Pounds (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935

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No. 17 of 1935.

POUNDS (PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE) ACT, 1935.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SCHEDULE.

Enactments Repealed.

No. 17 of 1935.

POUNDS (PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE) ACT, 1935.

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF POUNDS BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [24th May, 1935.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Justice; the expression “county registrar” includes an under-sheriff but does not include any county registrar to whom the powers, duties, rights, and obligations of an under-sheriff have for the time being not been transferred by virtue of section 54 of the Court Officers Act, 1926 (No. 27 of 1926), or otherwise;

the expression “the county registrar” shall be construed as referring to the county registrar within whose functional area the pound or place in relation to which such expression is used is situate;

the word “pound” includes any enclosure, building, or premises constructed or adapted for the reception, maintenance, custody or safe-keeping of chattels or of animals seized or taken under any legal process or lawful warrant or of animals found trespassing, wandering or straying or of chattels of which the owner is unknown or cannot be found;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

(2) For the purposes of this Act each of the following bodies shall be a local authority, that is to say:—

(a) the council of a county borough;

(b) the council of a county;

(c) the council of a borough;

(d) the council of an urban district.

Duty of local authorities to provide pounds.

2.—(1) Every local authority shall provide in the functional area of such authority such pounds as the county registrar shall, with the approval of the Minister, direct either generally or in any particular case, and every local authority shall maintain in accordance with this Act every pound provided by them under this Act.

(2) Whenever, after the passing of this Act, a local authority provides, in pursuance of the obligation in that behalf imposed on them by this Act, a place to become and be a pound and the county registrar is satisfied that such place is suitable for use as a pound and is in good repair and condition, the county registrar shall issue to such local authority a certificate declaring such place to be a pound and thereupon such place shall become and be a pound provided by such local authority under this Act.

(3) Whenever any place provided as a pound by a local authority before the passing of this Act is at such passing used as a pound, the county registrar shall, if and when he is satisfied that such place is suitable for use as a pound and is in good repair and condition, issue to such local authority a certificate declaring such place to be a pound and thereupon such place shall become and be a pound and shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been provided by such local authority under this Act.

(4) Where a place provided as a pound by a local authority before the passing of this Act is at such passing used as a pound, nothing in this section shall prevent such place continuing to be used as a pound until the issue in respect thereof of either a certificate under the next preceding sub-section of this section or a certificate under this Act that such place is no longer required as a pound.

Cesser of use of a pound.

3.—(1) Whenever the Minister is satisfied that a pound provided under this Act by a local authority or a place provided as a pound by a local authority before the passing of this Act and used as a pound at such passing but not certified under this Act to be a pound is, by reason of the provision of another pound in lieu thereof or for any other reason, no longer required as a pound, the county registrar may with the approval of the Minister issue to such local authority a certificate declaring that such pound or place is no longer a pound and thereupon such pound or place shall cease to be a pound or lawfully usable as a pound.

(2) Whenever the county registrar issues under this section a certificate to a local authority, such local authority may, with the sanction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, sell, surrender or otherwise dispose of or use for any lawful purpose the enclosure, building, or premises to which suchcertificate relates and shall apply the proceeds (if any) of any such sale, surrender or disposition in such manner as the said Minister shall direct.

Control, etc., of pounds.

4.—(1) Subject to the general or particular directions of the Minister, the control and management of every pound provided and maintained under this Act by a local authority shall be vested in the county registrar.

(2) The expenses (so far as they are not otherwise provided for by or under this Act) incurred by a county registrar in the control and management of every pound provided and maintained under this Act by a local authority shall be defrayed by the local authority in whose funnctional area such pound is situate and such expenses shall be deemed to be part of the expenses incurred by such local authority in the provision and maintenance of such pound.

Appointment of pound-keepers.

5.—(1) Every local authority in whose functional area any pound is situate shall as often as occasion requires appoint for each such pound and (save as is otherwise provided by this Act) shall pay a fit and proper person to be keeper thereof and shall also so appoint and shall pay so many (if any) fit and proper persons as the county registrar shall direct, either generally or in any particular case, to be assistants to such pound-keeper.

(2) Whenever a local authority fails for three months to make any appointment which such authority is required by the foregoing sub-section of this section to make, the Minister may make such appointment, and in every such case shall direct the manner in which the person so appointed shall be remunerated.

(3) Whenever a vacancy occurs in the post of a pound-keeper who is appointed under this section or in the post of assistant to any such pound-keeper the county registrar having the control and management of the pound in respect of which such vacancy occurs may appoint a person to fill such post temporarily until such post is duly filled under this section, and in every such case the person so appointed shall be remunerated in the same manner and to the same extent as the person who held such post prior to such vacancy.

(4) Every pound-keeper appointed under this section and every assistant to any such pound-keeper may, if he is paid or remunerated wholly or partly by a local authority, be dismissed from his post as such pound-keeper or assistant by either the Minister or such local authority and may, in every other case, be dismissed from his said post by the Minister.

(5) Neither the Court Officers Act, 1926 (No, 27 of 1926), nor the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 (No. 39 of 1926), shall apply to any person appointed or to any appointment made under this section.

Duties and remuneration of pound-keepers.

