ALLEGED SHEEP STEALING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19351, 11 December 1924, Page 7

ALLEGED SHEEP STEALING.

CHARGE AGAINST SOLDIER SETTLER. SHEEP MISSING FROM TEVIOT STATION. At the City Police Court yesterday the Magistrate (Mr J. K. Bartholomew, S.M.) was occupied for a considerable time in hearing a charge against James Reidy of having, at Teviot, between May last and November 20, 1924, stolen 17 sheep, valued at £sl, the property of the New Zealand Government.

Mr T. M. Gillies appeared for the accused. Chief-detective Lewis conducted the case for ihe prosecution. James M'Gill, manager of the Teviot Station, said he had mustered the ewes at the station on October 30, 1924, for the purpose of ascertaining if there were any shortage, and it was found that there were about 390 were ewee missing. That total had been arrived at after allowing for a death vate of about V per cent, among the wet ewes. On November 20, 1924, witness was'present with Constable M’Mafion one Detective Hart when accused’s sheep were mustered. The muster totalled 378, five of which were rams, which left 373 ewes which accused claimed as his property. These sheep had all been drafted according to their age by ihe earmark and the brand. The age mark was on the ear. There were two, four, six, and eight-tooth ewes. There were 80 eight-tooth ewes, and the following morning witness found two more eight-tooths on the farm, which made a total of 88 eight-tooth sheep. There were 87 six-tooths, and, on the following morning another slx-tcoth sheep was found on the farm, making a total of 88. There were 133 four-tooth sheep, and the following morning another four-tooth was found on the farm. There was a total of 08 two-tooth sheep on the farm. A number of returned soldiers had holdings adjoining the Teviot Station, and all the soldier settlers had been supplied by the Government with sheep from the station, with the exception of one man, vfho had made no application. The accused had been supplied with sheep under this system about March 26, 1924. When the sheep were to be distributed they were mustered in the Teviot woolshed and drafted. They were mustered according to earmark and brand. It was arranged that each settler should have a certain number of sheep according to the size of his holding. '4:he sheep were mustered about March 26, 1924, and were kept in separata pens according to their ages, and on the following day the ranger (Mr O’Neill) sorted them out so that every settler received a certain number of each class of sheep. Mr Craighead, a settler, had sorted the sheep. out under witness’s instructions. Witness had seen the entries made of the number of sheep given to the sellers. The number had been given him by the ranger, Mr O’Neill. Accused had received 400 ewes. Witness had not seen the querns entered up in the book, but that was the number accused had received. Witness had made an examination of some of the rams and ewes. They were all branded with Reldy’s brand and earmark. On a few of them some of the brands were wet, which showed that they had been put on recently. In witness’s opinion these sheep had not been branded more, than eight or nine weeks. At that time the wool was nearly a full fleece. On some of the sheep the brand had worked down an inch und a-ha)f Into the wool. In March, when ihe sheep were delivered to the settlers, there would not be more than half an Inch of wool. As the wool grew the brand kept to the surface. On the bulk of Reidy's sheep the brands were quite dry. These brands had not gone down into the wool at all. Witness had examined the earmarks on Reldy’s sheep, but they had all healed up, and it was impossible to tell how long they had been on. In his opinion the heat of the sun would not affect brands put on in March last when the wool was short. The ewes that were missing belonged to the Government. Accused’s farm was approximately 700 acres in area. When on accused’s place on November 20 last witness found a sheepskin and examined the brand. 'There were no ears on the skin. Witness recognised by the brand that the sheep was an eighttooth ewe. On the following day witness and the police took possession of 17 sheej) from accused’s farm. These sheep were at present in a pnddoqk at Teviot. Witness valued them at £3 per head. To Mr Gillies: Witness was still manager at Teviot Station for the Government, They had been discovering the shortage of sheep all along. He had, before November 20, mustered sheep belonging to other settlers. Ho had dona that the day before, and the settlers were present. Accused was present when they got his sheep into the yard. The station shepherds did the mustering. The number of sheep mustered on the afternoon of November 20 was 374, anti accused was present at the yards. It was late, and the examination of the sheep was not pone on with. The sheep were lett in a holding paddock. He did not count the sheep himself. At that time witness paid no attention to the brand- He was satisfied that all the sheep were there. The shepherds brought the sheep in again next morning, and they were again counted. Witness counted them himself 011 that occasion. They were then drafted oft’ in separate ages. When the soldier settlers got their sheep witness drafted the sheep ny their brands and ear marks. Altogether there would bo 18,000 to 19,000 sheep. Each separate pen had an opening into the paddock. Witness saw accused get his sheep. He told Craighead the number accused was to got, but did not count them. The owes were not boxed during operations. Witness claimed the 17 sheep as the property of the New Zealand Government.

