PLEA FOR THE STAG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

PLEA FOR THE STAG.

OPPONENTS OF HUNTING. The hunted stag, metaphorically speaking, leapt into the political arena at Twickenham in tho recent British election campaign, and Sir William JoynsonHicks, the ox-Home Secretary and local Conservative candidate, looked liko being impaled on its angry antlers. A petition signed by nearly 9000 Twickenham electors was presented to Sir William by the Twickenham movement against stag-hunting, asking him to pledge his support to any measure introduced in Parliament to suppress this sport. In a letter to the Mayor of Twickenham, Sir William said that this was a " very serious matter " on which to give a pledge, and asked not to bo pressed further, in view of the gravity of the issues raised at the election.

This reply was discussed at a meeting held by the movement, with the mayor in the chair, when several speakers expressed disappointment. One woman Conservative declared that on this question she would put principle before politics and would refuse her support to Sir William. Many well-known Conservatives shared her view.