OUT OF SEASON?

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 87, 10 October 1927, Page 11

OUT OF SEASON?

OPOSSUM TRAPPERS

CHARGED

INFORMATION DISMISSED

The alleged taking of opossums otherwise than provided for by the Act and regulations resulted in the appearance of Eichard H. Fleurty, Charles Fleurty, and Charles B. Slater, trappers, before Mr. T. E. Maunsell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court on Saturday. All threo were charged with illegally having possossion of pposs.um skins taken out of season; Slater was separately charged with having hunted or killed opossums out of season; and; the. two Fleurtys wore charged with having assisted him iv the commission of this offence. Tho charges were' brought, by Eupert. Norman Uren, a ranger employed by the Forestry Department. : The Assistant Crown Solicitor (Mr. J. M. Tudhope) prosecuted, and Mr. A. B. Sievwrighi appeared. for ail three defendants.

. The evidence showed that .the Fle.urty brothers and, Slater were licensed trappers, Slater's licensg j-elating to the Orongorpngo area,, and the other two men being entitled to trap in the State forest lands in the Otaki Gorge. The season was between 20th July and. 31st August, but before the opening Slater wentto.. Orongororigo.. i^iid discovered that there .was.no. scope.there. Accordingly he joined the Fleurtys in a partnership to trap in the gorge areas. The Fleurtys took opssums in the State forest lands, and the' other, with the permission of the owners, trapped in private holdings. The three of them took altogether just under 1000 skins, and on sth : September these were brought down and stored at the Lower Hutt awaiting sale. On tliat day, however, Uren, under a search warrant, went into i the storeroom, and as a result contended, that at least 106 of the -skins were "stale"—i.e., had been taken out of season:—and were accordingly illegally in the possession of the trap pers

Expert evidence in support of this contention was called,, but it did not correspond, and in some directions conflicted, with the story put forward by the defence. There was a general agreement, however, that 106 of the skins belonging to the trappera were "stale," but taking into consideration the weather conditions, and the methods of drying the skins, by camp fires that ■were used during a particularly wet season, the experts were not prepared to say that they had been.'taken b'bfore 20th July. •-■;■ ■:'"■•••■■■ :- ••, ■

After hearing lengthy evidence on behalf of both the prosecution and the defence,' the Magistrate held that there was not sufficient to justify a conviction on the first charge, and he accordingly dismissed that information against all three of the defendants.

Mr. Tudhope withdrew the other two charges.... ' . '■'•'■' -'