RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Western Star, Issue 353, 29 May 1880, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Wednesday, 26th May. (Before J. N. Wood, Esq., R.M.> CKUELTY TO ANIMALS. James Eveleigh, poundkeeper of the Riverton Corporation pound, was charged by theHon. W. H. Nurse with having been guilty of cruelty to a horse while under his charge in the pound by exposing it to the storm oh 17tb and 18th inst., whereby it suffered unnecessary hardship.- Defendant pleaded not guilty, and stated that the animal was carefully attended to when,in the pound, and was well fed and watered. He bad never heard of a shelter shed being erected in a poundHe personally was not responsible for thora being no shed in the yards, as he was only a servant of tho Corporation.—The Hon. W. H. Nurse said he thought it his duty aa a Magistrate to lay the information. The animal had been kept in an exposed position for two or three days. As a proof that the cruelty was unnecessary, the horse was removed after he laid the information. Sincethen he observed that the Corporation was about to erect a shelter shed in the pound.— Defendant explained that the horse was removed because it was claimed by the owner, and not on account of its suffering from exposure. It was not at all usual to provide shelter sheds iu pounds. At anyrata ho con-

sidcred he was the wrong par-on to summons ; the Mayor and Corporation were responsible for the neglect, if any. —J. Callaghan said he was a member of the Eivertoia Borough Council, and wished to state his experience in connection with the nature of the charge. He frequently travelled between Eiverton and Dunrobin station in all kinds of weather, and observed hundreds of cattle without shelter, and he was unable to see why Mr Nurse did not lay asi information for cruelty against the owners of these cattle as well as against the noundkeepbitkdl'liere was not a shelter shed •in any taken to a Etabpnhey would eat their heads off. He faileef to see any cruelty in the treatment which the horse received*.—Mr Nurse said he kqfew a pound in Wellington which had shelter sheds. Some men were so thoroughly brutal that they did not know what cruelty to an animal meant. —The Magistrate said he thought the Corporation had been guilty of cruelty. Callaghan’s comparison between a horse pent up in a pound and one roaming about the ranges, where it could have shelter and exercise, was an absurd one. He inflicted the nominal penalty of 5s and 7s costs. CIVIL CASES. Petchell Bros v. Jas. Q-rant. —Claim, £4l3s 7d on a dishonored promissory note. —Verdict for amount, and costs 16s.