SPORT FOR THE WORKING MAN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 122, 23 May 1908, Page 9

SPORT FOR THE WORKING MAN.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— The members of tlie Acclimatisai tion Society indulged 1 in a. good deal oi fall talk about "poachers'* at their meeting. At present the "poacher" proper is unknown in this country, he being a man who makes his livelihood by systematically taking hand-reared game fon sale. With him we have no sympathy;' neither have we any sympathy with the "game hog," known over the water as the "pot-hunter." There is, however, a very seriou3 aspect of the attitude of the society to the working-man, whose choice of sport lies in a day with tho gun, for if they are allowed to go on as < at present the gunj as in Britain," will be for the rich man only, and _his class will adjudicate on breaches of their rules, with the result that we shall, before many years are out, have men going to prison for a hasty shot at game which gets up before them. And it is well to ,ianemfcer that tho days of Willianu Rufus are gone, and the worker isn't long going to stand game laws of tho type that these men seek, to introduce. We hold that God made the open country and wild game equally for all men. and while we are willing to pay for our sport as well as we can, it is obvious that the present license fee, added to railway fares, and the fact that many of us cannot get in more than two days ot so during the season, is too expensive for tho ordinary worker. Neither is it fair to ask him to pay the samo as a man on whose land the society turns down game, while we are for that reason rigorously debarred from entering that land. The result is that many have to confine their attentions to the rabbit for the two days, and if anything else gets vp — well? Now, speaking for a goodly number of workers, who, like myself, are devotees of the gun, I would suggest that the occasional license should' come into force —even in feudal Britain they have this — and that a working-man be allowed to shoot for the date of "the license (one day) for, say, a shilling, adding another sixpence if a dog is taken. Now is the time, and we should get on with the suggestion before the election, and get our member pledged to come such measure before next season, or the town toilers Avill waken too late, and find yet another of their privileges in this good land gone. — I am, etc., SNIPE-SHOT.

Wellington. 21st May.