CHAPTER XXIII 



THE VALUE OF GROUSE SHOOTINGS IN GREAT BRITAIN 



By A. S. Leslie 

 The Committee have obtained much evidence regarding the value of Grouse 

 shootings both as a form of property and as a means of livelihood to a rural 

 population. Statistics on the subject have never before been collected, and 

 as the opportunity may not occur again the Committee venture to place on 

 record the results of their inquiries. 



It is difficult to obtain accurate returns of shooting rents, as the figures 

 fluctuate from year to year in sympathy with the prosperty of the community 

 and the character of the season. There are, however, certain ascertainable facts 

 which make it possible to arrive at a very fair estimate of the average return 

 to be expected, and these facts it has been the task of the Committee to collect 

 and arrange in the form of statistics from which a general deduction can be made. 



Grouse shooting is of all forms of sport the most profitable to the general 

 population, it causes little clashing of interests between the sportsman and 

 the pastoral or agricultural tenant, while the policy to be adopted 2™otin<r 

 for the scientific management of moorland is equally beneficial to profitable 



o ^ •' to the 



both. It produces a maximum of profit to the wage earner com- 



. ... munity. 



with the minimum of waste, an otherwise unproductive subject is 

 converted into a source of profit, and districts which but for the Grouse would 

 be uninhabited, except by a solitary shepherd, are occupied by shooting 

 tenants and the men employed by them, and the tenure of many small and 

 otherwise uneconomic agricultural holdings is thereby rendered possible. 



In connection with all moorland sport one point stands out prominently — 

 the land which is suitable for Grouse is not well adapted for anything else 

 except sheep and cattle. But the pastoral value is in no way impaired ^^^^^^ 

 by the presence of Grouse, for Grouse and sheep are found to flourish ^^^^'^"1^^^^°^^ 

 together on the same hillside, indeed the flock-master is often under for agri- 



o ' culture. 



obligations to the sportsman for the labour which the latter expends 



upon the burning and draining of the moor. 



491 



