THEIR DEFENCE 7 



provided for the million, for sport would 

 cease to exist. Abolish the game laws, 

 and game in this country would be 

 abolished by the same act. If we con- 

 sider how many are dependent for their 

 livelihood on partridge - shooting, how 

 many more derive profitable employment 

 therefrom, a welcome aid to their narrow 

 means, how largely all trades in a country 

 district depend on the money that cir- 

 culates, directly or indirectly, through the 

 shooting, and finally what a valuable 

 source of food supply our shootings are 

 (does not France spend a million annually 

 on imported game ?) we realize how 

 strong a case we have, and one which, 

 rightly understood, should make the most 

 ardent reformer chary of interfering with 

 so valuable a national asset, so important 

 a factor in our rural economy. 



The question seems simple enough ; 

 so long as human nature remains what 

 it is, some folk will work with their 

 brains instead of their hands, and make 

 money at the expense of those who find 



