afterwards it was fouud behind a barrel or box.

Mr B. B. Walker asked if sixtysis sheep, were put on the truck at Hamilton, and only sixty received by the station-master at Remueva, how was it there wei'e sixty-four sheep in the pen which he condemned ? Where ' are the oxtra four.to come from ? * Mr Lewis said Mr Walker had mistaken the evidence of the stationmaster, -and be received sixty-six sheep, not sixty, Two sheep had been sold previously to a buteher ; this brought the number to sixtyfour.

Mr Hicks asked if Mr Lewis found the insect on the sheep. Mr Lewis replied : It was too plain; there was no necessity to look for it.

Mr Hicks asked if he (Mr Lewis) had ever known a case where only one sheep in a flock had been scabby. ■ Mr Lewis said that sqme time ago Mr Duder, of the North Shore, had some sheep running on . the Flagstaff Hill. By some means a scabby sheep got in amongst them. He (Mr Lewis) condemned them, and ordered them;, to be dipped. Some months after he examined the flock, and picked out this one sheep. He found no indication of scab on any others. Mr E. B. Walker asked whether he (Mr Lewis) had been mistaken in any case 1

Mr Lewis* said he had never condemned sheep for scab, and no scab been found.

Mr Walker asked Mr Lewis if he did not remember condemning some sheep of a certain settler, naming him. Did they afterwards turn out to be scabby 'I Mr' Lewis said he condemned the sheep, and afterwards went to that settlers farm, and suddenly came upon him and his son dressing a lot of sheep in a gully with some stuff out of a bottle, when they saw him coming the father told his son to hide the bottle. Not long ago he wenb t 0 some paddocks near Mercer, where the owner had some sheep. He ordered them to be driven.in. The owner said they we-e all right. He, however, had them driven in, and found several in a very bad state from scab. He said "Mr this is a nice state to have your sheep in, when you have settlers flocks in your paddocks, when driven to and from Auckland."' (They were accomodation paddocks.) He replied, " Ah !" if I had known you were coming Mr Lewis, you would not have fcund these sheep." This was what he. had to contend against. If settlers would unite with him in endeavoring to stamo out scab he would not have to go to the market to find it. He felt like a Government trap to waylay the settlers at the market, but the Sheep Inspector ought to be up and down curing the settler's flocks on their own farms.

Mr Fantham asked Mr Lewis why he did not have the whole of tho sheep yardfid quarantined when he found one lot. scabby. At Canterbury at one time there were 13,000 yarded, and one flock was found to bo scabby, the Inspector immediately quarantined thn whole lot, and he and the Sub-Inspector saw that they were all properly dipped. Why did Mr Lewis not do the same with the lot at the liemera yards, among which were Mr Jolly's. Mr Lewis said he had only power

to condemn one pen, when he discovered them to be scabby. Mr,,Pergusson asked if the Inspectorhad taken any stops to have the yards clensei in which these scabby sheep were.

*Mr Lewis Said that the members of-th© Club werejust tho'ppntleraen to get the present Scab AdVainended If i*he Inspector f had jpiore power, the disease might be Eradicated. But the position he was phced in .vas this: found, sq me. sheep in the most scabby condition possible," with the wool dropping off them, he could condemn them, compel the owner to cart them away and dip them, or the Owner: could cart them away and kill them on his own ground but' had no power to order the yards to bo disinfected or cleansed. The very next day some clean sheep might be put into the same pens'; lie would know very well that the.se would be to all intents and purposes scabby {torn having been in the same pens where the scabby sheep were, yet he had no power to condemn them or order them to be dipped..

Some further discussion ensued, after whieh a cordial vote of thanks was passed by the Club to Mr Lewis for ( his attendance, and for the way •in which he had answered the questions put to him. The Club then passed the resolution which appeared in our last issue* . AGRICULTURAL SHOW. The Secretary said he bad received no cpmmttnication from the Mayor of Hamilton, or the Chairman of the Cambridge Town Board relative to the site for holding the Show. But he had received a letter from the Waikato Pastoral Assocu tion informing the Club that a Coramijsion had been appointed by them to confer with the members of the Club 'as"'"to the advisability. of holding a joint Show. It was unanimously resolved that the members of the Commission be invited to attend the next meeting of the Club, on Monday next, '7 th.; inst, to discuss the question.

The President then left the Chair