The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 12

12- THE AGE, Tuesday, May 8, 1979 Cattle duffin Commi SARA'S FIRST LADY OF A NEW APPEAL iom hits graziers estate Soaring meat prices blamed Vepairec By ROBIN HARRIS Cattle are disappearing from Victorian farms at a rate of two a day as a spate of duffing sweeps the State. With meat prices at an all-time high and a shortage of stock at the saleyards, backyard butchers are turning to the farms for a cheap source of supply. One grazier, Mr. Graeme Mc-Dougall of Loch, South Gippsland, has advertised a $1000 reward for information after 38 cattle disappeared from a paddock at It appears that the thieves herded the cattle, worth about $7000, on to a neighboring property and loaded them on to a semitrailer. "They have probably been chopped up into hamburger meat by now," Mr.

McDougall said. "If you were lucky enough to catch them in the act of stealing cattle then drastic action on the spot would be justified. But there reported missing or killed this year. "Often the farmer will find just offal and the legs. Or they just chop off the hind quarters and leave the rest," he said.

Graziers contacted yesterday complained at the size of Victoria's livestock squad three detectives compared to NSW's 17. "If a farmer loses 10 head of cattle you are looking at a theft of $3000," one grazier said. "If the local store was broken into and $3000 or more was stolen all hell would break loose. "It is just ridiculous to have three men protecting a major port industry like Last week the executive of the Victorian Farmers Union called for increased penalties for cattle theft and an advertising campaign to make the penalties known. Cattle and sheep thieves are treated as ordinary jhieves under the law and face up, to two years jail.

is really nothing you can High prices which are boosting graziers' incomes after lean years are also attracting the back-yard butchers. A vealer which would, have cost about $100 a year ago is now selling for $400 or $6 a kilogramme. "I would rather lose the 38 and keep the higher prices," Mr. McDougall said. Sergeant John Gray of the livestock squad said the value of animals in paddocks was so high that they were easy pickings to rustlers.

He said thieves were shooting animals in paddocks at night and butchering them on the spot. Three hundred cattle have been Repairs to faulty houses on the Glengala estate, West Sunshine, have been carried out by the Housing Commission, a spokesman said yesterday. The director for the Housing Ministry, Mr. Les Allwinton, described the repairs as "rectification But the Western Region Housing Committee, which has surveyed 250 of the 900 house-buyers at Glengala and found that one in five homes has a potentially major structural defect, disagrees. Poor soil The committee insists the problem of unsuitable foundation soil on the estate remains.

And it said the cracks and sagging walls, which residents complained about and which the commission cosmetically repaired, have return Repair works ranged from wrapping foundation stumps with black plastic to restrict moisture seepage, fixing sandbags to stumps for added stability, and filling wall and ceiling cracks, the committee said. One case cited yesterday by the committee was that of a six-year-old house which commission engineers restumped to stop it sinking. The repairs proved temporary; the house is on the move again. Mr. Allwinton yesterday defended the commission.

"They (the tenants) wouldn't get the sort of service out of private builders they get from us," he said. The soil problem was "Australia wide" and not isolated to the Glengala estate. This had prompted the CSIRO to look for a more stable and economical foundation system. The CSIRO could suggest a stable foundation system but it might add a lot to the cost of the No more clues in the Truro murders ADELAIDE. Detectives investigating the Truro murders are seeking anyone who has witnessed an attempted abduction of women.

been established for any of the four women whose bones were found in the Truro paddocks. Police searched paddocks near Truro again yesterday, but found few clues. More than 80 searchers cards recording reports of attempted abduction in late 1976 and early 1977. Another line of inquiry is the reassessment of 10,000 missing persons re-porte in South Australia since 1975. A cause of death has not docks south of the Sturt Highway but by 4.30 pm had turned up.

only three items for testing in Adelaide by the SA police technical services division. Anyone with information can phone Adelaide police on 217 0333. Sara Finlayson, 10, of East Doncaster, was first donor to the Spastic Society's $1 million appeal opened by the Federal Minister for Social Welfare, Senator Margaret Guilfoyle, yesterday. The money is needed to provide a new day care centre and accommodation for spastic children and They are also examining about 16,000 police file starting about 2pm in pad adults in Victoria. ed.

nouse," ne said. New 3CR probe date set The inquiry into community radio station 3CR has been adjourned again this time for nearly two months. The Australian Broadcasting Tribunal will sit again on July 31 to hear allegations of antisemitism made against the station by the Jewish Board of Deputies. The acting tribunal chairman, Mr. James Oswin, granted the adjournment yesterday to allow 3CR's lawyers to complete discussions with the station's new management committee.

Mr. Peter Vickery, for 3CR, asked for a fortnight's extra time. But the trihnnaT'e nfhc DELAY ON SINCLAIR SYDNEY. A report on the family companies of the Primary Industry Minister, Mr. Sinclair, will not be completed until August.