6.—(1) Every pound-keeper shall control and manage the pound of which he is appointed pound-keeper under this Act but such control and management shall be for and on behalf of and subject to the directions of the county registrar.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, every pound-keeper appointed under this Act shall be remunerated by means of fees to be prescribed under this Act or by means of remuneration paid to him by the local authority by whom he is appointed and of such amount as such local authority shall, with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, determine or by means of both such fees and such remuneration.

(3) Whenever any pound-keeper appointed under this Act is appointed on the terms that he shall receive from the local authority by whom he is appointed remuneration and that any of the prescribed fees received by him shall be accounted for and paid over by him to such local authority, then and in such case such pound-keeper shall account for and pay over to such local authority all the prescribed fees which are received by him.

Repair of pounds on default of local authority.

7.—(1) Whenever a local authority fails or neglects to maintain in proper repair and condition any pound which such authority is required by this Act to maintain, the Minister may authorise the county registrar to procure such repairs or other work to be done to such pound as may be necessary.

(2) Whenever a local authority fails or neglects to provide a sufficient supply of any substance or thing required for the due and proper use of any pound which such local authority is required by this Act to maintain, the county registrar may, with the consent of the Minister, procure the supply of such amount (not exceeding ten pounds in cost) as he shall, with the consent aforesaid, think proper of such substance or thing.

(3) Whenever a county registrar has under this section procured repairs or other work to be done or procured the supply of any substance or thing the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) such county registrar shall be entitled to recover the costs and expenses incurred by him in the execution or procuring the doing of such repairs or other work or procuring the supply of such substance or thing (as the case may be) as a civil debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from the local authority charged under this Act with the duty of maintaining the pound to or for which such repairs or other work were done or such substance or thing was supplied;

(b) a certificate in writing sealed with the official seal of the Minister certifying the amount of any such costs or expenses as are mentioned in the first paragraph of this sub-section shall be conclusive evidence of the amount of such costs and expenses for the purpose of any proceedings for the recovery of such costs and expenses under this section.

Regulations.

8.—(1) The Minister may by order make regulations for all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the general management and regulation of pounds;

(b) the powers, duties, and functions of pound-keepers;

(c) the fees to be paid to pound-keepers and the persons by whom such fees are to be paid;

(d) the disposal of such fees including the amount (if any) of such fees which may be retained by any pound-keeper;

(e) the sale, disposal, or destruction of animals found trespassing, wandering, or straying or of chattels of which the owner is unknown or cannot be found and the time after which such sale, disposal, or destruction shall take place;

(f) the disposal of any moneys realised by any sale under the next preceding paragraph;

(g) any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2) If any person does any act (whether of commission or omission) in contravention of any regulation made under this section such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

Offences.

9.—Every person who—

(a) damages or breaks into any pound, or

(b) releases from or takes out of any pound any animals or chattels lawfully impounded therein, or

(c) uses violence, threats, or bribes for the purpose of securing the release from or the taking away of any animals or chattels lawfully impounded in any pound, or

(d) uses violence, threats, or bribes for the purpose of inducing or preventing any person who has been appointed under this Act to be a pound-keeper or to be assistant to a pound-keeper from undertaking or executing the office of such keeper or assistant or for the purpose of inducing any such person to execute the duties of such office corruptly or negligently,

shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding nine months or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment.

Remedy by mandamus against defaulting local authority.

10.—(1) Whenever a local authority fails or neglects to perform a duty imposed on such local authority by this Act, proceedings for relief by way of mandamus to enforce the performance of such duty by such local authority shall lie at the suit of the Minister.

(2) Proceedings under the foregoing sub-section shall lie notwithstanding the existence of an alternative remedy and shall be without prejudice to such alternative remedy, and the existence of such alternative remedy shall not be a ground for the refusal of the relief sought in such proceedings.

Raising of expenses by local authorities.

11.—(1) The expenses incurred by a local authority in the provision and maintenance of or otherwise in connection with pounds in pursuance of this Act shall be raised—

(a) in the case of the county borough of Dublin and of the borough of Dun Laoghaire by means of the municipal rate, and

(b) in the case of any other county borough by means of the rate by which expenses (other than the expenses of guardians or in connection with the poor rate) are raised under sub-section (3) of section 46 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 , and

(c) in the case of a borough or an urban district by means of the rate by which expenses under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931, are raised, and

(d) in the case of a county, by means of the poor rate equally over the county exclusive of any borough or urban district therein.

(2) Whenever any pound which is provided and maintained in pursuance of this Act by one local authority (in this sub-section called the principal local authority) serves or is used as a pound in respect of the functional area of one or more other local authorities (in this sub-section called the contributing local authorities), every of the contributing local authorities shall pay to the principal local authority on demand by the principal local authority such proportion of the expenses of the provision and maintenance of such pound as shall be agreed on by such local authorities or, in default of such agreement, shall be fixed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, and the first sub-section of this section shall apply to every sum payable by a contributing local authority under this sub-section as if such sum were expenses within the meaning of the said first sub-section.

(3) The remuneration of the pound-keeper and the assistants of the pound-keeper of any pound provided and maintained under this Act shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be part of the expenses of the maintenance of such pound.

Prosecution of offences.

12.—Every offence under any provision of this Act may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister as prosecutor.

Expenses.

13.—All expenses incurred by the Minister in carrying this Act into effect shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Repeals.

14.—The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.

Short title.

15.—This Act may be cited as the Pounds (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935.

SCHEDULE.

Enactments Repealed.