KARORI CATTLE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 15

KARORI CATTLE

HIGHLY INTELLECTUAL BEASTS. (To tho Editor, “N.Z. Times.*’) Sir, —Kindly allow rae> to direct tho attention of tho public to the conditions of life, human and animal, obtaining under the auspices of tho Karori Borough Council, i have had the misfortune to have had nearly seven years’ experience of municipal inepitude _in the borough of Karon, fiords of catt.e have during that time prao.icaLy enjoyed tho froouom of the borough. Though 1 had some ten acres of land, and kept a man, I had been unable during those seven yoars to grow five pounds worth of vego j tables for the use of my family! On an average once a week, during those years, mobs of half-starved cattle (that { scorn, to have b©on specially trained in. the art of negotiating fences) visited' my grounds—in the winter time when ‘’feed” was scarce, the visits were almost of daily, or rather "nightly’* occurrence. Now, it should be remembered that all this timo a ranger was employed by the Borough Council, at least on certain days in tho week. The Karori cattle, however, unlike the Karori Borough Council, would seem to have acquired highlydeveloped intellectual powers. They rarely failed to anticipate the ranger’s official movements, or to forecast his itinerary I . The Mayor informs me that one dairy farmer in Karori owns a herd of some twenty or twenty-five head of cattle, and possesses but ono or two acres of land. ,Tho cattle are grazed on th© public streets and vacant section® throughout the borough, but with the help of Pro- , and their exceptional foresight, 1 these cattle, only on the rarest occaeij ons, fall into the hands of the ranger when on his official rounds ! On his off-days (that Is when not in the service of the Borough Council) he (th© ranger) through the courtesy and generosity of an accommodating Borough Council is allowed to "take private practice” (as assistant cattle-man or stock-man to a Karori cattle-dealer, whoso cattle have aleo, to my own knowledge and cost, presumably throughj their exceptional intelligence, contrived to enjoy the freedom of tho borough of Karori for the past seven yOars. Tho Mayor of Karori inform© me also that the Borough Council cannet interfere with stock grazing on vacant sections, or even on tho public streets, provided any person 1® in charge of them.

For many months a boy of some thirteen years has been "ostensibly” in charge of a mob of fifteen (15) cows on the public streets and vacant sections in the borough. The Karori Borough Council would to have given their ranger special Instructions to look out for first-offending cattle and their ownore. Mobs of half-«tarv?*d cattlo are allowed, through what I conceive to bo grow neglect of duty on the part of the Borough Council, to destroy the fences of ratepayers (who possess, perhaps, a cow or two), and when the unfortunate ratepayer's cow finds its way on to a public* road tho ranger rarely fails to put in an "official” visit, with inevitable result that the real offender—tho habitual offender —escapes, and the innocent is punished, except when the borouvh clerk, a legal luminarv of considerable parts, exercises (what seem to b-0 his extensive discretionary powers’ The Mayor of Karori informs me, too, that thfl Council ''could put a stop to this cattle nuisance in the borough if they could ret the Magistrates to inflict heavy fines.” but Magistrates, as a rule, so he (the Mayor) informs me, are disposed to lenient with second and habitual offenders! In the circumstances. I strongly advise any people who contemplate settling in Karori, to wait until they die, when they can be in it, and not of it municipally! I, at least, esteem myself lucky in having got out of it for time —if not for eternity.—l am, etc., HUGH MACKENZIE. Kelburn© Parade, September 10th.