The Hon. Secretary, Treasurer, and Committee. I47 



should always be the same if he can — it is not easy, 

 but this is more or less a counsel of perfection — 

 always good-humoured, friendly, making no dis- 

 tinctions between the subscriber of ten guineas and 

 the subscriber of one guinea, ever ready to throw the 

 soft word to appease the growing wrath of others, 

 and to pocket any apples of discord he may find 

 lying about in any of the members' orchards. 

 Above all, he should know when to hold his tongue ; 

 and should " study to be quiet." A Secretary who 

 is a ''babbler " should be remorselessly drafted. 



The smaller the Committee of a hunt and the 

 less it interferes in its conduct the better it is likely 

 to prove. A Hunt Committee is usually elected by 

 the subscribing members from amongst themselves, 

 the more prominent, influential, or representative men 

 being chosen. Ten or a dozen members are suffi- 

 cient, with a quorum of five : the Master, Deputy- 

 Master, and Honorary Secretary being ex-officio 

 members of the Committee. All the members apart 

 from those ex-officio should be elected or re-elected 

 annually by ballot without exception at a general 

 meeting. Only in this way can the continuance on 

 a Hunt Committee of some cantankerous or un- 

 desirable person be prevented : and one such sower 

 of dissension spells eventually the disintegration 

 of a hunt. The best time for the annual general 

 meeting is at the beginning of March, a clear month 



L 2 



