Decoy of Fox Hunting.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 11, 19 May 1911, Page 14

Decoy of Fox Hunting.

A London paper thus bemoans thedecay of fox-hunting : — To-day scattered over the British isles are some 4(50 packs of liouhds of all sorts. It is estimated that there are about 2UO,Uuo hunters which - are worth £8,000,000. The cost of upkeep" of hunt establishments comes to probably £700,----000 per annum, while at least a further £12,000,000 is expended one wav and another by hunting men and women. These figures will probably surprise a pood many, but they are nevertheless correct. All this money finds its way into the pockets of the manufacturing and xvage - earning classes. What else could the owners of that money do with it, unless they threw it into the sea, which would not bo likely to yield "an adequate return?" Observe the "expended in one way and another"; how kind and considerate of them ! It is all for the good of the working man; and yet those selfish little holders of land and allotments dislike having their fences broken," their crops damaged, and their poultry killed! It is an ungrateful. people indeed, that allows. fox-hunting to decay. The punishment will be terrible:

The twenty odd millions circulated so freely and to such good purpose annually through Great Britain on hunting alone will circulate no more; starvation-, the workhouse, and bankruptcy will stare thousands o~f honest people in the face as the healthy, manly sport of our fathers dies an ignominious death. No greater misfortune could befall the nation, from both a (financial and physical point of view, than to put an end or even a check on sport, and hunting in particular. Manliness, pluck, "endurance, generosity, all characteristic of the English race, have been inherited mainly through our fore-elders' love for hardy outdoor sport. Aftor that the deluge !