FENCING AND FENCING ACTS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3355, 17 April 1868, Page 3

FENCING AND FENCING ACTS.

To the Editor of the Daily Southern Caoss. Snt, — The accompanying letter to his Honor the Superintendent, written some months ago, ou the necessity of affording protection to the agricultural interest of this province, versus the graziug iuteresfc, is bo thoroughly, in accord with the article republished in the Weekly News of the 4th instant from the San Francisco Bulletin, and your remarks thereon, that I think you will consider it worthy of publication. That both sides of the question may be 'heard, I also send a copy of the petition of the cattle-owners, on which the letter comments, to the Superintendent. .During the last session of the Provincial Council | his Honor and the Council found., full occupation in propping up the falliDg "bid wooden erection — provincial institutions — to the continuance of their profit and glodfication at the expense of the country at Urge ; yet, while neglecting the interests of the country, they found time to pass " An Act for the Protection of Gardens." The explana- ' tion is, that the Superintendent and Council are mostly residents in Auckland and its vicinity ; they have gardens ; moreover, some of them have cattle iv the country ; but they are not agriculturists. The confidence of the country settlers is with the men of advanced opinions such as Messrs. Carleton, { Farmer, and Monro ; and our hope is that during the approaching session of the General Assembly they will pasi an Act conferring local self-govern-ment on the country districts, and then away with the self-seeking legislation of the provincial capitals. Years ago, when the poor misgoverned Maoris supplied Auckland with wheat and flour, to enable themselves to do so they abolished fencing among among themselves, making the owners of horses, cattle, and pigs responsible for all damages committed, as they pithily said, " It is the quadrupeds who come to the cultivations." — I am, &c, J. O. JOHNSTONE. Te Haroto, Raglau, April 13, 1868.

" To his Honor the Superintendent, Auckland. " Raglan, June 25, 1867. "Sir,— l have the honour to forward toyour Honor a memorial received yesterday at a meeting of the Whaingaroa Board of Highway Trustees, together with, the resolution of the Board disapproving of the request made to abolish the district pound. The Board is, however, of opinion that a more eligible ■ite might be found than 'the present one for a pound. " Many of those who have signed the petition are not cattle-owners, or interested in the matter ; and, unless Aotea and Horea are included, the majority of the inhabitants are Europeans — not Maoris. Those natives living at Ohiapopoko and Tukapounui used to cotnp'ain that it was labour in vain for them to cultivate, as their crops were annually destroyed by the herds of cattle roaming at large through the country ; but it is significant that, out of what the petitioners call ' the great majority of the inhabitants of this district,' not a single individual has signed the petition to abolish the pound. "flalf-a dozen large cattle-ownera have so long monopolised the district to the exclusion of agricultural pursuits, that they consider they have acquired a prescriptive right to run their cattle gratis on unfenced grass land, and to pay for no damages committed on orchards or cultivations, unless the owners can prove the existence of a legal fence in good repair, which is usually an impossibility. Only one case of impounding has occurred since the erection of the pound, and that from the farm of a settler who has this year grown more grain than the whole of the petitioning cattle-owners pat together. This case has had the effect of alarming the cattle-owners for the safety of the long and cherished monopoly they have, during the absence of a pound, enjoyed of the district, the settlement of which has been so greatly retarded by the Auckland provincial laws regarding trespass— being alterations from the laws of England exclusively in favour of of the wealthy grazier and at the expense of the cultivator of the soil. "I respectfully abkyour Honor whether the time has not arrived to increase the very slender protection afforded by the provincial-made laws to the agriculturist.iv whose welfare you take so deep an interest, by return to the time-tried laws of England, which require cattle-owners to keep their cattle upon their own land, or to pay for their keep, and any damages they may commit upon cultivation?. " I take this opportunity of bringing to the notice of your Honor another law most oppressive to the country settlers of this province. T allude to the Injuries by Dogs Act, passed by the General Assembly. J3y this Act an honest, but poor, settler, if the owner of a dog, may go to bed the possessor of a few hard- won pounds, and rise in the morning qualified to become the inmate of a gaol, owing to his dog having by accident or from malice got loose, and attacked a neighbouring flock of sheep. "By the law of England it would be necessary to prove the dog to be vicious, and the wealthy Southern squatters when passing the Dog Act did not alter the law regarding their cattle, so that a man may be tossed by a cow and have his ribs broken ; but, unless he can prove her previously vicious, he can recover no damagei. "It is of such an innovation that the venerable and learned Lord Brougham said, { It is contrary to the law of England, and a flagrant violation of all the principles of justice.' — I have, &c, " (Signed) J. C. Johnstone, "Chairman Whaingaroa Board Highway Trusteees."

" To the Chairman and Trustees of the Highway Board for the district of Raglan. " Gentlemen, — We, the undersigned residents and cattle-owners, request that you will be so good as communicate with the Superintendent, and beg him to order the removal of the pound which has ' somehow' (sic) lately sprung up on Green-street, in the towmship. " We would most respectfully represent to his Honor that the majority of the inhabitants of this district are Maoris, and that owing to war and other causes no one settler among us can comply strictly with the law relative to cattle trespass, neither can nor does any one owning cattle here keep them all within fence. " That in our opinion the establishment of a pound under existing circumstances is neither politic nor useful ; but that, if at some future time a pound may be desirable, it ought to be erected on some sheltered and central spot in the country, where food can be more readily obtained for animals impounded. — We beg, &c. [Signed by Messrs. Joy, Nazir, Martin, Harsant, Roger Harsant, Mitchell, Duncan, Allen, Gilmor, Lawton, Jackson, W. Moon, Philp, G. Moon, Kennaird, Dougal, Sutton, La Trobe, J. Moon, Gibbison, Dr. Edwards, J. Wilson, T. Wilson, jun., McCracken, Rollo, W* Harsant, Graham.]