LUNCHEON AT TRENTHAM. 107 



better the farmer the more strict he was about liis fences and the more annoyed 

 he might be on a wet day to see them ride over his seeds. He was sure, however, 

 that the good feeling which had existed in the various countries in which he had 

 hunted must exist here, and that there was not a soul who would not welcome 

 his Grace and the hounds. A most important part as regarded hunting was 

 the early infancy of puppies. He had noticed that day — and he was sure his 

 Grace would excuse him saying so — that there were several ])uppies that would 

 have been considerably improved had they had their liberty. He was an absolute 

 stranger, therefore he did not refer to any individual, but he noticed that there 

 were hounds that had been kept up. He believed his huntsmen colleagues would 

 be inclined to put it more strongly and say that two beautiful animals had been 

 ruined for want of exercise. He was sure that was not the intention of those who 

 walked the animals. The only way to rear a foxhound puppy was to give it its 

 freedom, keep it dry at night, and not give it too much food. Those were the 

 three principal things that he would ask them as puppy-walkers to bear in mind. 

 He thought the entry was a fair one, but he did not think it was as good as the 

 animals might be made. It was on occasions like that that agriculture and fox- 

 hunting met together more noticeably than at any other time, and he should like 

 to ask those who were interested in the chase — the chase that had existed in this 

 country so long and brought all classes together, that made friends of kings and 

 peasants and intimacy among every conceivable class — to do their best to main- 

 tain hunting. The one thing that might stop hunting eventually was the use of 

 barbed wire. It would not only stop fox-hunting, but if they would take 

 the trouble to read of the injuries caused by it they would find that it would 

 considerably increase the rate of insurance, because injuries to animals were now 

 fifteen per cent, more than they used to be fifteen years ago. If they were to be 

 tempted by the cheapness of barbed wire as a fence, there would soon be no 

 such thing as an English thorn fence at all. The use of it was simply a means 

 of avoiding the proper repair of their fences. On his own land he was always 

 willing to keep the fences good — (applause) — and he had himself a very strong 

 feeling that fencing and ditching were matters for the landlord. He appeared to 

 be at variance with his noble host on this point, but he thought if this were done 

 it would save a good deal of the use of barbed wire. He asked them to drink the 

 toast of " The Duke and Duchess," whom they all respected as man and woman. 

 They wished them every possible happiness, and God bless them. (Applause.) 

 The toast was drunk with musical honours and cheers. 



The Duke, in replying, said he need hardly explain the reason of their 

 meeting there, that gathering having been held for so many years. It was 

 fox-hunting that caused them to meet, and if hunting came to an end they would 

 no longer meet there. They had many ways of amusing themselves in this 

 climate in the winter months— golf, hockey, hunting. But hunting was a great 

 industry, as well as an amusement. An enormous amount of money was spent in 

 hunting. As a gentleman told them at Peterborough, there were two hundred 

 and twenty-one packs of hounds — one hundred and eighty in P^ngland, twenty- 

 six in Scotland, and fifteen in Ireland, with 80,000 couples of hounds, witli 

 100,000 horses worth £7,000,000, and involving a cost of £5,000,000 per annum 

 for their keep. The cost of the hounds was not mentioned, and there were 

 a great many other expenses entailed by hunting. With regard to wire, his 

 Grace would only say that he thought that any landowner who looked over his 

 estate and saw old fences dying away should use every effort he could to keep 

 those fences alive. He did not mention any locality, but he did know estates 

 where the fences were dying out and where soon nothing would be left but 



