IMPORTED GAME.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 12

IMPORTED GAME.

A CONYIOTION UPHELD. At the Supreme Court <?n Monday the Re gistrar (Mr Hawkins) read the judgmem of Mr Justice Williams in the matter o; the conviction of Francis Joseph Sullivan Mr Finch argued the case for Mr Sullivai on the 6th ult., and Mr W. C. MacGregoi opposed. The text of the judgement is at follows:— f Before "The Animals' Protection Act 1907," was passed, the Governor, under th« statutory awAority given him by previous acts of a similar character, had by notific* tion declared that hares should -cease -to tx within "tJie operation of those acts in tht Menioboto County. The 58th section ol the act of 1907 repealed the prior acts, inri provided that ail notrnoations made- widei them and in force at -tibe time of the com ing into operation of the act of 1907 ahouki be deemed to have .been made under thai act. At the time, of the oom4ng into operation of the Act of 1907 hare* in the Maniototo County were not undei the operation of any previously existing act, and the effect of section 8 is to exclude i tlwai from the operation of the -act oi 1807. The effect is the same as if there •were an express clause in the «rot of 1907 that 'liares are not within- the operation of -that act in the Maniototo County. The ■act is for the protection of imported game ■ a-nd hares in the Maniototo County, and hares within the Maniototo County are not j within the act as. imported, game. Hares, j therefore, while , running at large within I the county, may be killed in any way you I please, at any season of the year, and withj out a license. When killed, they may be 6old in the county without a license, and may be sold or kept in possession all the year round within tihe county. The hares in the present case had been running at large «nd were killed in the Maniototo County, but were removed out of the Maniqtoto County and kept in possession Uxc & longer period than that Allowed by law after the -dose of the seaeon for killing- imported game. A person so keeping imported game is guilty of an offence under the, statute. Although, however, hares are not within the operation of the act it) the Maniototo as not there coming within the category of imported -game, yet outside the .county ha-res are under the operation of She act, : and are imported game. There a,ne in the act which relate to imported game when dead ac well as w.ben alive. If *■ live hare orosees the boundary of the Maniototo County, he becomes imported/game, so- long as he is outside the county ; so, aJso, if a dead ihare.in the count? is carried across; the boundacy it becomes imported game, and subject . to the act. It Was suggested that on this construction hares unlawfully "killed outside the county might be brought | into the county, and might be lawfully kept and sold there out of ; sea6on, as not being within the county imported game. This is by no means an absurd conclusion. The - penson who kilted" the hares' would still remain liable. If hares dead or alive are- vermin in a partioular district there is no iieason wihy a person in possession ot cfead vermin in that -district should be guilty of an offence because the animal in another district was not vermin. The Governor has power to declare that any animal declared by the act to be imported game shall oease to be imported game. Until he has done so with respect to any partioular animal, or until he has notified that the particular animal has ceased to b© witfiin the operation of the act in every district in tine Dominion, that animal outside the districts in whioh it has been withdrawn from the operation of the acts continues, whether alive or dead, to be subject to the act as imported game. No doubt the main object of the act ie to protect imported game running at large, an<J the provisions of the act relating to deed game are subsidiary to that object- The beet way, in my opinion, of ca-rrving out' that object ie to give effect to the plain language of the act. The act forbids the exportation of imported game as well as the keeping it out of season. It does not, in. Jny opinion, contemplate that there is to be an inquiry by the Customs officer or magistrate af to -whether the game originally oame from a distriot where it was unprotected, and that, if this were made out, it phoulcj be allowed to be exported, or the person in posseseKm of it discharged. The oas- o f Price v. Bradley (16 Q.8.D., HBi },a- <orp'j bearing upon the layout °"" ; "' 1 * h <? remark in th^ judgment rha, + «=»<•! :m irquirr rni<rU oftoji I*> fliffi"ulfi •• • i f> >:iUe=onio. and t<Mi<l to '1-f.vn til-* " ' c th<- art. .n-npl- in tlw pi»v.^j,f < 'iue nut- will be di=diai£,od. Coets,