THERE will be many who sympathise with the farmer's wife who threatened to spray a group of travellers with slurry after they had invaded her land.

She embarked on this extreme form of action after she was told that obtaining a court order would be a lengthy process and police had said they had no powers to move the travellers' camp.

There was an element of Carry On comedy about her response to trespassers.

But it could also be argued that the farmer's wife was taking the law into her own hands and we could never condone that.

It is the sort of response that encourages the formation of vigilante groups.

And once that happens we are one stage removed from Wild West-type law. However, everyone who has experienced a "visit" from travellers knows that the current arrangements for moving them off private land are hopelessly inadequate.

They are, after all, breaking the law when they park on land belonging to someone else, whether it is privately owned or local authority property.

Invariably they stay long enough to make a disgusting mess, taking full advantage of the slow process of obtaining a court order.

The impression is often given that they are, in fact, beyond the law.

It is high time that better arrangements were in place so that the temptation of taking the law into one's own hands was removed and travellers were left in no doubt that the laws of this country apply to everyone.

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