"THOSE NOBLE SPORTS."

Globe, Volume V, Issue 567, 12 April 1876, Page 2

"THOSE NOBLE SPORTS."

Had any onlooker been present in the park on Tuesday afternoon he would, we may be sure, have had an hour's thorough enjoyment; for the fiat had gone forth; and hares were to be caught for transference to other scenes and pastures new; in other words, it was required by the Council of the Acclimatisation Society that a dozen hares should be sent to a gentleman at Timaru. " First catch your hare," says Mrs Glass; but, as the noble Nimrods of Wednesday found, this was no such easy task. Much of the talent of the country "had been retained" on behalf of the committee, and among those most eiger for the fray and in the van was a worthy Doctor, who takes great interest, not only in hares, but likewise in salmon ova, but who fortunately, in the late reception of the boxes from the South, was not knocked over. Then came a man of great renown, before whose presence drunkards always shrink, and wrong doers suffer. Very unmagisterial was he as with his skirt tails flying in the air, his hands outstretched, and hia hat occasionally " whizzing " towards the flying prey, he bounded o'er the grass with the lightness of a schoolboy, or the swiftness of a " flying pieman." whatever he may be, we don't exactly know ; following close upon his heels came a gentleman closely connected with her Majesty's force in this province. This gentleman is in the habit of " hurrying up " rogues, thieves, and vagabonds, and as the head of a secret department might say, with Hawkshaw—not " Jem Dalton, I'm on your tTack " —but " Ware hare—Harry F 1 is close behind you." Then came an erstwhile vendor of " Cockles' pills " and salts and senna ; while the canny curator brought up the rear crying " Hoot mon, but its warm wark." Poor man ! and was he paid for this ? No need to recount the scenes of wild excitement that followed ; the sudden falls of the pursuers as they went in a ruck one over the other, the deep baying of the staghounds as they missed their quarry, and the wild " Tally bo's 1" of the " noble sports" as they bounded from tussock to tussock, or sprawled upon the ground. For three hours did continue, and when the bugle sounded to "cease firing," a dozen pussirs were netted. Each man retired from the fiold flushed with victory, hot and red and thirty. It is reported that 'hey shortly afterwards interviewed a well known L.V., when their wants were satisfied and their wishes gra'ifld, We have not heard when the next " hunt " comes off, but trust that notice will be given to the press and to the public.