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Greymouth Evening Star, 30 July 1929, Page 3

It was freely stated at the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union that sheep-stealing .was rife in many parts of New Zealand, and several instances were quoted. A Poverty Bay delegate Waid that he knew personally of a mob of 800 sheep, placed in a paddock near a homestead, being taken over-night, and never found.- Sheep stolen were never immediately sold, and farmers in his district had come to the conclusion that there must be more than one engaged in the theft —one who received the stolen animals and held them for some months. Another, delegate said that a neighbour had had sheep stolen five years in succession, and another said that his two sons had lost 400 sheep. The matter had been placed in the hands of detectives, who said that frequently farmers left the reporting of thefts far too long. The last speaker on the subject suggested that in cases of sheepstealing trial should be before a jury composed of farnfers, and the idea appeared to find favour. '