WIRE FUND. 197 



became more acute than ever in the North Staffordshire 

 (country, and several meetings were held on the subject, 

 with the result that a special wire fund was started to 

 defray the cost of taking down wire throughout the Hunt 

 and erecting where necessary timber fencing ; and the 

 members of the Hunt were requested to subscribe to this 

 fund in addition to their ordinary subscription. 



The Duke of Sutherland headed the list with a sum of 

 £200, and altogether nearly .£400 were subscribed for the 

 " Wire Fund." The country was also divided into four 

 districts, and committees were appointed to deal with the 

 wire cjuestion in each district, with special instructions to 

 use their utmost endeavour to remove all wire dangerous 

 for riders or hounds by the beginning of November in each 

 year, and where necessary to supply posts and rails. Two 

 of the resolutions read as follows : — 



" Each district to be provided witli large-scale Ordnance" Survey maps, and 

 the committeeman to tick off each fence with a black and red pencil, the black 

 ticks to denote fences clear of wire, and the red ticks where dangerous. 



" That all landowners in the Hunt be requested to insert a clause in their 

 fann agreements preventing the erection of wire by their tenants." 



The writer wishes he was in a position to state that 

 these etibrts jf the noble Master and the Hunt Committee 

 have been attended with the complete success they deserve,, 

 but he fears that the wire question is still with us in a 

 decidedly acute form, and that we are not likely to hear 

 the last of it at present. It is not much of a consolation 

 to say that we are not worse off than most of our neighbours 

 in other hunting countries, but such we believe to be the 

 case, and it is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that 

 the wire nuisance is likely in the near future to be one of 

 the great hindrances to the national sport of fox-hunting 

 in this country. 



Subscriptions for 1893-94 amounted to £2151, and 

 1*400 were allotted to the Covert and Poultry Fund. 



The season of 1894-95 has not a very brilliant record. 

 The fates were against hunting in the way of weather and 

 scent, and there was an exceptional amount of frost and 



