The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-25 00:00:00

HOUND AND FOX POISONING.

A form of outrage which is quite unexampled has shewn
itself in the county of Kilkenny. The following facts
are gleaned from the local journals :--Some disagreement
of a personal nature occurred some time ago in the Hunt
Club, and Mr. Bryan, M.P., was dissatisfied with the
proceedings- The club failed to give the redress which
he expected, and he withdrew from it. The pea-
santry have espoused his quarrel, and are avenging
it in a very cruel way. After endeavouring, in vain to in-
timidate the members of the hunt, whom they hcoted and
otherwise insulted, they resorted to the more disgraceful
expedient of poisoning the coverts and the hounds.
The avowed object is to put an end to what
they call the " ascendancy hunt." For three months the
crusade has been carried on. Mobs have assembled
to offer obstruction, and a placard was displayed with
the words "No more hunting till Squire Bryan is satis-
fied." On Friday last, the gentlemen of the hunt,
returning from Ballyragget, met a mob carrying on
a pole the body of a fox which they had killed by
poison, and as they passed through the village they
raised cheers for Squire Bryan, and protested
rgainst more hunting "until the people's friends are
satisfied." The crowning outrage wc s committed on
Monday last, when poisoned meat was thrown in the way
of the pack, and nine of them were killed. Two others
are not expected to recover. The result is that the
hunting has been for the present given up. A meeting of
members of the Club will be held on Monday to denounce
these scandalous proceedings. At a time when absen-
teeism is so loudly complained of there is poor
encouragement for country gentlemen to reside at home.
No effort appears to have been made by any persons* of
influence with " the people" to put an end to the mali-
cious acts ivhicE have deprived the members of the Kil-
kenny Hunt of their chief source of enjoyment. It is to
be hoped that at the meeting some means will be found
to deliver the county from the disgrace which now rests
upon it.

The Nottingham magistrates have fined a baker
and miller in that town .£5 for selling flour which proved to
be adulterated with alum.
The Broad Arrow "hears" that the Government
have decided on erecting a Military prison on Dover
Heights, and that the works are to be commenced next
month.
The Post says that no expense was spared by the
defendants in the trial of the directors of the Ovorend-
Gurney Company. The costs wore fully £l,OOO a day.
The Law Times says that the claim for the exten-
sion of tenant-right to England, which has been agitated in
some of th' chambers of agriculture, has already sensibly
affected the laud market, disinclining prudent persons to
invest in property so threatened. It is also alarming mort-
gagees not a little.
Mr. Thomas Salt, one of the members, a Conser-
vative, for Stafford, has been in the habit of giving Christ-
• mas gifts to some of the Stafford poor. He has this year issued
a handbill, in which he states that such annual gifts are of
questionable legality ; and therefore he regrets to discon-
tinue the old system.

The consecration of the 'Ten. Archdeacon Mac-
kenzio, Bishop Suff►egan Nominate in the diocese
of Lincoln, will (sa3 s the Nottingham Guardian)
take place in the course of a few weeks. The letters patent
will be made out for the See of Nottingham, and the new
suffragan will devote himself almost exclusively to that
county.
It appears from the Catholic Directory for 1870,
that the piece of building land. of about three acres in ex-
t•ent, bought for tho Roman Catholic cathedral, Westminster,
has cost £36,500. Of this sum £21,500 have been already
paid off. By the end of 1874, donations and annual sub-
scriptions already promised will amount to £7,000 morn;
leaving a further sum of £B,OOO to be -collected and paid by
1880.