MEANEST KIND OF THEFT.

Taihape Daily Times, 18 September 1919, Page 5

MEANEST KIND OF THEFT.

o ; STOCK'GRAZED ON SOLDIERS' : LAND. : EATING IT BARE. CHRISTCHXJRCH, Sept. 17.

At the meeting of the Canterbury Land Board to-day, Mr Hazard (Corntissioner) referred to a practice which had given him much concern. When the Government purchased an estate for cutting up for the settlement oi soldiers, it was not always possibla to have it ready for the ballot as «oon a s possession was secured. It was found that some people who in an ordinary way would be very much insulted if they were called thieves thought it no shame, as soon as the ranger's back was turned, to "pile" stock on to the land and eat it bare. Only the previous evening he had received advice of stock being put on the Coldstream settlement in this way.

“To my mind,” said Mr Hazard, “this is a theft of a very mean and despicable kind. With their multifarious duties it is impossible for the rangers to be continuously on the watch.” He would appeal to the Farmers’ Union and the better minded people in a district to consider themsel ves honorary trustees for the sol-dier boys* and see that such things did not happen. When he was in Southland, the Farmers’ Union went a good deal further than that. When a soldier settlement was begun, they would form a working l bee, and settlers for miles round would come in with their teams, and spend a day, giving the soldier

boys a start. Sometimes as many as fifty teams would be at work at once After all, one day did not mean much to the well-established farmer, but it did mean a good deal to the man just starting. Could they not do better in Canterbury, where they had the advantage of a genial climate? A member of the Board remarked that in the early days settlers just starting were helped by ploughing matches being held on their land.

THE COAL. TROUBLE. DEVELOPMENTS EXPECTED. WELLINGTON, This Day. There is, a general feeling of unrest amongst th\e community. It is feared by some that the "go-slow" policy of the miners and the closing down of some mines (even if the Coal Owners' Association adheres to its policy of keeping the mines open and increasing the price of coal to the public) maj precipitate matters, and that there will be a "try-out" between the two parties. There are many others of th? public who - , while regretting l the prolongation of the dispute, think that better counsels) will yet prevail.