The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, SEPTEMBER 7, 1865.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 74, 7 September 1865, Page 3

The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, SEPTEMBER 7, 1865.

We have frequently alluded to the necessity for better provision being^made for the safety of cattle depasturing on the Hundreds,. and for thb protection of the public from the sale of* diseased meat. It is a notorious fact that dozens of cattle

have been killed on the; ''' Hundreds, by I persons .who had no right to them, and I their carcases sold. It is equally well known . that large quantities bif cattle have been driven off, the run: and sold in other places. That these things have taen done is now very well known, -but they have been done in such a way .as ...to' 'lender legal proof exceedingly difficult to ; obtain. A man had two or three, bead of fat cattle on the run j they suddenly disappear from the mob ; probably some considerable time is lost in making a vain search for them ; and. then if of a very unsuspicious nature, the sufferer ascribes his loss to the tutu. In fact, the tutu bears to the Hundreds something of the same relation that the conventional cat does to the house, although even the most devout believer in the tutu is forced to confess that it betrays a most singular love of beasts fit for beef in selecting its victims, and that the. process of decomposition is so exceedingly, rapid that once tutued all trace of the animal is lost. Hide, horns, bones and all disappear. Truly the tutu is a marvellous plant. The facilities for animals getting tutued on the Hundreds are very great. The law nominally affords protection to the owners of cattle, but it is administered in such a lax way that the protection is nil, and the law itself a mockery. For instance, there is one provision on the statute-book of the Province which might, if enforced, prove of infinite use, and afford great protection to the owners of stock running on the Hundreds, and yet Aye will undertake to say that in the three Hundreds of Tokomairiro, and in the other neighboring Hundreds to boot, there are not a dozen people who are aware of it. We doubt even if the Wardens themselves know of the clause in the Cattle Ordinance which forbids any one — even the owner — under a heavy penalty, to remove cattle from the Hundred without giving written notice to the Wardens, and obtaining their written permission. The wisdom and use of a regulation of this sort must be apparent to all, yet we believe that not only has it never been acted on, but that its existence has been absolutely unknown. Any person was and is at perfect liberty to go on to the run and remove as many head of Cattle as may be convenient^ and may do so with perfect impunity if care is taken : to avoid meeting the Ranger oi* the owner of any of the cattle being removed. If the rule as to having written- permission from the Wardens was enforced in every case, any person meeting another driving cattle off the run would be entitled to demand to see the permission, and the facilities for removing cattle with improper intentions would be greatl} 7 lessened. Again, the provisions of the law relating to the registration of brands and the regu» lation of slaughter houses, and of inspection of cattle about to be slaughtered, are very much neglected. True, Inspectors and Deputy-Inspectors have been appointed, but we would like to know what proportion the number of stock owners on the Hundreds who have registered their brands and who sent in the returns required by the Act to be sent in last February, bears to those who have not done so. Yet no attempt is made to enforce compliance with the law, and hence, for all practical purposes, it becomes a dead -letter. As to the slaughtering regulations, although intended to provide for the detection o cattle improperly killed, the system adopted is a most incomplete and useless one. The Inspectors take the brands, but very often take them on hearsay, for as the Inspectors are police constables, they cannot properly attend to their duty where there are many slaughter yards, and as long as any one can get a slaughtering license for half-a-crown a year there are sure to be plenty. The Inspectors get the brands as well as they are able, and enter them in a book, but no returns are ever published, and it would be a hopeless task to attempt to trace cattle by inspecting the brand books of all the Slaughter-house Inspectors of the Province. To make the inspection really answer the purpose for which it is intended, the list of all brands on and description of all cattle slaughtered for public consumption should be published weekly or monthly. Perhaps.if the "f Government Advertising Sheet ' were to contain such a I return it would be more eagerly read, and

obtain a wider circulation than it enjoys at present "As the law stands now,; any one may kill on their ownf premises for their own use, without inspection or return of any kind. In settled districts this should not, we think, be allowed, for -it opens a wide door for killing- beasts that one has, no right to kill. We are convinced -tliat the only way to render the property of cattle owners secure from the operations of enterprising stockmen, of enabling- cattle improperly driven away to be easily traced, and of securing* the public from the sale of meat unfit for human food, is the establishment of public abattoirs near all the centres of population, making* it compulsory to slaughter in them, ii within a certain .distance ; and the publication of a monthly return of the brands and description of all cattle thus slaughtered. The abattoirs could be made self-supporting by a small fee being charged for each animal killed, and we are confident that such a system as we have indicated would prove satisfactory to all parties concerned, and provide an efficient remedy for many of the prevalent and flagrant abuses now so common with regard to the slaughtering of cattle.