THE WAIKATO HOUNDS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 325, 9 August 1898, Page 4

THE WAIKATO HOUNDS.

A succession of tine Saturdays and hounds showing good sport, a smart four-year-old badly wanting vidiug, and a disabled sportsman six weeks on crutches, is not a cheerful subject. How ovur, with the help of a stable bucket to stand on and a boy on each side to hold the young-'un, I manage to get once more into the pigskin and meet the hounds at ! Newstead Station on Saturday last, and the pleasantest greeting I get is from the older hounds, who crime up to wag a friendly tail, and who have not even yet forgotten their old master and their first entry into the mysteries of hunting. " Florcat wiciitin," and may they never kuow the debasing stench of aniseed or stale red herring, which, I am sorry to say, I have lately heard whispered about. It is too cold to 'wait long at the meet for the Cambridge contingent, who arc but poorly represented this day. Before moving off the field were most hospitably entertained by Mr and Mrs Levis. Probably few members of the Hunt Club know that Mr Levis was the first farmer in that district to throw his farm open to the hounds, and when the present pack was in its infancy I was indebted to him for many a day's " cub-hunting " before appearing in public with a maiden pack. That he had a stout hare in the turnips ready for us goes without saying ; we never draw that paddock blank. She made for the road, but was headed and doubled to the right, and then ran her foil back to the gully. The hounds stuck to the line and turned as harriers should, and bustling her over the gully fairly raced away from their field, taking a lovely line, all jumpable, to Mr Libeau's, where, turning sharp down the road, the hounds checked. I noticed niaDy going well and straight in this sharp scurry, but think it better not to particularise. Some of our youthful members are rash enough and always apt to chance their fences, going faster at them than a run with slow harriers warrants, and a little flattery only tends to very much increase the rashness and encourage that unsportsmanlike game of " playing to the gallery." A few falls over stiff timber or a looso wire will, however, soon teach them to temper valour with .discretion and not to ride in front of the hounds. Hounds feathered on the line in the green oats on the right ; but failed to make it good in the next paddock. Brown tried a cast down the road ; but without success, so a move was made to Mr Runciman's snug homestead, and how glad we were of the shelter of his fine plantations in that searching wiud. We, with the game leg, had not derived much warmth from that cherry first gallop, although the old adage held true and the onlooker saw most of the game. We found a hare in the planation behind the stable ; but failed to get her to leave the cover, so before drawing again the field werß most kindly entertained by Mr and Mrs George Runciman, who had prepared a most welcome lunch. Verily it was a good day for onlookers and schoolboys, whose marvellous capacity for stowing away sandwiches, rich cake, cheese, sweet biscuits and else they'can lay their hands on indiscriminately, makes one wonder if our digestions were ever equal to such an awful strain. Happy youngsters go it while you can, and may you never know the meaning of pepsine. To the right of the homestead we soon have another hare on foot and the houuds run her prettily through the plantations and out into the open and pushing her through the turnips she takes to the swamp at the back, and here I fancy they change hares, as a fresh looking one is viewed away, making for Newstead. The hounds are quickly on the line and we have a fair hunting run ; but scent seems to fail as the day wanes and the wind turns colder, and it tries to rain and although the hounds work patiently and well, we get little or no sport, as the hares know the safety of the swamp too well to leave it for more than a field or two. I hear they hud a fair spin from the gully opposite Newstead after I left at 4 o'clock ; but sufficient for the day is the evil thereof, and may I be able to be with them and not watching them when they huut that beautiful bit of country at Owynneland's next Saturday. H.B.W.