VICTORIA.

Press, Volume VIII, Issue 862, 12 August 1865, Page 3

VICTORIA.

||,X r ; " ~ ' "BHE- SCAB ACT. §g#- The " Hamaton Free Press" haa the Kg ftdtewing:—" Another case illustrating which occasioxully result -working of the present Scab come under our notice. On Shnreday, 14th instant, Mr. H. Be a squatter at Canunut, was by the Scab Inspector of the with allowing a sheep infected X||sSrM scab to stray into the flock of a squatter. !From "the cvigiven Define the Court, it 4*ptbat De Little's sheep -were ||E|| iB " n » whue his neighbor Bostock*s not. The evidence of the Inspector showed that the Qgm'. «&eep of *Be Little's, which ?Xifs|«jEr got amongst Bostock'a flock, S^2Bl y****® covSanetoA. the disease with tie latter's flock; is! SS Bench, *wbilebjmpathising IjdMle, and seeing -the hardJm&Bg of ids case, had no alternative but XylXtoinfltct the lowest penalty allowed by namely, £30. The clause in pXX*fc:Act which provides -for noting the ||§?*? Br of «tray sheep is all very well} KJ^ Bttre, f some distinction ought to

hayecated, m which the unfortunate De Little not only has his sheep infected, but is handsomely fined for a circumstance over which he had no control. The probabilities are, that had De Little's whole run been searched, not another scabby sheep would have been found besides the one on which the present action hinged Justice is said to be blind; but we imagine that the framers of the Scab Act must have been something more than blind when they lost the power of discriminating between a wilful trespass and an accidental straying of stock; so that we trust that the result otMr. De Little's appeal may open the eyes of our legislators to the necessity which exists of amending the Amended Scab Act." 9 THE liEICHABDT SEARCH PABTV. the "Argus," of July 25, gives the following report from Dr. Mueller :— " The expedition under the surveillance of the the ladies, now on its way in search of Leichardt's party, had reached Balranald on the 18th inst. The late rains came most opportunely for enabling the search party now to cross the back-country of the Darling on its way up, there being, in consequence of the flocks having been brought during this season of drought to the river banks, no feed on the line. It cannot be otherwise than that the horses should suffer much under the circumstances, but this affords once more an opportunity of contrasting the behaviour of the dromedaries, which are not at all inconvenienced in' consequence of the scarcity of grass, but continue to do well. The Ladies' Expedition experienced much, aid and hospitality on the station of Mr. Officer, and also on that of", Messrs. Bobertson and Chrystal, and indeed everywhere where the occasion arose of claiming the assistance of the settlers. The party is in high spirits, and all the members seem very efficient." ' j A SPOBTINQ ACTION. ' The "Argns," of July 25, says .— I An action which appears to have excited a good deal of interest in the sporting world, was tried yesterday in the County Court, before Judge Pohlman and two assessors. The plaintiff was Henry Unran, owner of the steeplechase horse Blueskin, and he sought to recover from Geo. Hughes and Wm. Greenaway, stewards of the Irishtown Steeplechases, which came off on the 20th May last, a sum of £100, claimed as * stakes won by plaintiff's horse, and," or at any rate, the return of a sum of £12—-the entrance money paid by him. It appeared from the evidence that Blueskin defeated four other horses in the Grand National Steeplechase, of 100 sovereigns, but a protest was entered by Mr. Cole, the owner of Alice, the animal which came in last, on the ground that Blueskin's jockey had omitted to ride round a particular flagstaff,' and that he had in fact, not run over the proper course. The stewards took evidence on the racecourse, and decided to hand over the stakes to the owner of AHcer«D& was declared: the winner, as it was proved that she hadgoneroundthe flagstaff in question. On behalf of the plaintiff, it was contended that Blueskin had gone over the proper course, this being affirmed by Captain Scott, who acted as starter on the occasion ; and that as the decision had been given by five stewards, while there were ten named in the programme, the finding must be set aside, a majority of the stewards not having concurred in it. Evidence was called for the defence, to show that there were in fact but eight stewards, and that Alice only had gone over the proper course. The assessors gave a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £12, apparently finding that there was no binding adjudication of the stewards and -cirtmrdiy no race decided.