POULTRY THEFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 7

POULTRY THEFT.

BIRDS WORTH £795.

WOMAN BREEDER'S LOSS. UNSUCCESSFUL CHASE During the last few weeks 265 pullet?, valued at £795, have been stolen from the property of Mrs. J. A. B f Hellaby in Lucerne Road, Eemuera. Mrs. Hellaby is well known as one of the biggest breeders of poultry in the Dominion, and she owns some of the most valuable birds in the Southern Hemisphere. Early in February she went to Botorua, where she spent six weeks. On her return she discovered that, as the result of systematic night raids on her poultry farm, 205 birds, all Black Orpington and White Leghorn pullets, just about ready to lay, had been stolen. The selling value of each bird was £3. "They have picked the best birds I had," said Mrs. Hellaby this morning, "and whoever stole them knew something about poultry. I get 10/ per egg in each sitting, and the loss of the birds is a most serious one."

So far none of the birds has yet been traced, although all were toe-marked. The whole of a White Leghorn variety recently imported by Mrs. Hellaby was stolen. Mrs. Hellaby said that many of the stolen birds were of the Tancred blood strain. So valuable was that strain, which came from the United States, that recently £1000 was paid for a Tancred cockerel. "There are not very many of this strain in New Zealand, so my missing birds should be easily identified," she said. Unsuccessful Chase. How so many of the birds disappeared is a mystery, as none of the occupants of Mrs. Hellaby's house, during her absence, heard sounds of the pullets being disturbed at night. The poultry pens are situatpd near the roadway, and it would not be a difficult matter for thieves to gain entrance. The stolen birds were not kept under lock and key.

Mrs. Hellaby states that even after her return from Rotorua birds were still being stolen, so she resolved to maintain a vigil. Night after night she kept watch from a room downstairs, but nothing unusual occurred until one morning last week. About 4 a.m. she heard a noise in the pens and later heard a, motor van being driven away. She hurriedly dressed and sped off in her oar, eventually overtaking a van which had some boxes in it. Being alone she was afraid to be too inquisitive, and contented herself with noting the number of the motor vehicle. The police were notified, but inquiries showed that the motor vehicle which they traced had not been on the road that morning. It is believed that Mrs. Hellaby made a mistake in the number of the truck which she followed.