Yesterday week the Lords again threw out the Bill to
put down pigeon matches, by a majority of 30 (78 to 48), in spite of its advocacy by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord Aberdare, and a very spirited appeal from the Archbishop of Canterbury him- self. The Archbishop said, what is perfectly well known to be the truth, that in all pigeou matches numbers of birds are shockingly mutilated, in order to make them fly in a particular direction; and he asserted that the breeding of tame animals for the purposes of such a sport is more on a par with the breeding of game-cocks than with the breeding of game. But these are arguments which have no weight with the majority of the House of Lords. Lord Fortescue, indeed, assured their Lordships that if they legislated on trifles of this kind they would become the laughing-stock of the whole Continent— which is probably not in the least true ; and even if it be true, is absolutely irrelevant, and of no manner of importance.
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