Mr Gillies: Will you swear they are the property of the Novv Zealand Government ? —Yes; to the best o£ my knowledge and beliefWitness, continuing, said that the station brand was on the sheep. All the sheep mustered bore Reidy’s oar mark. To the Court: The brands on the 17 .sheep were different from the bulk o£ the flock.

Continuing, witness said accused got the points to brand the sheep with. Ho had never received a request from accused to come for stragglers. Witness did not claim the sheepskin found as Government property. Reidy’s brand was on it. To Chief-detective Lewis; Ibo skin was not claimed because the ears had been removed, and the brand was dry. Edward O’Neill, Fields Inspector for the Crown Lands Department, said he was at Teviot when the sheep were allotted the soldiers, but could not give the date. It was in March. James Ready was amongst the soldier settlers, and ha received 91 twotooth ewes, 149 four-tooth, 85 six-tooth, 75 eight-tooth, 10 wethers, and eight rams—a total of 428. Witness had not heard or any complaint as to a wrong tally having been delivered to Reidy. To Mr Gillies: The sheep were under security to the Commissioner of Crow.. Lands. They had not been inspected since March. Witness had not heard of any deaths amongst the sheep. He did not see the ewes counted out, and could not of his own knowledge, speak of their ages. Accused was not present at the count. 'lho sheep Reidy got were branded, but wit ness could not say what the brand was. The yards wore too sound for the sheep to get boxed. Witness could! not swear that all the ahcop in one pen wore twotooth ewe*. It would have been possible for a returned soldier settler to obtain more of one class of sheep thou another. Alexander Craighead, farmer on Teviot, stated that he was present when tho sheep were allotted about March 26 last. The sheep wore counted out at the yards, Teviot wool sheds. When witness saw the sheep they had been drafted, according to age, he understood. Witness, before and after receiving his allotment of sheep, counted out two, four, six, anti eight-tooth ewes for the soldiers, at tho request of the station manager, Mr M'Gill. He could not say whether he counted out ewes for Reidy. Ho did not know whose sheep ho was counting. What ho counted was absolutely correct. It seemed to him that, aftoi tho sheep were counted they went into the hands of tho settlers. To Mr Gillies : Ho did not “mouth any of tho sheep, nor did he see them drafted into their pens according to their age. The owes were all bran dec! with tho Teviot brand. There were various earmarks on them Ho could not say whether it would have been possible for a settlor to obtain more of one ago of sheep and less of another age, and that the tally would bo correct. It was possible for sheep to get boxed. To Chief-detective Lewis: It was not likely that the ages would get mixed if care were taken. . Arthur F. Dobbie, Deputy-registrar of the Supreme Court, Dunedin, produced a bill of sale given by accused to tho Government by way of socu-aty, included in which were mentioned 400 Coiriedalo owes. Edward James Wilson, manager, Hillsprings Station, said that on November 23 he inspected 17 sheep in the Teviot yards with tho object of giving his opinion as to the time they had been branded. Ho came to the conclusion that they had been branded from eight to nine weeks. The brand in some cases w'as wet, and in the majority of cases the brand was from lin to lii n down tho staple of the wool. The heat of the sun would affect a brand for three

