SHEEP-STEALER GETS REFORMATIVE TERM
STOCKING HIS FARM SANCTITY OF THE FLOCKS For stealing 233 sheep from a neighbour’s farm near Tuakau, Frank James Smith, farmer, was sentenced in the Supreme Court this morning to three years’ reformative detention. For prisoner. Mr. G. P. Finlay said the case gave him considerable difficulty. Counsel felt doubly armed when Smith had 40 years of unblemished life. Prisoner went into the “back of beyond” without any means to farm a wilderness, and when faced with an economic crisis he resorted to stealing to stock his holding. His demeanour after the theft indicated that the man was not of the criminal type. Mr. Finlay made a plea for leniency. "There was a time in the annals of New Zealand when sheep stealing could mean imprisonment for life,” said Mr. Justice Blair. “New Zealand is a pastoral country and the sanctity of the flocks must be preserved. I have no desire to be unduly hard, but the offence is very serious,” said the judge in passing sentence.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19290213.2.116
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 587, 13 February 1929, Page 11
Word Count
171SHEEP-STEALER GETS REFORMATIVE TERM Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 587, 13 February 1929, Page 11
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Sun (Auckland). You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in