FARMING AND FOXHUNTING I938 



fences broken, young wheat ridden over, gates left 

 open so that stock stray and so on. It's ignorance 

 I know, and not maHce. Tou get more people out 

 hunting to-day who donH know much about the country. 

 They seem to forget their manners and that they 

 are the farmers' guests. It might be all to the good 

 if the M.F.H. made an example occasionally, and 

 sent one or two flagrant offenders home. Correct 

 manners are just as important as correct dress in 

 the hunting field. 



C. W. W. : I agree that there's got to be a 

 spirit of give-and-take. There is in most Hunts. 

 You know how at N.F.U. dinners the members will 

 drink heartily to the toast of foxhunting. You 

 know you have joined in singing " He's a jolly good 

 fellow " when the Master of the local Hunt rises 

 to respond. I have very vivid recollections of a 

 certain Master of Hounds who couldn't make a 

 speech, ordering a dozen port to the table, just to 

 oil the throats of the company. Yes, it's no good 

 being a poor man if you have any ambition to hunt 

 a pack of hounds, or even to hunt at all. Does it 

 not cause money to be spent on horses, corn, hay, 

 straw, servants of every description ? Local trades- 

 men, such as the blacksmith and the saddler, come 

 in for a large share of the business, in fact the whole 

 country-side shares in the distribution of wealth 

 made most likely in our great cities. Take for 

 instance the country around Exmoor and the New 

 Forest. Why, the farmer could not live on the 

 land if it were not for the invasion of the hunting 

 man with his cash, womenfolk and horses. In 



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