43 



The first thing to remember is that we owe our pleasure 

 to those over whose land we hunt, for which privilege 

 it behoves us to do as little damage as possible. There 

 are people hunting to-day who have not had the advant- 

 ages of a country life and are unable to understand the 

 tribulations of those earning a Hving from the soil. It 

 may be that some of these visitors are under the impres- 

 sion that, having paid a subscription, they have bought 

 the right to ride over the land, and any loss the occupier 

 may sustain is covered by their contribution to the hunt 

 funds. A slight error this, which they v, ould do well to 

 dismiss from their minds as speedily as possible. The 

 expenses of a hunt in a fashionable country, such as the 

 upkeep of hounds and horses, are very heavy. The usual 

 custom at the present day is for the master to be handed 

 a certain proportion of the subscriptions and the remain- 

 der devoted to the payment of compensation. The 

 amount received by the master is only a help to him in 

 maintaining the hunt, and he must delve pretty deeply 

 into his own pocket to supply the deficit. 



Perhaps one of these occasional visitors, in reading 

 the hunt's annual statement of accounts, may think that 

 because he sees large sums for poultry claims and broken 

 fences that the amount represents the actual damage 

 done. Far from it ! The claims sent in and duly settled 

 represent only a tithe of the actual loss. There must 

 be rogues in every class, and doubtless a few farmers 

 claim for more than they have lost, whether by broken 

 fences or chickens slaughtered, but it should be remem- 

 bered that many occupiers of land suffer in silence and 

 never send in a claim. Then in spite of numerous large 

 estates being sold, there are still a few small land owners 

 left who, owing to the increased cost of everything, are 

 unable to hunt, but having followed hounds in the past, 



