NOT AT HOME.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3374, 14 November 1911, Page 2

NOT AT HOME.

LITIGATION CONCERNING A ' POUNDKEEPER. AN INFORMATION UPHELD. Upon the information of George F. Bed a resident of Te Ivaraka named John Thus. Cassidy, was arnainged m the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of rescuing horses from the le Tvaraka pound. •Mr Bright appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Nolan for the defendant, who pleaded not guilty. John Morns, ranger, deposed that on the 25th October he impounded two horses on the Kipling Road. He drove them to the pound and delivered, them to the person in charge. This pound was the nearest accessible pound to. the place where the horses were straying. The horses were nut in the pound, and witness saw the gate locked. The horses had been impounded from a- spot about sixteen chains from Mr Cassidy’s paddock, and witness had' not- observed any saddled horse tied to the gate. When lie met the defendant witness had informed him, in answer to a question, that his horses were in the pound Subsequently, at Bell’s house, the defendant had made a statement to the' effect that lie would take the horses without paying for them. George Frederick Bell, keeper of the Ivaraka pound, deposed that no one by his authority had given defendant permission to remove any horses from the pound. John Thomas Cassidy, the defendant, deposed that on the 25th October he was working between the railway station and Te Ivaraka. township up to a quarter to twelve. At that hour he, with a stableman, started to drive his horses to the Rangitira river to water them. On the way they went to a paddock to ca-tcli some other horses, which he had to take to the river. While in the paddock he left his saddle horse tethered to the outside of the gate, and when tiiey returned to the road the horses they had been driving were gone-. Witness met a man named Gallagher, and in consequence of something he told him witness went straightway to the pound. When rearing the pound witness met Morris, who told) him, in answer to a question, that the horses had been impounded. Later witness went to Bell’s house, where he met Morris, who told him there was no one at home. Witness, asked for the 1- ey, and Morris said that the key was t ot in his possession, and. could not gne witness his horses. Jo Mr Bright: Witness never broke anything at the pound, but had merely lifted the gate from the hinges and liberated the horses.

Dennis Callagher, waggoner, residing at Te Ivar'aka, also gave evidence, stating tliat he had seen the horses on the road' within a chain of the gate, to which two saddle horses were tied. 'Witness saw Morris come np and drive the horses on the read away. He was then coming from the Wailiora sawmills, and on the nay he had met Mrs and Miss Bed, senior. This was at a point about a mile from the pound, and the ladies were picnicking on the road to the mill. Dennis Gallagher, recalled, identified Miss Bell as being the young lady he had seen in the morning before the horses were imimunded. It would not have been .possible for Miss Bell to have walked to the pound from where she was by the time Morris had got the horses there. Katherine Bell, a daughter of the pound keeper, deposed that while her father was awav from Te Karalca on the 25th Otcober, she had been in charge of the pound. About a quarter past twelve the ranger Morris had brought six horses to the pound, and witness had locked the gate. She left the house almost immediately, and went to’ a picnic about three-quarters of a mile away. Her mother was in the house at the time, and witness had not seen the defendant come np and speak to Morris. After she left there was no one looking after the pound until about 5 p.m. In giving his decision the Magistrate said he was satisfied that the defendant did illegally rescue the horses. It was not sufficient excuse for him to say that he- went to the house and asked for the key of the gate. If the poundkeeper had failed in his duty the defendant had his remedy. The defendant would he fined £2, with costs £3 18s. His "Worship remarked that £SO was the maximum penalty for such offences.