HUNT SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Perhaps it may not be out of place to say something about what a lady should do if she desires to join a hunt and has no menkind to arrange such business matters for her. Every woman who hunts should (and usually does, I believe,) contribute her share of payment towards the sport in which she participates. If a lady is well off, and intends to hunt regularly, she would probably not give less than £25; but the Quorn and some other fashionable hunts lay down no hard and fast rule concerning the amount to be subscribed, which varies according to individual circumstances. The minimum subscription to the Pytchley is £25 for a man and £10 for a lady. Lord North, who is Chairman of the Committee of the Warwickshire Hunt, states (The Field, 20th December, 1902), in a very generous manner, that “fox-hunting must never be allowed to become the sport of the rich alone. It is a national sport, and must be open to all—to rich and poor alike.” There is, however, a recognised sum which qualifies the donor for hunt membership; for instance: the Craven minimum subscription, with membership, is £10; the Crawley and Horsham, 15 guineas; while subscribers of £25 to the Meynell hunt are privileged to wear the hunt button. In several hunts—Lord Fitzwilliam’s, Mr. Bathurst’s, the Belvoir, when hunted by the Duke of Rutland, and others—the Master hunts the country at his own expense, subscriptions being accepted only for Covert, Wire, Poultry, or Damage Funds, as the case may be. The Vale of White Horse (Cirencester) requires a subscription from ladies of “£5 per day, per week.” Strangers who hunt occasionally with a subscription pack where capping is not practised, are expected to contribute towards the Poultry or Damage Fund. In some hunts a cap is taken from non-subscribers, from whom a certain fixed sum is expected; the Essex and Suffolk requires five shillings a day, the Burstow a sovereign, and the Pytchley and Warwickshire two pounds. The usual “field money” in Ireland is half-a-crown. The Blackmore Vale, although a subscription pack, does not fix any sum, but sensibly expects people to subscribe according to the number of horses they keep, and the amount of hunting they do. An old and sound rule is £5 for each horse. As subscriptions vary in different hunts, the best plan for a lady who has to arrange her own business matters, is to write to the secretary of the hunt which she desires to join, and obtain from him the required information. She will find Bailey’s Hunting Directory a most useful book of reference.