The report, which has already taken nearly five months, was expected to be finished at the end of this month. Tl1? corPorate affairs special investigator, Mr. Michael Finnane, is preparing the report for the State Government A spokesman for the NSW Attorney-General, Mr. Walker, said yesterday inquiries were continuing and the report would be delayed for at least three months. Mr.

Finnane was appointed to inquire into the Sinclair family group of companies following a recommendation by the NSW Corporate Affairs Commission. He will recommend whether any action should be taken against directors of the companies. e-ha? -bee investigating the financial affairs of the Sinclair Pastoral Company Pty. of which Mr. Sinclair is the life governing director, Reliance aWSJS LtcL Mlan Wlsh Pty.

Ltd. 1 Allan Walsh (Hornsby) Pty. Ltd. Gernini Sedan $5011 3UX-a new model in the Gemini ranga You'll like the way it looks-with its own distinctive SUX sly tewYou'il like the way it handles-with the safety and surenessof Holden's Radial jfntjll Raa lirad Summon JUrled Hll i II Suspension. You'll like the way it performs-with its big-capacity economy tuned 1600 OHC engine.

And you'll like its value-with all-this equipment as standard: Gemini Van $5135 lj Steering column control stalks Locking petrol cap Armrests front and rear Fully-reclining full foam front bucket seats Power-assisted flow-through ventilation Electric heated rear window Full GMtf Safety Package Gemini SLX. A lot of car for the money. Drive it at your Holden Dealer today. Cord cloth seat facings AM RadioStereo cassette player with rear seat speakers Sports-styled wheel covers Tinted laminated windscreen I Sports-styled exterior mirror Blackout grille Radial Tuned Suspension 1600 engine Power-boosted front disc brakes Rack and pinion steering Electric clock Door-to-door Cigarette lighter Gemini SLSedan $5261 Commitments nmnnfal hearing going ahead before uic ena oi JUiy. Gemini SLCoupe $5480 -o or Gemini SUX $5577 GeminiWagoo $5824 WsSitim HI $140,000 if you can catch the right marlin Gemini SUE Sedan $6080" lai rns i i r-r i 1 I i-Srr JJ UH i II II.

II I Gemini SUE Coupe $6215 Recommended retail price plus usual on-road costs. Options available at additional cost. How would you like your Gemini? By GERRY CARMAN Peter Bristow's love affair and chase of the elusive giant black marlin added new meaning to the phrase "the one that got His first wife left him. "Marlin fishing is a love affair for me before home and marriage," Captain Bristow said yesterday. "It cost me one marriage but my second wife is devoted to the sport she married me to go fishing," he said seriously.

Mr. Bristow is from Cairns, northern Queensland. He is regarded as one of the world's leading "big game" fishermen. Hollywood stars and royalty the Duke and Duchess of Bedford flock to him to hire his expertise and- boat, Avalon, for $250 a head a day. He counts actor Lee Marvin as a personal friend, and Jack Nicklaus, the golf star, too.

Last year he was so busy he had to "knock them back" for the hire of his boat and Nicklaus landed a 616-kilogram (1358-lb.) marlin, the heaviest catch for the year. He was in town yesterday to promote a record $150,000 superfish off Cairns between July 1 and December 31. The co-sponsors, TAA. Qantas and the Tradewinds Hotel in Cairns, will give the first angler to land a 907-kilogram black marlin $140,000 with the skipper and crew of the boat sharing $10,000 in Qantas travel arrangements to international fishing venues. The superfish wil be part of Australia's premier game fishing tournament, the Dunk Island Billfish Classic, which Mr.

Bristow: th one that keeps getting away. is open to professional and amateur fishermen for the first time. About 5000 leading fishermen about half from overseas are expected to compete. Captain Bristow has caught about 1200 marlin in the past seven years more than 30 weighing more than 435 kilograms (1000 Although he experiences an "extraordinary" sensation whenever he hooks "a big one" he tags the fish and throws them back "I'm not proud of catching them. I only want the giant black marlin, he said.

"I've had one clash with a giant black marlin it hit Gie line like an express train and hauled the boat back 220 metres even though we were doing about five knots." Balloons masquerade as UFO ADELAIDE. An unidentified flying object seen over Eucla at the weekend was helium-filled balloons tiH with Engineered to out-perform priced to out-value, any Japanese car in its class. aluminium striDs from a before disappearing on Sunday afternoon. It had reportedly flown to a greater height when another resident took a shot at it with a high-powered rifle. Constable G.

Van Ry-singe, stationed at Eucla, said last night five or six red and orange helium-filled balloons tied togetner with aluminium paper had been used at a masquerade party at the BP Travellers Vfl-lage, 12 kilometres from Eucla, on Saturday night He was satisfied they had been responsible for the UFO sightings. Five motorists passing through Eucla had reported the object, but local had not believed it to be a UFO, he said. General Motois-Holden't Sales Hy. Limited. (S22B- masquerade party.

The sunnnqpH UFO Ho. scribed by one resident as "lona and rvlinrfnVoi imb a hovered above the town for three davs A.