PIGS ON THE RAILWAY

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 9

PIGS ON THE RAILWAY

ACTION AGAINST FIRM HAWERA STATION TROUBLE. MAGISTRATE’S COURT CASE. The nuisance allegedly created by pigs left overnight at the Hawera railway station yards was aired in the Hawera court yesterday when Laurie Andrew Taylor, solicitor for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, brought a charge against T. H. Walker and Sons Ltd., bacon exporters, for allegedly causing pigs unnecessary pain by leaving them exposed in railway trucks overnight, Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., reserved decision. Mr. J. Edmondston appeared for the defendants. The alleged nuisance has been a matter of considerable moment with residents of the Glover Road district for some months and at one stage a deputation approached the Hawera Borough Council requesting some action. A conference between the Mayor of Hawera, Mr. J. E. Campbell, the Hawera stationmaster, Mr. R. S. All Wright, and a representative of Walkers was held and the Borough Council exchanged correspondence on the question with the Railway Department. The terms of the original information charged Walkers with ill-treatment of the pigs and with causing them unnecessary suffering.An objection to the terms was made by Mr. Edmondston, who said the firm was charged with ill-treatment, when the section specified that ill-treatment was a corollary, of cruelty,. such as beating, kicking etc. Another section of the Act specified that.the terms should be sufficient if the wording of . the Act was used. ■ As : in the present case, if the terms were not in accordance with the Act they wsre not sufficient. It would ,be idle for the firm to deny knowledge of-its offences, .said Mr. Taylor in reply. He admitted that the terms were not sufficient with the Act, but considered that even if an amendment was not allowed a new information could be laid immediately. WORDING OF THE ACT. Two things were of point, said the magistrate. One was that the word illtreatment in the information was not allied with cruelty and was therefore irregular. Another was that the addition of the words “and caused unnecessary suffering to’? was a separate charge. In a discussion Mr. Edmondston asked the magistrate to note his objection, and after conference with his client announced his side was ready to defend as soon as it knew what the charge whs. The matter, was one of great public interest, haying been under discussion for a long period, said Mr. Taylor in opening. Conferences had been held with the Railway Department and the Borough Council in an attempt to alleviate'the position. No one had any. desire to .hamper th? Walkers, but the issue was whether the. firm had.caused suffering to the pigs. As the evidence wouK show, Walkers bought fat pigs at.Tauranga, Thames Valley ahd Waikato. Trains• carrying - them ..converged on Frankton Junction, and the pigs left there about- 8.30 p.m. for Hawera, arriving at 4.52 p.m. the next day. ' Fat pigs, used to four-hour feeding, were left two full days without food and kept in open trucks for one night. .;. The statiopmaster arid the Mayor of Hawera had conferred with Walkers and .the stationmaster., had suggested that word .of the slow train’s 'arrival should fee telephoned from Stratford -so that Walkers could Le:. ready to .'transport the pigs on : their arrival at Hawera. As the result of,a.petition .by residents to the Hawera Borough Council, said Mr. Taylor He Had conferred with the parent body of. the society New Plymouth. ■. .STATIONMASTER’S EVIDENCE.

/ . Robert Sidney AUwright, stationmaster at Hawera, said that on the night of June 5 one truck of pigs arrived from Frankton at 4.54 p.m. Delivery was taken 'on the morning of June 6. Although the train arrived- at 4.54 it was .not possible to. have the pigs available before between 5.30 and 6 o'clock. A good deal of /marshalling of' the long goods train was required. On June 6 two trucks of pigs, one. from Putaruru and ope from Waitoa, arrived at 4.49 p.m. and the pigs were removed from the trucks on June 7. The pigs would have been entrained at about 4.25 p.m. on June 5. . As the result of a conference, said AUwright, he had undertaken to give Walkers notice of the arrival of pigs. That had been done on all occasions except possibly one. The information was given between 3.30 and 4 o’clock of the afternoon of the train’s arrival. A truckload of pigs had arrived on “Wednesday of this week and the pigs had been removed on the afternoon of arrival. To Mr. Edmonston, AUwright said the distances travelled by the pigs were not uncommon and he knew of longer journeys being made, by animals. He detailed the construction of the sheep trucks in which the pigs were carried and said he could remember no occasion when trucks of pigs for Walkers, had been overloaded. From his experience he considered pigs difficult to handle. Mr. Edmondston: What is the reason for that. , . , , . AUwright: ' Well, they are pig-headed brutes ... ” Mr. Taylor: You can t blame them for that! „ Continuing, AUwright told Mr. Edmonston that he generally considered Walker’s pigs to be in the finest condition, even being well-groomed in appearance. It would not be possible for the pigs from longer distances to be consigned on any other train. In the conference Walkers had appeared eager to facihtate matters and had, AUwright believed, suggested a special siding. On June 5 the truck contained 54 pigs, a ’number which would not cause oveiloading unless the animals were exceptionally big, and oh June 6, there were 56 pigs in each truck.

