be well if such committees were elected every three years 

 at a general meeting of subscribers and occupiers of 

 land. By these means real live committees would have 

 control and the voters who elected them would each feel 

 they had a personal interest in the welfare of the hunt. 



There are still left a few large landowners whose 

 family traditions embrace the keeping of hounds for 

 the benefit of those Kving in the district, and we can 

 only hope that successive generations Avill maintain the 

 customs of their ancestors. These men must always be 

 a law unto themselves in the countries over which they 

 preside and criticisms in this article do not apply to 

 them. With increased taxation and heavy death duties, 

 we fear even the wealthiest lando^vners will find in the 

 years to come that the burden of supporting a pack of 

 hounds on their own shoulders is more than they can 

 bear. Let us hope that the day is still far distant and, 

 meanwhile, those who enjoy the privilege of hunting 

 with such packs, should reahse their sport comes out 

 of the master's pocket and be duly grateful for the gift. 



Apart from the above special hunts, the average 

 length of a mastership in ordinary countries would be 

 about six seasons — this is a mere guess. Many countries 

 that with the assistance of a combination of intelUgent 

 masters and good huntsmen, having built up packs of 

 which they are proud, proceed to acquire the same by 

 purchase in order to retain the virtues they have seen. 

 This is much on a par with the wise men of Gotham, 

 who hedged in the cuckoo in order to enjoy continual 

 summer, and just as likely to be successful. 



A pack can be made or marred in six years, and an 

 ignorant huntsman under an incompetent master can, 

 in the above period, ruin the efiforts of his predecessor. 

 If the newcomer were content to breed from the best 



