MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 75, 26 March 1923, Page 5

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

X- ; STRATFORD SITTING. A BUSY-DAY. Mr A. M, Mowlem, S.M., presided at the fortnightly sitting of the Magistrate’s Court held at Stratford this morning. UNLICENSED HAWKER. Joseph Mansoor (Mr Lawrence) pleaded guilty to having engaged in hawking in Stratford County without having a license. H. .I; Spearman, County Inspector, said that on February 9th he was on his- way to Douglas anil saw defendant’s motor van standing at the Mangatotara creamery with the sides down, displaying goods. Witness asked defendant if he had a license, and defendant said he had not. While witness was there a woman asked defendant for flannel anj flannelette. Defendant had business premises at Dpunake. hut not in Stratford County.

Mr Lawrence said defendant made periodical trips to Strathmore, and on the occasion in question Mrs Cornish, whom he had known for many years, saw him .at Mangatotara and asked to see what he had Tn his van.

A fine of £3 was imposed. CATTLE AT LARGE.

W. H. H. Young (Mr R. Tyrer) was charged with having on February Ist allowed cattle to wander on Pembroke and Hunt Ronds. Mr A. Coleman appeared for the County Counci '•

The County Inspector said he found 40 bullocks on the road about 1 p.m. There was nobody in charge of them. Mr Tyrer said the cattle were to he shipped away and were being to pc away with others. Some delay occurred, and the grass in the paddock hired for grazing gave out and the cattle were put on Hunt Road, which was a blind road. A fine of £2 was imposed.

J. E. P. Hickey wa s' charged with allowing 20 cows to wander. Ho did not appear.

The County Inspector said he had suspected that defendant was putting his cattle on the road, but failed to catch them at night. .Therefore he went up at 4.45 o’clock one morning -£»dft'f<sind thf-tjows. Witness wqkcyip*HickGyi'iMo told him he had taken his;cmvH. •-

The S.M. ; That was the unkindest cut of alV—to wake the man up to tell him that.

Defendant, said the Inspector, made no excuse. He said his grass \\ as getting scarce and he. turned the cows out to get a feed on the road. Poundages fees had been paid. A fine of £1 was imposed. NOXIOUS WEEDS.

P. M. O. Kelleher pleaded guilty to failing to clear blackberry on his iarm in the Ngaere swamp. P. H. Bee re, Inspector, said the blackberry was in a very bad state. —Defendant said clearing was delayed by hay-making, wet weather and sickness.

H. H. Murray pleaded guilty to failing to < clear ragwort from his v farm. Defendant said ££,4',,. done file best possible.: He had feven mowed ragwort i.y jtp 1$ p.m., |»y moonlight. Sonib places,could no%|He reached by the mower, and had 1 to be done by hand. Ho employed some labor for this work, but con’d not pay much for this purpose. Since Christmas ho had been doing nothing but make hay and mow' ragwort.—lnspector Beere said the use of sheep had been acrvocated for the control of ragwort. The sheep die- a good deal of damage to the plants when they wgyoung.—The S.M. said he really could not consider the fact that a man had “done his best.” It was necessary to keep a fi.im in such a, manner that it was not a menace to neighbours. A man was presumed to have sufficient resources to control the weeds on the land he held.

J. A. L. Borchart pleaded guilty to failing to clear blackberry, and said the weed had to be neglected, owing to the fact that his wife was seriously ill. Labor, also, was very scarce.

Arthur Richmond did not appear on a charge of failing to cut ragwort. —lnspector Beere said there was at least 40 acres of ragwort on the farm. J. H. Kerrisou was charged with failing to cut ragwort. He pleaded guilty.—The Inspector said the farm was of 255 acres and 150 acres were covered with ragwort.—Defendant said he put sheep on the back and 'ofc the front for the mower, but lie get a poisoned leg and never got the work done.—The S.M. ; Have yon any money to employ labor.—Defendant; No I’m on the rocks.—The S.M.: If the ragwort spreads to your ncighb< ur’s place be also iVill go on the rocks.—Defendant: Hut he’s got it already.

