MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 31 October 1921, Page 4

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

•ALLEGED CRUELTY TO .HORSES

A WAGON DRIVER CHARGED

At- the Magistrate's Court, to-day, be- ’ fore Mr J. S. Evans, S.M., Arthur Drown, wagon driver, was charged, on tho information of the police, with cruelty to horses on the. 14th inst. There' were four separate charges in respect to three different animals. Mr C. U. Fell appeared for the. Police and Mr ,J. P. Hayes for'’defendant, who pleaded not- guilty to all charges. Mr Fell, in outlining the ease for the prpsecution, said defendant. vvas a wagoner travelling between the llai Val. ley and Nelson’, lie . drove six horses and on the day in question Miss Black, -of Atawhai, saw v a man very savagely boating bno of a learn of horses at Old - ham's Creek. Miss Black did not identify the driver, but communicated with the police, who met a team when it came to town. It was too dark then to examine the animal, but next day the police, in company with Mr Seed, the inspector, visited the horses, which,, said counsel/ were in a deplorable condition and the 'stables filthy. The charges appeared to be bad ones, and ho had been instructed to afflk |ho Magistrate to deal very severely with de-. fondant if the charges were, proved. He called the following evidence:— Myra G. Black, living at Atawhai, near Oldham’s Creek, said that on 14th inst. she. was. in the garden at about 6.30 and heard a man thrashing a | team of horses with a whip. There wore two teams aj the stream. She went out and saw a man -thrashing the horse of one of tho teams with a whip and also with a big-piece of timber. The horses were standing still at the time. Tho middle horse went down, and she it was dead. She could not identify the driver, as she w r as too far away, hut witness described the colour'of the horses. | Witness was cross-examined by Mr Hayes as to the state of the light on the evening in question. «• She could not see tho man’s features- It was the man’s cruel action she. was watching. I Counsel: Ton might have picked the wrong man.-T did not pick the wrong tc am. . > - Counsel: You did not speak to him? No. if 1 had been a man I would have gone down and thrashed him. Witness further staled Unit fihfj had communicated with tho police in the matter.

Constable O'Neill said in ■ consequence of information ho received ho met two timber wagons iu town on the evening of 14th inst, and followed them, to the stables at Washington Valley. It was just about dark then, and the light was -too bad to -examine th e animals. Defendant told witness that his team was leading when passing Atawhai. In 'company with Mr Seed he visited the ‘ stables' next afternoon- and examined the horses. A hay mats* lord a large broken wound on jhe left shoulder, very badly swollen am) inflamed, and a large quantity of matter discharging. Ttje animal was in poor condition. There was also <*x wound qu thft right shoulder discharging matter. The wound did not look as if it had been wasned or clean ed. The matter could have been scooped out. with the hand. There were two or three lumps on the left side. The horse’s collar was an awful state, \he padded straw projecting. The Cellar was in a frightful state from discharge frorn l>b© wound. Th© snntuvl would not. allow him to touch its, shoulders. Regarding a bay gelding, it was scarcely able to hobble out pf the 1 stables and' was in poor condition. The * 1 tendons on both forelegs were, .swollen 'and inflamed. The animal was between JO and' 14-years of ago. The animals left shoulder had a large sore on it, and was discharging and inflamed. The collar was in a bad state; a note had . been dug in the collar, which .was staffed with hair. A brown gedmg was a mass of ‘‘rounds all oyer; a, large discharging open lump-., on the left shoulder.; two dry, lumps on the right shoulder; 14 prominent whip, marks extending from the tail to the ribs; five long whip marks along the top oi (ho ribs, the hair was sticky where ’-the blood had been oozing .out. Defendant said this was caused by the horse being caught in barbed wire. Witness replied that the' horse must have lam on its back to get the woundbut he made no reply. Thera was a girth gall on each side, swollen and badly inflamed. The horse was timid to the touch. Tim off tendon of the off foreleg was hadlv sprained. The horses he had examined were the same ho had seen the prvious night. He believed ■ the wagon was loaded with timber when it came to town. The notes he had taken were made in defendant’s ■ presence and were read over to him, and he was asked if there was anv exaggeration. Defendant said no, bid. hoped there was not going to ho any trouble. The condition of the stables was something awful, and the stench was almost unbearable. To Mi Hayes; He had had experience with horses .Generally speaking, the wounds wove two. or three, inches in diameter. Ho had driven horses with swollen tendons, hut not so bad as the horses in question. It was not always cruel, ip drive a horse with swollen tendons'. Ik made no complaint to 'defendant on the night he visited the 1 stn Ides as it was too dark to exami iuc Hid horses. He knew what heat / 1 boils were, and that they appeared .•.bout October. It would not be cruel Ito work horses with boot boils if tbs 1 harness was properly padded, j Fred, Seed, special eon stable appointed under the Prevention of .Cruelty to Animals Act, corrohqratd the _ evidence of the previous witness as to the condition of the horses when he examined them. It would'ho very cruel to work, an animal in the stale the mare was. Witness also described the condition of the other horses. The swolle n tendons on, one of the horses ho oxaTmined were not Merlons. d, brown gelding had been very seriously flogged; it was in fair condition, put showed signs of stress, under bad treatment.' All the collars were very had, and were not- tit _to be used-on any oi the six animals iu.thq stables. Ije had known defendant’s team for some time, and had complained to him previously several times about * the condition of his horses. ’ To Mr Hayes; He had complained to Mr Henry Ihiigent about the horses, hut Air Baigent said he has not the owner, so lie had never prosecuted him. Ho did not know- that AH’ Baigent had instructed another driver to take the horses to the Rai to-day. He would say that the horses were not physically able to work at present: as a team. There could bo differences of opinion as to what constituted ill-treatment to animals. Jne Reason of the year was a trying one for horses. Some of the marks on the whipped horse were old, and rather fresh; he mignt he wrong Jtl thinking that some of them were new marks, v Horses were more liable to suffer from heat boils in wot weawer. llenrv James Hams, a Justice of the Peace, with a fair amount.of experience among horses, said be had visited the'stables of drfefldoip on the 1 oil) October, in company witti Cons table Took or and the previous witness Witness described the state in which he found the horses. They

