MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27444, 2 September 1954, Page 5

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

WEDNESDAY (Before Mr L. N. Ritchie, S.M.) REMANDED John Francis Payne Hibberd, aged 35, a yardman, was remanded to September 9 on a charge that on September 1 he wilfully destroyed a plate glass door valued at £B, the property of L. Fox. Bail of £25 was allowed, accused to report daily to the police. Walter. Booth, a seaman (Mr B. J. Drake), was remanded to today on a charge that on December 22. 1950, he deserted from the vessel Elm Hill. Bail was refused. ILLEGALLY SHOT PUKEKO Four men who were engaged in a pukeko drive at Hororata on June 6 were each fined £3. They were David Andrew Oliver, William Roland Oliver, Ernest Mathew Fleming, and Richard John Locker. They were charged with hunting or shooting pukeko without a licence. Mr B. McClelland, who appeared for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, said Ranger J. D. L. Scott, while in the Hororata district, saw seven people carrying out a pukeko drive. In about threequarters of an hour while he was watching them, between 20 and 30 shots were fired. One of the party, G. D. Oliver, said that pukeko were vermin and that as such they could be shot at any time. They were unable to produce licences. The defendant Locker, who apppeared, said that when he was invited to the drive he was under the impression that pukeko were vermin. The party was not shooting them for fun, but because they were causing damage to the crops. The Magistrate said the offences were considered serious. As far as he knew these were the first prosecutions in Christchurch under the new Wild Life Act, 1953. He said that under the act a maximum penalty of £5O could be imposed, with an extra £2 for each bird shot. The guns could also be forfeited. The Court would, however, take into consideration the defendant’s excuse that they considered pukeko were vermin. NETTED SALMON Allan Lamplugh and Brian Robinson were each fined £3 and ordered to pay costs amounting in £6 14s 6d, when they were convicted on charges that on April 18 they netted salmon In the Waimakariri river and failed to return the fish to water, and that on the next day they illegally used a drag net above the netting limit.

Mr B. McClelland, who appeared for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, said rangers were called out to the river on the evening of June 19. They found the two defendants using a drag net above the netting limit, and after some questioning they admitted that the previous day they had netted a salmon and had kept it. Their operations on the evening of June 19 appeared to be professional. The anchor chain had been detached from the boat, the oars were in greasy leather to prevent the sound of rowing, and both wearini rubber npxonA Ha asked,

for the confiscation of the fishing tackle, but not the boat. Robinson said the oars had not been muffled deliberately. They were in that condition when they got them from the club house. The Magistrate said that under the act it was not necessary for him to make an order as to confiscation. Confiscation was automatic. SHOT SITTING DUCK Clifford Everett was fined £3 for shooting a duck which was not in flight. The E rosecution was brought under the Wild ife Act. 1953. Mr B. McClelland appeared for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. NO RADIO LICENCES The following persons were each fined £1 for not having current radio licences: Lily' Margaret Colenso, John Clifford Flannagan. John Raymond McCaughan, Margaret Sinclair, and Edward Corbett .Tapley.