DEATH OF HORSE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21052, 2 June 1938, Page 14

DEATH OF HORSE

CLAIM AGAINST CROWN FAIL? The Magistrate 'Mr H. Morgan! . gave reserved judgment in the Timaru ' Magistrate's Court, yesterday in the I case in which Michael Joseph Walsh. ■ of Kerrytown. proceeded against His : Majesty the King on a Petition of Right claiming the sum of £l5/15 - as I compensation for the loss of a hor e which it was alleged died after falling into a turn-out box constructed >n suppliant's property in connection with an irrigation scheme At the hearing Mr M. Raymond appeared for suppliant and Mr W. D. Campbell for the Crown. In his judgment, the Magistrate said that there was no doubt that the horse had been found dead in the irrigation box constructed on plaintiff's property, but he was not satisfied that its death was due to its hindquarters becoming imprisoned in the intake box, and its abortive struggles to free itself. The pleadings alleged that the animal died of actual injury, but there was no evidence of this. Fox bought the aorce in March. 1928. as an aged horse, which meant that it was over eight years old. Its age at death must therefore ht.ve been approximately 18 years, if not more. The horse had been fully worked during its life and was therefore of an age when its sudden r each from old age might be expected and would cause no surprise. The Magistrate went on to say that there was something about suppliant's unseemly haste in removing the carcase from the box. cutting it up u.d disposing of it, which raised a gra/b suspicion in his mind that the last thing he wanted was an inspection by the representatives of the respondent. The representatives of the respondent arrived only in time to find suppliant on the road carting the pieces of the animal to the Kennels as food for the hounds. His conduct raised a doubt as to whether he had a bona fide belief that the horses death was due to it getting into the intake lox. The Magistrate reviewed the evidence at some length and commented on the absence of injury to the hores's legs, which would be expected if it nad struggled excessively, and to ihe absence of any quantity of hair off the legs, which would have been evident on the concrete piping if the hind leg had been imprisoned in the piping. The judgment concluded by saying that the possibility of the horse having had a seizure due to old age likely to result in death and cause it to iall while near the box and in its death convulsions slip into the box was. to his mind, not a remote possibility, and had not been eliminated. Suppliant was non-suited with costs to respondent.