USE OF TARPAULIN?

Re-examined by Mr. Taylor Allwright said he had entered in his day-book for June 5 and" 6 the fact that the weather was showery. . No application had beep received from Walkers for a tarpaulin to be thrown over the trucks though that probably could have been done at a charge. The yards where the pigs were kept wete shelterless, but he could not say whether the department would be Willing to build a shelter. George McClymont, a Hawera insurance agent, said he went to live in Glover Road on June 3. Tire house was 35 to 40 yards from where the pigs were yarded. On June 5 and 6, when in "the yard, the weather was bitterly, cold and the exposed trucks were, in his opinion, not suitable for pigs. He had had 15 years of daiiy farming and considered pigs were most susceptible to cold. “Were the pigs voicing their disapproval?” asked Mr. Taylor. McClymont: Yes. Mr. Edmonston: I object to that, sir, as a leading question. The magistrate: With what sort of voice would disapproval be expressed? Mr. Edmondston: They might have been squealing for any reason at all. The magistrate: I am taking down, “the pigs were voicing their sentiments.” McClymont told Mr. ..Taylor that in

his experience as sa farmer he considered the. conditions so inhuman that he had made a complaint to Mr. Taylor on June 7. . ' Under cross-examination McClymont said he had been actuated solely by a desire to have the lot of the pigs ameliorated. .

Mr. Edmondston; Is it not a /fact that strange pigs fight together? McClymont: Yes. 1 “And is it not a fact that the squealing could have been caused because the pigs were; brought together from aU parte?” asked Mr. - Edmondston. McClymont: They had two days to get 'acquainted. McClymont told counsel that he had now kndwn. the pigs were Walkers,’ nor had he known who Mr. Taylor was, other than as a' representative of the society. He told the magistrate that in his experience the squealing was caused by pigs being wet'and cold. ! CASE TO ANSWER. “I submit that there is no case to answer,” said Mr. Edmondston. “It has been shown that the trucks are comfortable, and though the protection afforded by the trucks is not complete, still it is adequate. So far as the non-feeding is concerned, it is a condition before killing that pigs should not be fed for 24 hours.”

“This is a matter of considerable importance,” said the magistrate in decidr ing on a case for answer. The ..company had be?n established for 27 years and bought its pigs from the Waikato and similar districts owing to the superior quality of the animals there, said Mr. Edmonston. The bulk of the company’s work was export, and as a bruised animal was unsuitable care had to be taken in handling the animals while unloading from trucks. The fact .that two handlings were necessary before unloading at the works made it imperative that unloading should be done in the best conditions. The Walkers werb sorry that the pigs caused a nuisance, but it could not be obviated under present conditions. Alfred George Walker, director of th 6 firm, said it was not considered a good practice to attempt to move pigs after dark as the pigs were liable to be bruised easily. Most anffnals, including pigs, were not fed for some time before killing. The firm had received no complaints of cruelty from the Government inspector. Attempts at alleviation of the position had failed owing to it being found impossible to change the trucking hours In the Waikato. Although Walker believed the pigs to be comfortable in the trucks, he considered the squealing to be due to the normal habits of the anhnals. The Government inspector was actually in charge of the works, Walker told Mr. Taylor in cross-examination, and the inspector would certainly know whether the pigs had suffered from cruelty. The truck In his opinion was the best place for the pigs. He admitted that tarpaulins would improve the conditions for the pigs. Walker admitted writing to the Commissioner of Police complaining of Sergeant Henry’s interest in the matter. He had explained the position to the commissioner and had discovered that Sergeant Henry was not interested in the cruelty question but in the noise made by the pigs.- It would not be impossible to move the pigs at night, but to move pigs at that time a certain amount of knocking about was necessary, constituting greater cruelty. / Harold J. ,P. Dumbell, Government meat, inspector, said he w’as on duty at Walker’s factory on June 6 and 7. The pigs brought in on those days were in very good order. He had not found Walkers difficult in regard to cruelty; in fact he had found the firm quick to heed his requests. He considered the pigs were better, off when left in the trucks at night. It was necessary for several reasons to starve stock before killing, and pigs were generally starved for from’l2 to 24 hours. To Mr. Taylor Dumbell said in his opinion it was preferable to leave the pigs in the truck than to attempt to load them into trucks. “This is a matter of importance and if decision went against Walkers it would cause considerable expense to them,” •'"'id the magistrate in reserving his decision.