FEAR RUSTLERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 8

FEAR RUSTLERS.

OUTBACK GRAZIERS. THEFTS OF THEIR STOCK. (By Air.) BRISBANE, Sept. 7. Fear that cattle metiers would set fire to pastures in revenge is deterring many outback graziers from helping the police to track down lawbreakers. Following the dry weather and overseas purchases, meat prices are at a high level, and hundreds of head of cattle. mostly calves about seven mouths old, are being stolen by rustlers. The chairman of the cattle committee of the United Graziers' Association. Mr. Xorman Bourke, said that a great deal of cattle thieving was going on. Stockowners believed that adequate patrols of districts where the stealing of calves from the cows was carried on offered the most helpful way of checking the practice. Horses and provisions, were always available to the police for patrols. However, there were some people afraid to interfere with the thieves for fear of reprisals. The Police Commissioner. Mr. C. J. Carroll, has told graziers that the police will co-operate in every way. Mother Cows Shot. All complaints of cattle thefts were being investigated immediately. Police were hindered in their investigations becauee thefts were often not revealed until some time after they had been committed. In Parliament this week the Minister for Agriculture and Stock (Mr. Bulcock) discussed methods for stamping out cattle-stealing, and it is suggested that stock inspectors should be empowered to seize etock with suspicious brands. Thieves are known to muster other people's cattle and cut out calves big enough to wean. They brand and earmark them, or alter the brand to their own. Sometimes a calf is taken from the cow and the cow shot, so that the owner will not detect the cow in full milk indicating that its calf had been lost or stolen. Oattle duffers sometimes cowr tlwir activities by buying branded stock at a sale and then stealing from the herd from which they came. The purchase then gives them the right to have stock of that brand on their property. Sheep Stolen, Too. Properties of 1000 square miles or more would be .the chief sufferers from reprisals as the duffers could set alight to grasslands and a huge area would be ablaze before breaks could be burnt. Sheep rustlers are also said to be growing bolder, but they are o]ierating chiefly near roads* where they can stop at night with motor trucks end eend a good cattle dog out to round up several sheep. They are hundreds of miles away by the time the theft is discovered