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nllllllwST l 'ill "T r* m * t ' . had received treatment in Mip meantime. This was the ease I'nr 13m PoliceFor the defence, Air 'Hayes said ibe case would ho that. iho horses had not received any treatment nut. of/Hm ordinary. Tlio loam had hoou put in at Collins’ Valley, and had name through that! day. ■ The weather -wn* bad, and the roads consequently heavy. Defondant would deny Him he had flogged a horso as stated t>y the. wirness Black. lie would brine; evidenee to show that the horses had not been illtreated, and that the season of the year had had somethin'. 1 ; to do with the condition of the animals at 'he time. lie called. 1 Arthur Brown, the dclendani, who said Umt: he had come in )rom Collins Valley on the day in question. .11m roads were muddy ami uot, and the weather showery. llte reads ueie unusually wet and heavy. lie sliotdrl have arrived in town at .1, hut was delved owing to the- slate, of the roads, until 7. He did not have a horse in the team which he had to put the whip- on to pnl‘l. lie left hi corn pa nr witli two other waggoners—McMillan and Homan. Describing what a witness had said occurred at Oldham’s Creek, defendant, said he wittered his horses there, and went on. M LM.ii! m passed him at the creek. He denied getting the whip on the horSes to get them out of the creek. It took a man aM his, time to hold the waggon without using a whin, dim brown gelding with the whip marks on it was. ir:. the centre lead. It had never worked in the, shafts since ho had had it about the last Id months. | The marks were on the animat when he bought it. J The Magistrate: And was the blend which the constable said had 'been oozing out of the marks, on tinv animal too? . , Continuing, witness said that be had) never used the whip on the horse that dav to put marks on him. He could j not. recollect whether ho had a whip mj hia hand when crossing the crock. He, did pot. slop his team after crossing Hm creek. He denied using a stick or a. ( pie Cf. of timber on the horse. As t“j the hay mare, he admitted she had a. sore on the shoulder, caused by a hmlThe animal was rather inclined to laid shoulders. He did the best he eonld with the collar to make it _ comfortable. He put. sacking and padding on noth sides to leave the sore tree. At tins time of the year horses were troubled with boils. ‘When ho harnessed the horse, that morning, h had a- snglil. sore, and Hm vm weather met. with o" Hie journey had helped to make it worse' He could not have avoided this. If a horse- got- bad on Hie way to Nelson there was no place where, it could he left for treat incut . A man would he all the. lime at home d he laid up a, horse every tune it had a. hod. The team was on the mad to the Kai ■ to-day for Mr )h Bnigent, sawnuller. Witness how had nothing to do wdli them. Witness had given l\lr -aigent n mil of sale over them, ami Mr B;u- - mlnm them hack., endeavoured to keep the horses ■ m day, but was unsneeesstul. As in the Inv gelding, he was a little weak m the tendon of one leg, and the henyv pulling made him worse. H the hoist C been had in both legs witness would have had to leave him on « road One of the shoulders nad a hod „„ ii, arid broke . low hut the horse was in. to work, iie nan Seel'the sore, hut had done nothing Echo collar. As to the-brown gelding, he was not aware, that tiu- tendon of a •foreleg, was sprained. ' noticed nothing wrong with the houe when it was harnessed njmn h ine of the 14th, except a Id tie hit. <d fl hoi! on the near side shoulder, caused by get ting hot. during the wet weai- mi , very common occurrence. A homo could develop sores after three or to hours’ bard work. (heft, sitting.)