28 THE COACHING AGE. 



a parish in South Wales it appeared that at a vestry it 

 was resolved, ' That for any grown-up fox killed within 

 the hamlet, and for producing the head of the same 

 to the guardian of the said hamlet, the person will 

 receive the sum of £1 Is., and also for a pup will 

 receive 10s. 6d. ; and also for a raven, on the pro- 

 duction of the same, will receive 2s. 6d. from the 

 guardian of the said hamlet.' And, in accordance 

 with this resolution, a payment was made by the 

 overseers for the killing of a fox, and the sum was 

 charged in the highway-rate accounts. The auditor 

 disallowed this sum, and the Local Government 

 Board confirmed the disallowance, on the ground 

 that no ingenuity could connect the slaughter of 

 foxes with the repair of the highways. 



In another case a club had existed more than 

 five-and-twenty years for the destruction of sparrows, 

 the expenses being paid out of the highway -rate. It 

 is needless to state that the auditor disallowed the 

 payment, whereupon the surveyor appealed to the 

 Local Government Board, alleging that it was the 

 first time the accounts had been audited, that he 

 was quite unaware that it was wrong, and that the 

 club had been formed beca.use there were so many 

 thatched houses, and the sparrows destroyed them and 

 the corn. The farmers used to shoot the sparrows, 

 and sell them to a person who was afterwards repaid 



