§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether his attention has been directed to a resolution passed at the annual meeting of the Humanitarian League last April, deprecating the hunting of tame deer as a practice viewed with abhorrence by a large number of Her Majesty's subjects, and praying that the Jubilee might be signalised by the discontinuance of the Royal Buckhounds; (2) whether he is aware that in December 1896 a letter was addressed to the Marquess of Salisbury, signed among others by the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressing regret that another season of tame deer hunting by Her Majesty's Buckhounds had been inaugurated; (3) and, whether, in view of the strong objections which have now for several years been finding utterance against the continuance of tame deer hunting, any steps will be taken for the abolition of the Royal Buckhounds?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. JESSE COLLINGS, Birmingham, Bordesley)The answers to the first two paragraphs of the hon. Member's Question are in the affirmative, and in reply to the third the Secretary of State can only say that there are a great many people who desire the maintenance, as well as those who desire the abolition, of the Royal Buckhounds.