THE GROUND GAME ACT 187 



To take the case of a person who is not a friend 

 of the occupier, and is not a rabbit-killer by pro- 

 fession, but (as if he were) enters into an agreement 

 with the occupier to kill rabbits, ostensibly for reward 

 but in reality for his own recreation : 



In January 1893 one Gibbs, a wholesale con- 

 fectioner at Oxford, was found by a keeper of the 

 Earl of Abingdon shooting rabbits at Cumnor, on 

 land in the occupation of one Townsend. He was 

 summoned for trespass in pursuit of game, and 

 pleaded that he had entered into an agreement with 

 Townsend to kill rabbits for him, and to be paid for 

 the work. Townsend confirmed this, and a written 

 authority was produced showing that he was to be 

 paid 4J'. a dozen for all rabbits he killed up to 

 September 29, and after that date 2S. a dozen, the 

 rabbits being given to Townsend. The question 

 arose whether Gibbs, who had a large business of his 

 own in Oxford with several shops to look after, could 

 be regarded as a 'professional rabbit-killer' within 

 the meaning of the Act? The magistrates on the 

 evidence dismissed the case, reluctantly finding him 

 qualified ! It is, of course, difficult to understand 

 a man in defendant's position posing as a professional 

 rabbit-killer ; but it is a free country, and if a man of 

 means chooses to turn professional rabbit-killer there is 



