81 



even greater than that of attempting to arrive ab the annual cost of 

 hunting a country or the keep of the hunters ; but let me essay it. 



Put the 99,000 private hunters down at £100 apiece (a very low 

 average, in view of the fact that many are worth from £200 to £500 

 each, and few are of less value than £70), and we have £9,900,000 as 

 their value. The 330 Hunts have from twenty to eighty couple of 

 hounds in their kennels, so if we value each pack at, say, £700 

 all round (also a low figure ; Lord Waterford's kennel sold for £1,910 

 a few years ago), we have £231,000 as the value of the hounds. Each 

 Hunt has, on the average, say, ten servants' horses (a ridiculously low- 

 average, considering some Hunts have thirty horses for the men), 

 worth, say, £50 apiece, that? is £165,000, or £396,000 as the value of the 

 hounds and servants' horses belonging to the 330 packs. 



The foregoing shows that we have 33,000 private hunting stables, 

 and 330 stables for the Hunts ; so, placing the value of saddlery, 

 horse-clothing, stable furniture, etc., at the low estimate of £25 all 

 round, we have £833,250 as the aggregate. The cost of renewing, 

 repairs, etc., is included in the other estimates. 



For convenience, and as a companion to the former table, I append 

 the following, which shows 



The Value of Hunting Establishments of the United Kingdom 

 AND their Annual Cost of Maintenance. 



Now this result shows us that the hunting establishments of the 

 United Kingdom are of a marketable value of nearly eleven millions 

 one hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling, while their main- 

 tenance, as I have said before, requires an annual expenditure of 

 a good deal over four millions and a quarter ! 



Was I wrong in styling the figures stupendous ? or in stating that 

 hunting did more for the nation than any other institution, bar 

 religion and education ? No, I was not. Neither am I wrong in 

 firmly asserting that, astounding as the amounts appear, they are 

 very far short of the absolutely correct amount spent on hunting in 

 the British Isles. 



