RABBIT INSPECTOR'S APPEAL

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 13

RABBIT INSPECTOR'S APPEAL

CASE REMITTED BACK TO MAGISTRATE. OHRISTCHTJRCH, February 23. Reserved judgment was delivered to-day by Mr Justioe Herdman in trio case in which Albert Radford, inspector for the Banks Peninsula Road Board, appealed against the decision of the magistrate (Mr V. G. Day) disriiissing an information against Richard Candy, sheep farmer, whp was charged with failing to take reasonable steps to destroy rabbits on his land. His Honor said the magistrate had dismissed the information on the ground that ho was not satisfied the appellant had taken sufficient means to satisfy himself reasonably that the requirements of the Act had not been fulfilled. His Honor held that under the Rabbit Nuisance Act, 1882, the inspector's opinion was decisive when the question for determination was whether the acts done by an owner were such as were necessary for the destruction of rabbits. The Rabbit Nuisance Act, 1918, made it clear that the magistrate should have acted on the opinion of the inspector. The appeal was allowed, with costs, and the case remitted back to the magistrate for further action.