HUNTING 83 



hundred and scvenly packs of foxhounds in 

 England and Wales ; Irchuid can boast of Iwenty- 

 four or twenty-five, and Scotland ten. In face 

 of such conditions the existence of these hunts 

 should be accepted as a monument to the de- 

 termination of the British nation to maintain 

 their cherished privileges. 



Hunting and point-to-point racing have been 

 for many years associated one with the other, 

 and eventually it has come to pass that the 

 arrangements made by individual hunts for point- 

 to-point races have had to be referred to the 

 Master of Hounds Association, which has drawn 

 the National Hunt Committee into the net of 

 discussion. It seems that some Masters of Hounds 

 wished to be empowered with authority to punish 

 fraud or malpractices, which are alleged to be 

 not uncommon. My view is that the Master 

 of Hounds Association is de trop. Hunting be- 

 comes each year more and more a matter of 

 money. If a man establishes a hunt with, of 

 course, the consent and ""oodwill of the land- 

 owners and farmers, it is his business and his 

 alone. If the members and people connected with 

 that hunt wish to hold what are called point-to- 

 point races, there is no reason why they should 

 not do so without consulting anyone. I do not 

 see, if the conditions of each race run are properly 



