312 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



are always with a bit of spo-ort. He is regarded as a 

 selfish person by his neighbours, because he drives 

 the hunt on to other people's land so that they get 

 more than their share of people riding over their grass. 

 Then I believe that the farmers have a genuinely 

 patriotic interest in supporting hunting. They believe 

 that it is the training of the hunting field which 

 helps to make our soldiers and yeomen what they are, 

 and they feel with a just pride that England owed 

 much in our late war as of old to a class of men — her 

 farmers — whom of late years she has neglected and 

 even flouted. The farmers see that the war, though 

 not in the old way of high prices yet in a very real 

 sense, has increased their importance to the national 

 life, and they know that without the great national 

 sport of hunting they could not have done what 

 they have. 



Perhaps some day, when the question of our horse 

 supply is really seriously considered, our yeomen will 

 be assisted by Government to keep their horses and 

 to hunt with their country packs. This would solve 

 the questions of half the men's training and all the 

 difficulties of horse supply as well. I cannot imagine 

 a more efficient troop horse than one which has had 

 the discipline of some training in the ranks of a 

 squadron, combined with the schooling of its intelli- 

 gence in the hunting field. 



But with the decreased resources of the landed 

 classes at the present day and the increasing wealth 

 of those who hunt, it is evident that it ought to be a 

 point of honour with hunting people to make the 

 expenses fall as lightly as possible on the farmer. 

 This necessitates a very large expenditure nowadays. 

 Nevertheless if everybody who hunted paid moderately 

 for their sport, sufficient money could be collected 



