148 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



before the earliest possible date for opening the 

 season. 



The chief thing that a Committee has to do is 

 to appoint or elect a Master. If its members per- 

 form this duty properly there should be little or 

 no call for their further interference. The Master- 

 elect will state the terms upon which he will assume 

 office, or express his readiness to do so on the terms 

 offered by the Committee, and the entire responsi- 

 bility for the conduct of the hunt will then devolve 

 upon him in consideration of the sum annually 

 guaranteed him by them. He will appoint his 

 Deputy-Master, select his Field-Master and 

 whippers-in, engage his hunt servants, and make all 

 proper arrangements for the conduct of the hunt. 

 Should unforeseen difficulties arise he will ask the 

 Secretary to call the Committee together, and will 

 then either act on their advice or refer the matter 

 to a special general meeting. The Secretary, 

 Treasurer, and Auditors will, of course, be elected 

 by the Committee with the Master's concurrence. 



Where hounds or kennels, or both, are the pro- 

 perty of or held in trust by the Committee, matters 

 will necessarily be conducted somewhat differently : 

 but it is undoubtedly the most satisfactory plan 

 wherever it can be carried out that the Master 

 should own the hounds and own or rent the kennels, 

 either from the Committee or otherwise, being given 



