The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-02-14 00:00:00

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landlords. (Applause.)
I always understood that judges
resulted from drunkenness than
,but how were these aim es nurtured!
the beer houses supported
preserration ? Had it not
.ed was it not well-known
and in England, -
boon the cause of

crime than drunkenness; ever wee? Excessive game
preservation filled little beer houses with company, and
the money they bad to spend they got by poaching.
Poachers went in lerge bodes to overawe the keepers,
a.nd how often did these lay down because they would
not have murder! They inliat allow hint to say that
excessive game preservation was the fruitful source
of crime, and when the judges went through their circuit
he thought it would be right for them to say tleit it
was not drunkennes, which was the main came of crime
but excessive gains preservation. (Applause.)
The VICE-CHAIRMAN, after expressing the interest
with which he bad listened to the lecture, Pail he
thought Mr. Wood had most impartially argued the
question on both sides—that of landlord and tenant ;
but he considered there was one thing which they must
not lose sight of. Amusements in the country must be
provided for gentlemen who were landowners, for if
they sent them away to the metropolis and other places
to seek amusement they would be injuring the rural dis-
tricts to a far greater ext .rit than providiug sport for
them would do. ( applause.) He itru,t plead guilty to
that love of sport which their Chairman maul said wes
inherent in the human character, and witch had not
been ranch reelected in his CARe, as lie was not so un-
fortunate to occupy a farm where game was strictly pre-
served. Still he hod seen the evils of too much game
being kept on farms, and also the ill feeling which was
occasioned by keepers. There was no doubt that
if time preservation of gains was left in the
hands of tenant; and keepers dispense I with,
that the sum of money for their services could not only
be saved by gentlemen bet that they would have better
sport ha many oases thee they hal now. (Applause.)
Any good tenant would have the greatest p ewe ble pleasure
in showing his landlord a good day's sport on his land,
as it would afford opportunity for mutual intercourse .
with them, and every tenant would feel proud of show-
ing his landlord during the season a good head of game ;
and if keepers were dispensed with those heart-
burnings aol ill-feelings allnied to by the Chairman
would be avoided. There might be those who had
more cause of complaint than himself ; but lie hoped that
gentlemen, in the course of conversation which would
ensue, would speak temperately, remembering that
property, although it had its duties had also its rights.
(A p plause. )
Mr. Him, said it was an old axiom "that none knows
so well where the shoo pinches as he tat wears it."
He had been one of those unfortunates who had
suffered from excessive game preserving, that
odious and disgraceful system. He heal lived
for many years on a farm where gains was
strictly preserved, and to give them some
idea of game preservation, he said that it was the
practice of gentlemen in the neighbourhood to have is
wagon and pair of horses to pick up the game on those
days called battue days. He heard a stationmaster
remark, that within a week there had been five tons of
game come to his station from one gentleman, who was ,
a strict preserver of game. He supposed that he
suffered more than £lOO a-year for more than 20 years
on a farm he occupied in Norfolk, containing a little
snore than 350 acres. So great was the damage done
that he made complaint to his landlord, but he said that ,
he (Mr. Hill) complained without reason. On one
occasion he said to him, "My lord, if you think my
I
complaint is made without reason, beg to make you
this offer—lf you will only let me kill the game on this
farm, I will keep 100 sheep for your lordship, and
will keep them well for 12 months." That was sonic
convincing evidenoe of the loss he suffered, but, '
neverthele,a, the challenge was not accepted. On another '
occasion when his landlord was talking rather cheer-
fully on the subject he (Mr. Hill) raid, "My lord, if yen I
were to sit down and write me a cheque for £2,000 you I
would be considerably is my debt since I have been
your tenant." The fact was, landowners could never
see dear on game cases. He bad seen instances where a
poor poacher had been arraigned before a bench of I
county magistrates, in which they could never see clear.
If his (Mr. Hilla) hen-roost had been robbed they would
try to find out a loot hole for the man's escape, but in I
the case of a poacher he was a criminal the moment he
set his foot in the room, and his ease was always pre- i
judged. He (Mr. Hill) had gone so far as to say
publicly that nine lout of every ten county magistrates ,
took a false oath when they said they would do justioe.
They never could see clear in game cases, and a Man '1
was convicted the moment he set his foot in a court ,
before them. He had seen • mansent to prison for having
snares in his pockets, but he (Mr. Hill) considered that ,
he should be caught in the offeuee first. He knew
this to be a fact that a poor fellow in the parish in ,
which he lived, was sent to gaol for having • dog I
locked up in his shed. He declared that the dog MUG I
not his; that it belonged to another man, but it was
on his premises and he was sent to gaol. He knew I
another man who was sent to gaol for three months a
for shooting a hare, when the magistrates took the oath ,
of a villian which they would never have taken had it ,
not been in a game case. These were the results of
strict game preservation. One fact was worth 100
arguments, and he knew these to be facts, as they had I
come under his notice. Game preservation was pro-
dilative of a host of evils, too numerous to enter upon
on the present' occasion. He thought the arguments
adduced by Mr. Wood were much to the point, and
would have their influence and weight when published ,
in the papers. (Applause.)
Mr. DAMEN, in the course of some remarks, said he
did not find fault with the old game laws, but he did so ,
in reference to the recent alterations in the law, which I
were very defective and un-English. If a man was
found by a policeman coming from land, with game, Or I
even rabbits in his possession, that man was obliged to ,
say where he bad them. It was nn-English,
because that man was obliged to convict ,
himself, and policemea were compelled to look
after him at the expense of the ratepayers. (Hear,
hear.) He was sure, ass body of Englishmen, and fond ,
of sport, they had not met to condemn sport. They ,
could appreciate it fully; it was the alum of the
privilege which they complained of. (Rear, hear,) He
should be sorry to see the day come when gentlemen ,
could not have a fair day's sport for a fair day's ,
exercise. He was sorry to think that men should /
consider it sport to go into the woods at
one or two o'clock in the afternoon, and
blaze away for two or three hours. (Applause.)
