FOWLS IN INNER AREA

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 10

FOWLS IN INNER AREA

ALLEGED EXCESSIVE NUMBER. QUESTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH. Continuance of the case in which the Stratford Borough Council proceeded against Kirkwood Bros, for keeping more that 10 head of poultry in the inner area was effected in the Stratford Court yesterday. The evidence and addresses of counsel were completed but the magistrate, Mr. R. W, Tate, S.M., reserved his decision. James W. McMillan, Mayor of Stratford from 1917 to 1929 when he resigned from office, said that in his opinion the by-law was unreasonable except in Broadway central. The by-law was enforced while he was Mayor anil he remembered the inspector’s reporting upon what he had described the dirty condition of defendants’ fowl yard. At that time, said witness, he was under the impression that the fowl yard was attached to the back of the hotel which fronted on Broadway, whereas it was actually situated in. Miranda Street. He denied that the infantile paralysis epidemic scare of 1925 had been responsible for the borough council’s extending the inner area.

The town clerk, Peter Skoglund, said he firmly believed the council had taken the public health into' account when extending the inner area. Dr. William T. P. Gordon, Stratford, stated that as far as he knew there was no disease catchable, by human beings that was directly traceable to poultry, that is, that had no other source than the birds. DANGER OF DISEASE. Dr. R. J. R. Mecredy, medical officer of health in New Plymouth, stated the Health Department had issued an order in council prohibiting the keeping of fowls in the brick area of Wellington. That order was issued against the keeping of fowls on account, of the excreta from fowls, the type of fqod they were fed on and the possibility of their distributing diphtheria germs. Dui’ing the infantile paralysis epidemic of 1925 it was discovered that flies were implicated in the carriage of the disease germs and anything that tended to harbour flies was regarded with apprehension. The average fowl run was kept under insanitary conditions. Mr. A. Coleman, on behalf of defendants, contended that the by-law was unreasonable and uncertain. It was too wide in its application and was oppressive in that it could fine no justification in the minds of reasonable men. The council that introduced the by-law had not intended that it should operate in the way it did at present. Furthermore it was not impartial in operation as it was not strictly enforced. The by-law limited only the number of birds kept and did not take into consideration the area on which they were kept. There should have been a discrimination in that respect establishing a ratio between the number of birds and the.-size of the run. TOO GENERAL IN APPLICATION. The by-law determined a minimum that had no regard to the circumstances of any particular case. It was therefore oppressive and unjust. Four members of the council called for the defence had said that when the inner area was extended in 1925 the restriction upon the number of fowls kept 'in that area was not considered. Mr. N. H. Moss submitted that the prosecution was the result of a considered action by the council and there was no need for him to go into the reasons for the by-law. If it were oppressive how was it that the defence had called

no one to support its contention? Mr. Coleman had said that the by-law did not discriminate but the council could not be expected to make by-laws dealing with the merits of each case according to peculiar circumstances. It had been alleged that the by-law had not been enforced. There had been no need to enforce it by legal means up till the present but that did not mean that the by-law had not been enforced at all. It merely indicated that but for the case in point the by-law had been complied with and no by-law could be termed unreasonable purely because only one offender < had been prosecuted over a long period. The council had power to prohibit the keeping of any fowls in the inner area. In view of that pcAver a very strong case would have to be presented to prove a regulation unjust when total prohibition could legally be enforced by the council. The entire defence had been supported on extreme cases. Legislation must be passed for the average case, not for exceptional instances, said Mr. Moss. Therefore the by-law could not be termed too wide because it affected that one special case. ■ < COLLISION ON BRIDGE. JUDGMENT IN DEFENDED CLAIM.' “I do not find that the lorry driver was guilty of any negligence as I think he was justified in entering the bridge when he did. Arlow, on the other hand, was negligent in" entering and continuing along the bride at an excessive speed which precluded his stopping before the collision, and his negligence was the whole cause of the collision.” Thus Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., summed up his reserved judgment at the Stratford Court yesterday in the case of E'dward J. Arlow v. Stratford Motors, Ltd., for £165 13s. 9d, and the counter-claim of Stratford Motors, Ltd., for £154 9s.' The action arose out of a collision between a car driven by Arlow and a lorry belonging to the company on a bridge in the Junction Road between Egmont Village and- New Plymouth. Judgment was given for Stratford Motors with costs totalling £36 IQs. KING’S THEATRE, STRATFORD. “HIGH TREASON,” BRITISH TALKIE. Those who are curious as to what London will be like ten years hence should see “High Treason)” an entertaining all-dialogue film forecast of love and life in 1940. In the picture the London of the future is shown and the drama is based upon the conflict of a world League of Peace and the militant forces of America and Europe. The recording is excellent. Every word spoken by the principals, Jameson Thomas, Benita Hume and Basil Gill, is clear and dis-, tinct, and apart from dialogue and music sound effects in many instances arie what might be described as spectacular. Sound is used with particular effect in the scenes depicting an explosion in the Channel Tunnel, “Mafeking” scenes in a night club on the declaration of war,, and scenes of the women’s triumphal peace march. One could go on picking out sections of the film which have un- 1 usual interest. “High Treason” is one of tlie most interesting unusual talkies ever made. Reserve your seats and come along to assist the Boy Scouts and the primary school.