DEAD FISH WAG TAILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

DEAD FISH WAG TAILS.

JUDGE'S TEST IN COURT. CRUELTY CHARGE DISPROVED. The strange spectacle of a judge sitting on the bench and cleaning fish with a kitchen knife was witnessed in one of the courts at Potsdam, Germany, recently. This unusual occupation of judicial hands was the result of a charge brought by the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was reported ro the chairman of this organisation, a retired lieutenant-colonel, with a distinguished name, that the women who sell live carp, tench, and piko from the big wooden tubs on .the Potsdam marketplace were in the habit of scraping the scales off the fish before killing them. On a visit to the spot, the chairman of the society caught a fishwifo in the very act, as ho thought. When she put the fish down, denuded of its outer integuinont, he distinctly saw the tail move to and fro. Apparently ignorant of all the phenomenon of nervous refloxes, the gallant officer, without more ado, lodged an information for cruelty to animals. When, however, tho defendant appeared before tho court, she produced a bagful of fish which had indubitably been " slaughtered." With extraordinarily dctt fingers, to tho admiration of the many housewives present, she divested them one after another of their scales. And in every case, as she finished her task, tho t,ail of the fish distinctly moved. Possibly suspecting sotno sleight of hand, tho judgo now insisted on trying Hie experiment himself* Tho result was tho same.

"It is still alive," cried an alarmed femalo voice from the public gallery, as tho judge put down the fish. But its death had been placed beyond nil doubt, and 4he case was dismissed.