Dear Editor, clarification should be sought from the Cook Islands Police on their Facebook post of 6 April where they state: “The date for annual registration of dogs has lapsed and Police would like to advise all owners about the requirement to settle their obligations.

The registration period commences 1 April and expires 31 March each year. So far, just 70 owners have complied with the annual requirement. The fee is $60 for females and $50 for males.”

In 1992 the Dog Registration Act 1986 was amended by replacing the original section 7 with the current section which provides for the registration of dogs for a fee of $60 for a female and $50 for a male as well as a requirement for the dog to be desexed. This in effect removed the original section 7(1)(b) which allowed for annual registration and replaced it with the current one-off registration.

It is worth noting, at the time of the amendment the fees for annual registration were $5 for neutered and $10 for unneutered dogs. In this context a one-off fee of $50 or $60 makes sense when you look at the life expectancy of an average dog of around 10 years (perhaps the current registration fee for female dogs is higher because they have a longer life expectancy?). It is also notable that the 1992 amendment repealed the original sections 18 and 19 of the Act which was the power to make regulations for registration fees and payment of prorated fees for registration for part of a year.

On my reading of the 1992 amendment Act, Parliament clearly intended to remove annual registration and annual fees and replace this with the current regime of one-off registration regime which is administratively more efficient and less cumbersome.

If there is no requirement for annual registration of dogs, then I query on what basis the 70 owners have been charged this year and anybody else who has paid more than one registration fee for a dog after 1992?

Kind regards,

Heinz Matysik

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Police spokesperson Trevor Pitt replies – We are applying 1 April 2022 as the benchmark for all registrations to be done on an annual basis. Those paid up from the start of 2022 will be treated as part of the current year while Police complete its overhaul of the database for registration.

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Farmer John’s eggs

Please advise John Scott that putting a tax on imported eggs to force people to buy his ones at a more expensive price is not good business. Like most food producing businesses, if you have excess stock then you put on a special to move it, that’s good business. 

The other funny thing is, I don’t hear other local egg farmers complaining like John Scott? They’ve put their prices up on their locally farmed eggs and they always sell out! At least their farms don’t have a stinky smell!  

Old MacDonald

(Name and address supplied)