"LOT OF CALLOUSNESS."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 243, 14 October 1929, Page 9

"LOT OF CALLOUSNESS."

HORSE dies on road. ' THREE YOUTHS IX COURT. Three youths, aged 14, IS and 15 veavs, of the Otahuhu district, were charged at the Otahuhu Police Court this morning before Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., with cruelty to a horse, at Flat Bush, East Tamaici. Mr. Snedden appeared for the accused. Evidence was given by Jamesi Gordon Gillard, a farmer of Flat Bush, that he gaw a horse down on the roadside on the afternoon of Sunday, September S. Blood was trickling from its right flank. It was left in the vicinity until Tuesday night following, when it died. To the magistrate, witness said that one of the accused who had been riding the hoTse, was not wearing spurs. The magistrate admonished witness for having ta'ken so little interest in the horse, although it was on the road in front of his property in a distressed condition for more than two days before its death. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself," he said. Constable Nield said the horse had a ■wound in its side and also showed many whip marks. From the amount of congealed blood which he saw, he considered the mare had been harshly treated. It had every appearance of having died from exhaustion. Constable Pollard produced spurs which were found in accused's possession. He said he saw a large patch of blood where the mare had been. Accused in the witness box admitted having used the whip and also having kicked the mare with his heels. "It is a very serious case and shows a lot of callousness," said the magistrate at the conclusion of the evidence. Judgment was reserved until this afternoon. The boy who rode the horse was ordered to receive twelve strokes of the birch, the maximum allowed by the law. The magistrate said he would not allow the punishment to be inflicted by the boy's father under police supervision, and eaid the statute should run its course. The charge against the other two boys was dismissed.