A Want to he Sicpplicd. 53 



■decidedly improving — the animals change hands in abona- 

 fide way, and Messrs. Hall, Wateridge, and Owen are to 

 be congratulated on their efforts. It is perhaps a pity to 

 mix up cart horses with nags and hunters so much, but 

 this is a lesser evil. 



Of the hunt meeting I would fain say that what looked 

 like a tangled skein at starting, unravelled itself mar- 

 vellously under the Chairman's (Mr. Hulton Harrop) tender 

 handling. Mr. Henry Lingen Burton consented to retain 

 the secretaryship for another season, and the guarantors 

 one after another consented to hold to their posts, so 

 that our Wednesdays, for another season at least, are 

 safe, and we have time to look round, and consider well 

 our position before launching into anything new. 



A determination that there shall be no more blank days 

 will gladden Mr. Lonsdale's heart, I am sure, beyond the 

 measure of guarantees. 



By the bye, can nothing be done to soften the feelings 

 of the L. & N. W. R. Co. towards hunting men? In 

 these days of diminished receipts, to refuse remunerative 

 traffic seems extraordinary, and yet not all my powers of 

 jDersuasion can prevail on them to book horse boxes for 

 Gnosall by the twenty minutes past ten train from 

 Shrewsbury. This is the only central station for the best 

 Albrighton meets, and would be well patronised, as it is 

 so nicely timed for the purpose. Excuses are made that 

 it would delay the train. I tested this myself by the 

 earlier one, and found that one minute sufficed to back 

 the train, and detach the box. In less than five minutes 

 my horse was unboxed. There is no passenger train timed 

 to reach G-nosall from Stafford for nearly a quarter of an 

 hour after the arrival of this train, so that no block could 

 occur by the box being shunted across the main line. 

 Hunting men are good customers to the railways, and I 

 am speaking the opinions of several besides myself, when 

 I say that the present state of things is unaccommodating 

 and unreasonable. 



FIFTEENTH WEEK— February 2 to 7. 



My twelve seleations for the Grand National have 

 dwindled to five among the acceptances. There has 

 been an unexpected clearance among the middle weights. 



