ORCHARDS ROBBED

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1932, Page 5

ORCHARDS ROBBED

BAREFACED INTRUDERS. CLEAN SWEEP OF CROPS. Auckland, Dec. 20. Owners of properties bordering Grafton Gully and containing orchards have been experiencing great difficulty in protecting their fruit trees. In several orchards on the eastern or Grafton side of the gully there have been severe depredations during the past few days. One householder stated on Saturday that he had experienced continual annoyance from intruders on his property ever* since the city council declared a large portion of the gully, formerly private land, a public park. The raids on fruit trees were evidently conducted in a systematic way, and there was no encouragement for the owners of private property to make the best of the orchards.

During the winter some of the householders decided to associate in protecting their property, and a barbed-wire fence was constructed between their land and the public portion of the gully. On Saturday, however, a householder found a man and two women, all well-dressed, engaged in stealing plums. They were carrying large baskets. On the property concerned considerable damage has been caused by intruders. Throughout the winter people came boldly on to the property and removed ferns and valuable garden plants. Recently when a particularly valuable plant was stolen from the front of the house, 150 yards or so from the public portion of the gully, the householder was forced to complain to the police, although nothing came of the inquiries that were then made. The intruders are invariably destructive. Whole branches have been broken from fruit trees in the past few days, and flower beds tramped upon. During the winter relief workers constructed an extensive system of paths in the gully, and cleared portions of undergrowth bordering on the private property. If anything,. the work has assisted intruders in their plan of stealing plants and fruit. Where they once had difficulty in reaching private properties they are now able to move about quite easily. It is the belief of householders that the Grafton side of the gully is visited as much by those bent on stealing anything which takes their attention as by people who are interest-; ed only in the beauty of the native bush.