HOW NOT TO DO IT 157 



their own convenience, and their own convenience 

 only, and in reply to remonstrances would return 

 the unanswerable argument, " I have paid for it." 

 Then suppose by any mischance a bit of wire 

 should have been placed in a gap by a farmer, or 

 by one of his men without his knowledge, and 

 that particular bit of wire, having been forgotten, 

 were to cause an accident, under this scheme the 

 farmer would be actionable, and though very few 

 would bring an action under the circumstances, it 

 cannot be said that no one would. Then again, 

 it may be urged, if you pay the farmer for riding 

 over his land, he should not only take down the 

 wire, but should have no unnegotiable fences on 

 his land. And then you are brought face to face 

 with the question as to what is a negotiable fence, 

 a question which never has been, and never will 

 be, satisfactorily solved. 



There can be no doubt about one thing. When 

 a farmer really sustains damages, he must be 

 reasonably and fairly treated, and this in the 

 majority of cases he is. Hunting depends on the 

 mutual forbearance and courtesy and tact of the 

 owners and occupiers of land and of hunting men, 

 and any change in the fundamental principles 

 which underlie it would tend to harm and not 

 good. A hard-and-fast contract between the 

 parties concerned would only tend to promote ill 

 feeling and probably litigation, and our recent 

 reformer has admirably succeeded in showing us 



HOW NOT TO DO IT, 



