The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-03-14 00:00:00

BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND AGRI.

CULTI7E4L SOCIETY.

The usual monthly meeting of the Council was held
at DoneWs Railway Hotel, Taunton, on the 4th Met,
under the presilency of Lord Taunton.
Colonel ACLAND brought up the report of the Special
Committee appointed to consider the duties and salary
of the Editor in connection with the duties of other
officers of the Society; whereupon it wal unanimously
' resolved that the Ilklitor's salary be increased to L'2so
per annum, with the understanding that the whole of
his time, so far 111 may be required, shall be at the dis-
poeal of the Society.
The Bye-laws of the Society were referred for revision
to a special committee.
The SIiCRSTABT read the following letter and form
of petition from the Durham County Agricultural
Society :
Durham County Agricultural Society.
Durham, Feb. 21. 1885.
beg to forward you a Copy or a Petition which
has been adopted by the Durham County Agricultural
Society.
. . . . . _

lhe subject to which it refers is one well dewerving
the attention of all Agricultural Societies throughout
the Kingdom, and the Council of the Durham Society
hope the question may be deemed of sufficient impor-
tance to induce you to adopt a similar Petition to both
lioness of Parliament.

Mr. Fenwick, M.P. for Sunierland, has undertaken
to bring in a Bill during the present session, and your
support is most earnestly desired, in order that an
amendment of the present law may be effected.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
F. T. WHAHAN, S.
To the Honourable the House of
_Commons in Puha-

-
merit Aasembled.
The humble Petition of the Members of tho Durham
County Agricultural Society sheweth,
That in the opinion of your Petitioners the English
law affecting the liability of the owners of dogs
guilty of sheep-worrying is defective, and requires
amendment.

In the County of Durham large numbers of dogs are
kept, and the owners of sheep, especially in the densely-
populated Mining Distriote, are constantly incurring
great losses in consequence of their sheep being killed
or injured by vicious dogs.
The present law practically affords no protection to
persons whose sheep may have been attacked, u before
the owner of a deg can be rendered liable for any
damages the animal may have committed, it must be
proved that the dog has previously worried sheep,
and that his owner has had due notice of his vicious

propensities.
Your petitioners beg to call the attention of your
Honourable House to the difference.in the state of the
law which exists in Ireland and Scotland, and they
would respectfully urge that in their judgment the
application of such slaw to England would afford owners
of sheep that protection which they so much require.
The Scotch Act provides
"1. In any Action brought against the owner of a
" dog for damages in consequence of injury done by
" such dog to any sheep or cattle, it shall not be
" necessary for the pursuer to prove • previous pro-
"penalty in such a dog to injure cheep or cattle.
"2. The occupier of any house or place or premises
'in which any dog which has injured any cheep or
" cattle has been usually kept, or permitted to live or
'remain at the time of such injury shall be liable oaths
" owner of such dog, unlesa the said occupier can prove
" that he was not the owner of such dog at the time the
"Injury complained of was oommitted, and that such
"dog was kept or permitted to live or remain in the said
"house or place or premises without Isis sanction or
knowledge."
The Act 25th and 26th Victoria, whioh applies to
Ireland, contains similar provisions, and in case where
the amount of damages claimed does not exceed £5,
enables the owner of the sheep killed or injured to re-
cover, in a summary way, before any Justice or Justices
sitting in Petty Sessions.
No complaints are made against the working of these
Acts in Scotland and Ireland, and in consequence of the
greater strictness with which dogs are watched by their
owners, sheep worrying does not prevail to anything
like the tame extent it does in England.
Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your
Honourable House to take, into your serious considera-
tion the expediency of assimilating the law of England,
in this respect, with that of Scotland and Ireland.
And your Petitioners will ever pray, Sm.
In the course of a long and interesting discussion it
'WM stated that the evil complained of in the North of
England is also severely felt in many parts of the
Western counties, and it was ultimately resolved that
the Council, fully appreciating the importance of the
subject, thank the Durham Society for their communi-
cation, and, although it is not in accordance with the
practice of the Bath and West of England Society to
petition Parliament an a Society, they hope that the
attention Of individuals in this district will be called to
the state of the law with • view to any improvements
which may be practicable.
New klnnusarts.—ldessrs. R. Bedford, Warminster;
J. D. Wallis, Bupton, Heytesbury, Wilts ; J. Bergman,
Whishays, Bruton ; J. Rogers, Avediston, Salisbury;
J. Whitaker, Bretton, Westbury; W. Yells, jun., South
Farm, Fairford, Gloucester ; J. H. Dunn, Warminster;
Jas. Buckman, Bradford Abbas, Sherborne ; and H.
Duke, Broadmayne, Dorchester.

We are authorized to give the most unqualified con-
tradiction to the statement now going the round of the.
newspapers, that Mr. T. Dyke Acland has been
appointed one of the paid referees on private bills.
Even had the appointment been ottered to him, his
duties in connection With the Education Commission
would have been an insuperable bar to its acceptance.