As their chairman had said it was a delicate subject
which they had to discuss, but any game preserver
would give them credit for discussing it in a manner
which was right and proper. They mean; nothing
offensive to any moo; but when they considered the ex-
cessive game preservation,he considered it was a question
for the public, not as regarded the production of the I
earth, but as to rates and taxes. For instance a large
game preserver would be prosecuting every winter a !
certain number of poachers, who would be sent to the '
county gaol and kept at the expense of the county. I
Besides this, who kept the man's wife and !aridly ,
whilst he was in gaol? Why the ratepayers.
He agreed with Mr. Wood in the matter that it did ,
cause the greatest misunderstanding and heart-burnings
between landlords and tenants, and he could net help •
thinking a discussion of this kind must have a good in. ,
Silence upon men's minds. (Hear, hear.) Let a maa
once become a game preserver, and good as he might be ,
in every other respect, he seemed blind to the common ,
obligations he owed society. (Applause.) He would
say a word in regard to the poor poacher. He thought ,
the chairman had been rather too severe upon him. ,
Mr. Wool had alluded to three parties—the landowner, 1
the tenant farmer, and the poacher. In the first place ,
they should consider the great temptations thrown in
the man's way. Inherent was the love of sport in the
human heart, and that man had it as well as the land- ,
lord and tenant. It he had been born in a higher
sphere of life' and if fortune had favoured him as well as ,
the landlord, he would have been a good sportsman, and
they must give him credit for that feeling. He had seen
men going into the field for the Snit time and knock
down a hare or a rabbit. It was an impulse which
could not be avoided, and the poacher ought to be dealt
with rather leniently. (Applause.) He knew it led
him from one vice to another, from the poacher to the
felon, but he did think the fault was, in a great
measure, owing to the exoessive preaervation of game.
If the temptation was taken away from him, instead of
being a felon, he would be a good member of society.
Therefore the landowners should consider of it.
(Applause.)
Mr. Gsoaes Houma could not agree about there
being much sympathy for the pomber. There might be
one in a mere who went out for the love of sport, but
the others were too lazy to work. They found it easier
to sell their game for beer than to earn bread honestly.
He believed there was no better sport than hunting
down a skulking poacher, and no better game than to
:each him, He had had some very amusing runs, and
which he considered equal to fox-hunting. (Cheers and
laughter.)
Mr. T. H. SAUNDERS said there would not be so many
poachers if there were not so many rabbits, and he did
not consider it was game which they always came after.
He should, bowoves, be very sorry if he could not
show his landlord a good day's sport. He had always;
protected the winged game, in fact everything but
rabbits. He contended that much depended upon the
keepers whether the tenant of a farm bad his crops
eaten up by rabbits. He had known landlords tell a
keeper to kill them, and ins week after he would say
there were none; but when the tenants said
anything it was thought he was complaining without
reason. He had known instances in which tenants had
gone by default rather than complain to their landlords.
(Hem, hear.) He thought if there was not a quarter
of the rabbits kept there would be much more winged
game, because where there were so many rabbits they
disturbed the game. He thought landed proprietors
should be encouraged to have a good day's sport 'trusteed
of sending them away to the metropolis or distant
places. Mr. Brake, of Closworth, end Mr. Paull kept
a rabbit in a orate, and they had told him that it took
an acre of the best ground in Somerset to keep four and
a half rabbits for 12 months. (Laughter.) It was not
for what they ate, it was what they poisoned and
destroyed. He likerato see plenty of hares and game,
but rabbits he utterly abhorred. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. CRANE said he had had the misfortune to suffer
from rabbits, and with regard to poachers he agreed
with Mr. Homer that none but idle and the worse
characters were such. He did not believe he had ever
found lan honest labourer a poacher, as he was not
likely to spend his night in poaching. With regard
to Mr. Saunders's statement of the four and a half
rabbits, he could scarcely imagine that that was correct,
but according to his calculations he knew that it cost as
much to keep % rabbit as a sheep. (Hear, hear.) He
considered there should be some means adopted by
which tenants should have the power of destroying
rabbits. It was not right that the landlord should ask
• tenant for his rent when the rabbits destroyed that
which produced the rent. All gentlemen should have
the privileges of their property, and he had no doubt
tenants felt a Bride in showing landlords a good day's
sport. He considered that no animal did so much
mischief as a rabbit. As an instance of the prolificacy of
rabbits Mr. Crane stased that, on the same ground to
which the Chairman had alluded to in his lecture,
last year there was scarcely a rabbit to be seen, but in
a short time 150 couple were killed one day. That only
showed if landlords neglected to kill them, what a
;umber they would soon arrive at.
The MAYOR of Dorchester being called upon, said
he was sorry that he could not say anything on the
subject. It was a highly interesting one, and the club
ought to be thankful for the way in which Mr. Wood
had introduced it. They could not have the facts too
strongly impressed upon landlords of the evils arising
from the excessive preservation of game. It moat be
one of the greatest possible evils which Mr. Wood had
pointed out in his able lecture, and every word which
he had uttered be (the Mayor) could endorse. Pro-
had its rights u well as its responsibilities. It
end no one would wish to interfere with ,
a— it would be wrong to do so; but if they
ro, upon the food of the people generally, as it