19 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 16

, [To Me Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

Sin,— Surely the many queStions raised by fox-hunting resolve themselves• eventually into one—namely, does the fox do sufficient damage to justify his extirpation, or does he not ?

Presuming that he does—else, why is he killed at all man has the right, as the supreme animal, to destroy him. But with that right to prOtect his own interests goes hand in hand the obligation to inflict the least possible suffering in doing so.

In fact, it is time that we, as human beings, allowed, our outworn hunting instincts to die a natural death, time that we rid ourselves of an abonrination, sanctioned by the custom of centuries, and showed to the fox the mercy due even to an enemy : that is, a clean and speedy death.—I am, Sir, &c.