HUNTING 195 



that institution for regulating the proceedings of 

 any packs of hounds in the New Forest other 

 than that one which was under their own control 

 must now cease; that they, with other sporting 

 institutions, must understand that they all hunted 

 on the same conditions under the permission and 

 segis of the Crown ; and that, if any of them 

 found that they suffered any hardship, or that 

 their sport was interfered with by any other 

 pack, they must report it to the Commissioner, 

 who would act as arbiter in any disputes, with- 

 out delegating his authority to any one of the 

 interested parties. I shall never forget the 

 nervousness with which I rose to make this 

 announcement. I knew it would be a sad blow 

 to certain old foresters, who cared much more 

 for regulating hunting than partaking in the 

 sport. Indeed, in the field later in that day, 

 one dear old friend wept openly at the sorrow of 

 seeing what he called " the other lot getting their 

 own way." 



But the thing had to be. The hunting quarrels 

 of the New Forest had gone on too long, and 

 about 1879 the country had got a bad name all 

 over the hunting world in respect of its squab- 

 blings. There was only one way out of it, viz. 

 that some overriding power of landowner and 

 covert owner, on whom the bulk of the sport, 