Mr Young appeared for F. Wel’ingten, charged with failing to clear ragwort on a farm on Cross Road,

Mi. J. Suha.n (Mr Kuy) pleaded guilty to failing to clear ragwort on a farm on Wawiri Road. The Inspector raid the area of the farm was 220 acres, of which two-thirds was in ragwort. This was one of the worst possible cases. Witness suggested to defendant a method of farming which would control the ragwort, but sheep were nut put on until too late.—Mr Kay said defendant arranged for a man to go on the farm, to rut ragwort, and to graze 750 sheep, but this man left the place without giving notice, and it was w r ell on in February when the owner found this out.

W, C, O’Reilly pleaded guilty to failure to clear ragwort.—Defendant

said he had been stuck with cattle, which he could not eef ric} of. He

knew that the only thing for ragwort was aheep. ’ He had got rid of the c«ttle } and now he was stocked with sheep. He had cleared all his boundaries. Much of his land was very rough, and it was practically impossible to cut the ragwort on the rough parts. Cutting ragwort was a farce, U it, was cut at the beginning of the season it would need two further cuttings before the end of the season. D. Kemp (Mr Coleman) pleaded guilty to failing to c’ear ragwort.— Counsel said defendant had put on .six men to clear the weed. The property wasi a large one, and some of it was very rough. L. Babington, Finnerty Road, pleaded guilty to failing to c'ear ragwort.—The Inspector said the toTsl ragwort on the farm was between 30 and 40 acres.—Defendant said there was not more than eight acres.—The S.M. said it was not much good if defendant cut hip ragwort after tlie seeds had l been spread all over the country.

€!. C. Bain pleaded guilty to facing to clear ragwort. He said he had hved on the farm for 20 years and had no trouble with ragwort. >Seven years ago lie had exchanged it for another property, and it had become infested with ragwort, LIGHT PINES The S.M. said that in all cases received very much the same excuses. It was during the time when hay should be got in that ragwort should be cut. The past season had been a wet one, and there was difficulty in dealing with ragwort. The maximum fine allowed was £2O and the minimum fine was fixed at 10/-. Did farmers know that "if the occupier of infested land did not deal with his weeds the Inspector had power to have the work done at the occupier’s expense. Ragwort was much worse than blackberry, for its seeds were carried on the wind. One defendant spoke of his father and brother being ill. That was all right in a way, but it was not fair to his to neglect , the weeds. He (the S.M.) intended to Inflict what he considered light fines, recognising as he did that the season had been a very queer one. But he wished people to understand that he regarded the offence as serious. The light , fines were inflicted merely because of the bad season.

Thp Bench to fix the fines. Richmond was fined £2/10/-, the S.M. stating that defendant did not appear to have done as much as he might. O’Reilly had made an honest endeavor to do something, and had done a good deal. He would be fined 10/-, as also would Babington and Bain. All the other defendants were fined £2 and costs. CYCLE WITHOUT LIGHTS.

John Satler for a second offence of riding a cycle at night without lights was UNLICENSED MOTOR. S. Madgwlck was charged with carrying passengers in a motor vehicle which was not licensed for the purpose. Defendant said his lorry was licensed to carry goods. He did not know he needed another license for ■VV'V v?V ■ passengers. ~ ’ Inspector Rowson said jit was the first case of the sort under the by-laws. Defendant was convicted and ordered to pay costs. Walter Broadley, driver of the lorry, was similarly dealt with. CIVIL CASES. Judgment was given for plaintiff by default in the following undefended civil cases: A. W. R. Milking Machine Co v. Joseph W. Finnerty. £56/10/-, costs £4/13/6; Stratford County Council v. John H. Kerrison, £lB/7/2, costs £3/1/-; I). Steven v. C. E. Currin. £l/0/6. costs 8/-; Trustees of S. Mary’s School v. F. C. Hoole, £63/9/6, costs £4/12/6; W. E. Jones v. Percy Johnson, £3B/10/7, costs £4/1/6; Newton King Ltd. v. F. F. W. -Belk, £ll/18/10, costs £2/18/-; A. Manoy v. Joseph Levandoski, £3/7/3, costs 10/-; F. Hogan v. R. N. McMillan, £6/13/-, costs £l/10/6; I. C. Brett v. h. .Tepson, £B7/17/8, costs £5/4/-; Stratford Borough Council v. L. M. Mischewski, £34/16/7. costs £3/1/-; Stratford County Council v. Hugh Johnston, £l4/6/1, costs £2/14/-.