HUNTING

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 2608, 10 April 1926, Page 2

HUNTING

(By “New Chum.”)

Travelling one day by the Kiwi motor bus from Hamilton to Cambridge I was ruminating on the past, and the change over to the fast evil-smelling, petrol-driven machines and how the glories of the old horse coaches that, they tell me, used to run on this road, had departed, when I suddenly woke up to the fact, “What a glorious country, to hunt over.” It only wanted a few hard frosts to strip the fences of their foliage and check the overgrowth on the ditches, and drains. In imagination I was on top of a well-bred liorse, full of oats and following a flying pack of hounds running a straight necked fox into view. What bliss untold!

■ It looked to me a good scenting country. Nearly all grass; level as a billiard table; a good variety of fences, post and rails, ditches and banks; plenty of thorn fences well , laid in places, and a little wire, that bane of all lovers'of hunting, and a light riding country too. How I -would like to have lingered and enjoyed it all, but the “Kiwi”-is not a hunting, institution, and I -was soon in the pretty little English town of Cambridge. Alighting at that well-kept hostel, the National Hotel, Which I understand is one of the meeting places of the sporting men of the. district, I. was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance, over a whiskey and soda, of ( a .man "who professed to know anything and everything of the countryside, Naturally I turned to the topic of hunting. Hunting is essentially a British sport, and has always- been designated the “sport of kings,” but few-people recognise the immense benefits to a district derived from hunting. In England the farmer always considers that hounds bring prosperity to his district, as there- is good money for breeding- a good hunter, and oats, chaff and hay are grown in the country. There is shoeing, saddlery and all the general upkeep of a stable which means employment for our own men, as no alien over made a good stableman. In England there was published a list' of « over 200 packs of hounds for the season 1925-20. Imagine the cm* •ployment given and the money circulated, as each pack alone costs from fIQOO to £BOOO and more to maintain, according to the number of days they hunt. So in the Old Country it is indeed classed as a “national industry,” and no man commands such respect in any town as the man in the pink coat. Then again there is always an unlimited supply of the best bred and conditioned horses for the army to draw on as in the case of the South African and the Great War, horses that arc freely and generously offered the bighearted men rvho ride them. Then list but not least there is the social side to be looked at. As it is the finest and cleanest sport on earth arid in the hunting field all are equal. Old and young, rich and poor, meet on one common plane. The “Lord of the Manor ”Vm his 1000 guinea hunter, his spotless white breeches and mahogany tops is jostled in a muddy gateway or lane by a boy on a half-broken rough coated, bare-footed colt, or one of his ownyploughmen for generations have preserved foxes, and to whom “hounds;: please” is the first consideration..

. My acquaintance opened up. He told me that the Waikato possessed the best pack of hounds in New Zealand; that the club had had some very hard times, but that at the present time it was the soundest financially in Xew Zealand, and the present Master, a Mr Wynn Brown, had hunted the hounds for the past 22 seasons; that his father, Mr Tom Brown, had, earned the-horn for the Pakuranga .Hunt for a longer period, and that .all hoped to see his son, Ned, who at present is one of the Whips, and is a beautiful horseman, and a great lover of hounds, carry on the good work in the future. He told me that he had lately been out to the kennel at the Master,’s homestead at Fenfeourt, about five miles out, and had there, seen .15 couples of beautiful pups, well-grown, healthy and all nicely marked. They are principally from harrier bitches, with a strong infusion of foxhound blood and admirably spited for the Waikato country. In the kennels are .15 couples of older hounds', naturally fat and lusty with flieir enforced idleness, but so healthy and’ (dean and well that they could soon be got ready for the hunting field. The kennels were sweet and clean and everything in apple-pie order. He told me that; there,are plenty of good strong horses about, and that the farmers were a good sporting lot. That' practically the whole country was open to hunting. During the war hunting was carried on very quietly, as in England, but since then the membership of the Hunt had increased greatly. . ■ Over a parting'-whiskey and soda my well informed friend, offered to mount me one day in the coming season, "to see our man handle the hounds," as he, put it. I thankfully accepted the offer, if I was up this way again, and with a. genial farewell I took my seat on,the "Kiwi" for my return to, Hamilton, to dream of the past and bright visions of future runs, with the Waikato hounds. s