SUNDAY FISHING

Evening Star, Issue 19522, 1 April 1927, Page 2

SUNDAY FISHING

A MATTER OF NECESSITY "Is Sunday fishing legal?" was the broad aspect of a case brought before Mr J.. R. Bartholomew, S.M., at the Port Chalmers Court to-day. James Smith, William Simpson, Richard Percy, and James Percy, fishermen, were charged with carrying on their usual calling in public _ view on Sundays. It was the loading of the fish into railway vans at Port Chalmers on Sunday evenings to which special reference was made. Mr J. B. Callan, who appeared for the defendants, who pleaded not guilty, pointed out that the fish was for Christchurch, and had to be put on a goods train leaving Dunedin on Sunday night. Fish was no longer carried on express trains. In view of the broken weather fishing on Sundays was necessary, and it was also necessary to load the fish into the vans on Sunday evening, as it would otherwise not reach Christchurch until Tuesday morning, when it would be useless. After hearing the evidence His Worship decided that it was a case of qualified necessity, as the fish would Ixs lost if not despatched to market by the means under review. Therefore the informations would ho' dismissed. This decision, however, would apply only to fish caught at the fishing grounds outside the harbor.