"OVER THE ODDS."
WOMEN POACH OYSTERS.
36 DOZEN SMASHED OFF ROCKS. 1 THREE FDfEp £5 EACH. Three women who were caught by inspectors of the Fisheries Department taking oysters during the close season, at Owhanake Bay, Waiheke, recently, appeared on summons before Mr. F. K. Hunt, .SM., at the Police Court this morning.
They were Vivienne Anderson, Mrs. Jane McKiAhon and Mrs. Fanny Powley. Mrs. Powley pleaded, guilty, but the lOther two denied the charges.
Mr. V. N. Hubble, who prosecuted, called evidence to show that four women were seen early one morning on the rocks. The inspectors arrived in a launch and when their arrival had been observed, the women moved away quickly, two going one way and two another. On a search being made 36 dozen oysters, which had been taken from the shell, were found in a billy. An inspection of the rocks showed that a large number of oysters had been broken open. Mr. McLiver, who appeared for the three women charged, said that Mrs. Powley would admit frankly that she picked the oysters, with the assistance of another woman, who had not been charged and who was in Australia. She would say that Mrs. McKinnon and Miss Anderson never touched an oyster. Miss Anderson in evidence said that along with the others she went down to the beach to get mussels. While waiting for the tide to recede they sat on a hill near the beach. Airs. Powley and the other woman (not in Court) picked the oysters. Neither witness nor Mrs. McKinnon picked an Oyster. Witness picked half a dozen mussels.
Similar evidence was given by Mrs. McKinnon and Mrs. Powley. Mrs. Powley added that Bhe took a benzine tin and a billy with her to get mussels.
Mr. Hunt: I think mussels must be the local term for oysters. What did you take the tin and the billy for!—l took the tin to boil the mussels in on the beach, and the billy to put them in after they were cooked.
But you took 36 dozen oysters. How long did it take you 'to pick them, and what did you break them off the rocks with?—lt took me about three and ahalf hours, and I broke them off the rocks with a piece of rock. "Well, I don't believe that you were the only one that picked oysters. The three of you will each be fined dCo and <*st ß £1 11/," said the magistrate. "It's going over the odds, taking 36 dozen oysters.?'
"OVER THE ODDS."
Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 7
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