SHEEP-STEALING RIFE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1030, 20 January 1911, Page 8

SHEEP-STEALING RIFE.

SOME HEAVY LOSSES. In the course of a letter dealing with a.ride through cprtaiu rural districts, our travelling correspondent states that in parts of .this island slurp-stealing is, 'raj: He.was riding through- the. Alfredtoii district (near Eket.ihuna\ and entered into conversation with Mr'. Napier, a-set-tler residing thereabouts. Our correspondent says: "While I was talking to Mr. Napier at the yards, the shepherd caino in with a mob of sheep from a paddock up the l'on Koad, On being counted tho mob was SO short. .Tho same sort of thing occurred last season, 200 being missed. No trace .whatever was seen of them, rhey had gone clean away, as none of the neighbours had more than the usual number of 'strangers' when they got their sheep in, "This' sheep-stealing business is a very serious affair, and is much more prevalent than- is supposed. It .is rampant in some parts of tho- Wairarapa, and why the farmers do not make more noiso about, it I can't imagine, unless it is that they don't care for tho publicity. ■'■(Vheu I was farming in tho bush I had- two neighbours who lost heavilv. After shearing, one said to me, Tm off. I can't stand this any longer.' v "'Why! What's the matter now?' • /'" 'I've lost over 200 sheep since shearing, and can't hear anything of-them!'-- ! "In-a-few days some of the sheep wandered home—those which had been bredon the place—but they were only a few. So 'my .friend sold out, saying he had done with sheep farming. He • took up land for dairying, milking 80 to 100 cows, and has done very well at it. "The other neighbour also lost a lot of'sheep; he put a mob ..in one of-.his paddocks, and in less than a, week he tool: them out again. "When, counted half were missing.. On taking a: look round he found where the staples had been drawn, the wires tied or -strapped down, and the sheep driven over the gap. But when "they got on Hie hard road, of course, it was impossible to- trace them, and as it was probably done during the night time, no one would see tho mob on tho road. This man never heard nor t saw. anything of his sheep. There wore over 200 of them in this case also. "Even when the police are informed they rarely make anything out, as it seems to.bo so very difficult to get. the first clue. There is no doubt that the sheep-stealers use a good deal of cunning and succeed in covering their' tracks in a. manner which ,seoms to defy pursuers."