COURSING IN ENCLOURES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 250, 19 October 1907, Page 7

COURSING IN ENCLOURES.

--=- 'if i"-"i''a ..DEFENCE OF THE SYSTEM.--•-CBy Telegraph.—Parliamentary ■ Reporter.!" WELLTNSTQy,, Friday. The .condemnation of ..coursing.'fri 'en.-.. closed spaces which; was uttered-recently in. the Legislative''Council -by the-HbriV Seymour Thorne-George, produced a~ re- : ply yesterday, the Hon. W. Beehari ue : ': fending, the. method, practised; ..iri'.'lJesri , Zealand. After. Jreading a. letter from.; " -the. secretary, of. the North New . Coursing Club, protesting against _lthe : criticisms ."passed upon the sport by the -Hon. Seymour Thorns George' he stated that the criticisms-might have applied to., coursing in. England, some years ago. but not - to coursing as at present prac-' tised. The Auckland course was a quai---ter of a mile wide, and 600:to-.800 yards long. Hares were : trained over the course, and knew the "escapes," a kill being rarely Hares cost the, club from 30/ to £2 each, so: that ft' was to the interest of' the club -that the.; . animals should escape. A suggestion had'been made that greyhounds could be.- muzzled so that there would-be- no chance.of killing, the hare,, while the onlookers would get all the sport they ... _ ...... ;.. -. ".. The Hon. S. T. George said that what he had complained about was absolutely substantiated by the previous speaker.He. had said that the unfortunate hares were chased for. their lives in' an-en-closed space, and if they escaped they would be used another day.' This was , ■ what. had been admitted, and £t was' a cruel practice, .',_.,,- ,- --■''■ _ The. Hon. S. Rigg. maintained, that coursing within an 'enclosure, was' a 1 torture to the hare. He.-would _net ject.sb.inucli to coOTsfng under,what lie regarded,..33- .natural.-.conditions, ..but ah .'enclosed space hares^; ? were rirdught Tout.. [two qr_three times in an" afternoon if ' hares happened to be scarce; Ifc had been. suggested that dogs could be- muzzled, '■ but this would be making the hare-die ; a thousand deaths. It was muck better ! for a hare t;o be" killed outright than to" ibe nosed about and knocked over by a , j greyhound-:'