DOG REGISTRATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7562, 29 May 1885, Page 6

DOG REGISTRATION.

HOW THE LAW IS EVADED. It appears that persons who wish to evade the fines under the Dog Eegistration Act can do so if they are smart enough. According to Mr Beetham’s ruling, if a person who is the owner of a dog not registered, is visited by a constable on the look out for such persons and dogs, it is simply a matter of who can rim the faster that settles the question as to whether the owner of the dog is to be fined for not registering it as required by the Act. The constable posts off to the nearest J.P. to' lay an information. The dog owner makes for the office where regulation dog collars are supplied, and if he can manage to “ outrun the constable,” he has (in contradiction of the proverb) saved himself a 10s fine, and nearly as much Court costs. The matter is made the easier for the delinquents, as they frequently get the . benefit of the doubt ■when the question to be decided is so nice a one that only an hour or less is between the time the constable says he laid the information and when the owner asserts he registered the dog. Inspector Pender suggested that in future Justices of the Peace should note on the information the exact moment it is laid, and" dog registration Clerks should do the same in reference to the issue of receipts for the fees they receive. One of the constables who was concerned in some of these cases yesterday morning appeared to have found a practical way out of the difficulty to the disadvantage of the dog owners. He went round making calls to catch the unwary after the Borough Council Office had closed, and having “ spotted ” several dogs who have no legal right to existence, and got the names of the owners of these illegal canines, he

laid the informations the same -night before some obliging J.P. The owners were thus compelled to wait till next day before they could do what they should have done before, and as the information was dated a day previous to the registration certificate there could be no nice questions as to who won the race that time, and the usual fines had to be paid with as pleasant a look as possible. They don’t always take the pleasant view of it —one man yesterday worked himself into such a state of excitement that the Resident Magistrate had to order his removal from the Court. “All I want is justice,” he declared. “I gave my wife the money to pay for the collar, and she didn’t do so.” And as he could not see the difference between his wife’s pocket, where the money went, and the State coffers, where it should have gone, he had to be persuaded to, change his views by the efforts of Sergeant Wilson and a constable. .