JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1244, 28 September 1911, Page 5

JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

CURIOUS SHEEP THEFT STORY. (By Telegraph-Special Correspondent.) Wanganui, September 27. There was a crowded attendance at the inaugural meeting cf tho Wanganui Philosophical Society last evening, when the chief attraction was an exceedingly interesting lecture by Mr. S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., on tho original discovery of New_ Zealand. Tho rules of the society provide that one-third of its revenue gees towards the upkeep of tho Wanganui Museum, and, during the evening, a statement was mado that tho Wanganui Museum possessed tho most perfect moa skeleton in the world, it being intact to tho smallest bono. 'It has also other moro or less complete skeletons, one of these being among its recent accessions. Rumours have been current for some time, in and round tho Waverley district, that shceprstealing on an extensivo scale is being carried out in its back country, and in southern Tarauaki. It is stated that the supposed thief was a particularly wary individual, and was carrying on his "calling" in a manner similar to the famous "Tantanoola tiger," who mystified the police and residents of that part of South Australia for some years. As tho outcome of these rumours, Detective Siddells and a couple of constables visited the scene of tho supposed "den," and report that there is absolutely no foundation for tho statements that have been in circulation. ■ Detective Siddells states that the only thing which ho found was shockingly bad roads.