months. It would cause it to run down, but at the end of three months it would bo so dry that it would not run. To Mr Gillies : Witness did not examine the earmarks, but had a look at them. He saw some very disfigured earmarks. He could not say what, time had elapsed since the earmarking had been done. Constable M'Mahon said he was present when Roidy’s sheep were examined. The paint on two sheep appeared to be wet. The brand on others seemed to be dry., Reidy had said if he were a policeman and saw a man get away with 100 of the Toviot sheep he would, not say boo! but would look the other way. He said if he had more than his quota of eight-tooth sheep he must have got under his quota in the other*. To Mr Gillies: To all intents and purposes the sheep looked as if they had been branded as Reidy’s sheep. Ellesmere Neill, farmer, Miller a Flat said that on November 18 accused called at his house and passed the remark that he took some of the Teviot sheep, and M‘Gill was not the man to catch him. Witness asked him what he had done with the sheep, and he made no reply. He was under the influence of drink. On another occasion he said, “Ara you going to t-he court on Wednesday'/’’ Witness said ho was, and that he had been summoned. Previous to that accused had lilted his pipe and was holding his pocket knite in his hand, and he said, “Do you see this knife. if you go into the box against me 1 will cut your throat. It may take me days, it may take me weeks, and it may lake me years, but I’ll do it.” Witness just told him to get away home, and accused struck him a severe blow behind the ear with his closed fist and said, “Take that, you . i will do for you.” Witness picked up his walking stick, which was at the door, and said, “Go home.” Witness then hit accused ag he was passing him going towards the gate. Witness and his son followed accused out to the gate and closed it on him. Accused turned and advanced towards the gate again and said, "You wretches, I will cut your throats.” He .then mounted his horse and rode away in the direction of hia home. To Mr Gillies: Ho had known accused for 13 years. His sons had recently been convicted of sheep stealing. There was a mark behind Jus (witness’s) left ear where he had been struck. Detective Hart said, he left Dunedin for Roxburgh on November 18 to inquire into alleged sheep stealing. Reidy’s sheep were mustered on the evening, of November 19. and were again mustered the following morning. As a result of the muster possession was taken of 14 eight-tooth ewes. He was informed that there were three six-tooth ewes in the same mob. He asked Reidy to explain how he came into possession of these sheep., He said they had been purchased from Teviot at the end of March. He said he had got 430 sheep, consisting of 400 ewes, 20 wethers, and 10 rams. On examination the brands appeared to be wet, and the branding oil stuck to the fingers. Accused said the sun had melted the paint. The other brands were dry, and the paint crumbled on -being handled. Accused’s explanation was tnat when branding the sheep three sheep were branded each time the iron was dipped into the paint, and that therefore the first one branded would show clearer than the remaining two. Reidy was charged with the offence, and said that if he wag above his quota of six and eight-tooth ewes ho must have been supplied with the wrong count at Teviot.

To Mr Gillies: Accused was quite frank. He had been charged because he had 17 sheep above his quota and because there were 17 sheep that appeared to have wet brands.

To the Chief Detective: In other places searched the quota was below what it should have been, and no action was taken in such cases.

Mr Gillies, addressing the court, submitted that the evidence was not sufficient to establish the guilt ot the accused. In ill* main it was founded _on suspicion, and suspicion was not sufficient in a case of this description. A muster took place in November of the whole countryside in connection with other charges of sheepstealing, and this had unset the neighbourhood. At the muster it had been found that some were under the quota end others over the quota in different classes of sheep, but no evidence had been given that Reidy had not received perhaps 17 sheep more in one class than he should have received, and a corresponding number fewer in another. Counsel submitted that, taking all the circumstances into consideration, with the absolute absence;, of direct evidence, and also a variation in the evidence, a .prima. facie case .had not been made out. ’ * 1

Mr Bartholomew raid a clear prima facie case had been made out. He did not wish to analyse or criticise the evidence.

Accused pleaded not guilty and was committed for trial, hail being allowed as before—accused in £2OO and one surety for £2OO. Chief-detective Lewis said that for the safety of Mr Neill action would be taken against accused in order to get him bound over to keep the peace. Mr Neill and accused lived in an out-of-the-way place. ’There would be a charge preferred against accused for the purpose of having Mr Neill protected. A charge was then read indicting Reidy with assaulting -Ellesmere Neill.

Mr Gillies Raid he had had no time to look into this charge, and the magistrate adjourned it until next day, remarking that .if further bail were wanted over the assault £SO would be sufficient.