CATTLE STEALING.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 15, 30 May 1868, Page 3

CATTLE STEALING.

(To the Editor of the Tuapeka Times). Sir,— l see in your last issue Mr. Peter Robertson gives me a hearty welcome, but if I judge by his style of writing I think he would rather not have seen me appear. I waited two or three weeks after his rhoan cow and steer were ' found, thinking that surely Mr. Robertson would apologise to the slaughtermen of Tuapeka for the statements made in ! his first letter, but no apology came. I th«r»foT« thought I wm tnly performing

my duty to the public generally by lotting them know that the missing cuw aiut steer which Mr. Robertson was positive were slaughtered, had after all turned up. But instead of apologising in his last letter, he asks me a lot of foolish questions about men that he says have lost cattle. They may have lost them or they may not so far as I know, but there are some of the people whose names he j mentions that I would not know even were I meet them in the street, and some of the others I never knew to have cattle. Had I been a ranger Mr. Robertson might with safety have asked me such questions. If some of those people cited by Mr. Robertson as having lost their cattle were to give a good search for them among the ranges, they might very likely turn up as Mr. Robertson's rhoan cow and steer have turned up. I-stead of Ilia letter annoying me, I rather think my letter annoyed Mr. Robertson. I think he would have preferred none but his own family to have known that the cow and steer had been found, and I think any unprejudiced man will come to the same conclusion after reading his | letter. He 3tutos that I may have suffered a little myself by a cheap body coming into the market — that may or may not be the case : perhaps every man has not got as large an account at the Bank as Mr. Robertson has, and so has to buy and sell as he can. There is one thing I will ask Mr. Robertson, can a man not sell a cheap body without stealing it ? Perhaps Mr. Robertson had cattle of his own some time since that he could have sold cheap, and got a good profit on them too. lam not asking him where he got them or what he paid for them. I only say that a man can sell cheap if he likes to do so without the necessity of the body being stolen. There are people who come by cattle and horses sometimes very cheaply, and hold them legally too, for you can't say they were stolen. Well couldn't some of those people put into the market one or two of those very cheap bodies and sell them cheap, and yet you can't say they were stolen. Regarding the reward I must ask Mr. Robertson's pardon. I am glad it is paid, and I think the man who got it deserves the thanks and praise of the inhabitants of the Tuapeka district ; and I hope Mr. Robertson will not be annoyed, but I thought, and still think, that he was too fast in rushing into print. Perhaps he likes to see his name appear in the paper. In my first appearance I only asked for an apology, and I still ask for it. Just plead guilty for once Mr. Robertson, and tell the public that you were caught, and be careful the next time, and the public will think the more of you. Hoping you will find space for this in your impartial columns, I am, &c, Right Honest.