THE EATIONALE OF HUNTING 33 



subscriber to don pink, migbt be lowered to £15. In 

 some countries this subscription of £20 is arbitrary. 

 Thus, at a meeting of the members of Mr Fernie's Hounds 

 on the 19th of December 1889, it was resolved that no 

 sum under £20 should be considered a subscription to 

 the hounds, but should be credited to the covert fund, 

 and that the subscription to the wire fund should be 

 £3 per gentleman inside the hunt, and £2 for gentle- 

 men outside. Yet Mr Fernie's Hounds only hunt five 

 days a fortnight. It would be well if members of other 

 hunts were to follow this example, and pass arbitrary 

 resolutions of a similar nature, or the glory of a pink 

 coat would sink into the same insignificance as did that 

 of Mr Soapy Sponge when he arrived at Nonsuch House. 

 Alas that Mr Sponge should have so many prototypes 

 in modern times ! 



But if you impose a tax you must also impose a 

 penalty for the non-payment of the tax, and it would be 

 impossible to impose a penalty without the sanction of 

 the legislature. Here comes the rub. For, supposing 

 an Act of Parliament was passed taxing the hunting 

 man, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would wish to 

 have something to say about its collection and distribu- 

 tion. At all events, he would not entrust these duties 

 to a hunt secretary without stipulating that the hunt 

 secretary's accounts should be officially audited. Now, 

 hunt secretaries are invariably honorary, and would 

 very naturally object to becoming Government officials. 

 Again, who is to undertake the unenviable task of ask- 

 ing a stranger in the field for his license ? Neither 

 the master, the secretary, nor any of the hunt servants 

 could be expected to turn excise officers, and if the 

 stranger did not possess a license, what should be the 

 course to pursue ? A rough-riding, obnoxious horse- 



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