TARANAKI SHEEP LOSSES

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27861, 9 January 1956, Page 3

TARANAKI SHEEP LOSSES

ORGANISED THEFTS ALLEGED

STOCK VEHICLE CHECK URGED “The Special Service

AUCKLAND, January 8.

Reports of fairly regular sheep thefts, some c-f them on a large scale, have come from Taranaki. They are believed to have been well organised A farmer in the coastal area is reported to have suffered a .stock loss running into three figures, and other farmers in the eastern part of the province now believe they have been the victims of systematic stealing over a long period. These farmers cannot say how many sheep they have lost or when they lost them, but natural losses do not account for the number of sheep missing and it seems certain that their flocks have been systematically raided. The national secretary of Federated Farmers (Mr A. P. O'Shea) has urged that there should be regular checking by traffic officers of stock-carrying vehicles on the road at night. He said these vehicles should carry consignment notes which should be produced on demand. He did not think (his was being rigorously enforced.

“A complete check on v all stock vehicles at night is the only way of catching up on thefts,” said Mr O’Shea. “I do not know what powers the traffic officers have, but if they had complete power it would help.” Mr O’Shea said he had had no recent reports of thefts, but he knew they had been going on sporadically for a long time. Stock thefts occurred like an epidemic and there was probably a wave going on now.

Sheep stealers were very hard to catch, said Mr O’Shea, because they worked with torches and not with dogs to round up sheep by night. There was little the farmer could do but report anything suspicious promptly.