ALLEGED CRUELTY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 156, 17 June 1936, Page 6

ALLEGED CRUELTY

Charges Against Farmer Dismissed INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE Two charges of causing cruelty to two Bed Shorthorn stags, by failing to give them proper attention after being operated upon, preferred in the Hastings Magistrate’s Court this morning against Ernest Wall, farmer, of Hastings, were dismissed by Mr. J. Miller, S.M., on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence of the alleged cruelty. Mr. W. Selwyn Averill, prosecuting on behalf of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called Mr. G. A. Dunlop, who gave evidence relating to the condition of the beasts both at the sale and at the freezing works. A post mortem examination revealed that the wounds were in a septic condition. When Wall was approached in regard to the matter, he had adopted an impudent manner, said witness. Mr. E. J. W. Hallett, who represented Wall, said that the defendant woo a man with a very wide knowledge of cattle and enjoyed a high reputation regarding the treatment of his animals. Giving evidence in his own defence, Wall denied any knowledge of cruelty to his beasts. After they had been operated upon, they were turned into a paddock and “never looked back.” Later he inspected them at the sale and they did not appear to be suffering any pam. He hud acted as cattle judge at shows all over New Zealand. He was to be the cattle judge at the forthcoming Royal Show at Christchurch, and he claimed that he was entitled to consider himself an expert regarding cattle and their treatment. Alexander Malcolm Brodie, veterinary surgeon, of Hastings, said in evidence that the defendant was a very careful man with cattle, and would not knowingly send beasts to the sale suffering from swelling wounds. “In this case criminal neglect ia under consideration,” said the Magistrate, “but it seems to me that there is an absence of proof of this. 1 have not enough evidence of suffering on the part of the beasts to warrant a conviction, and both informations will be dismissed.”