Mr. Walter, the Member for Berkshire, does not often utter
epigrams, but in his speech to his constituents at Abingdon on Monday he certainly contrived to explain the Game-law ques- tion in a sentence. He said :—" Could any quality whatever that pertained to an animal constitute so good a proprietary right as the feeding of it? If you saw a number of hares eating your turnips and running off with your turnips in their bellies, they were running off with your property, and the man who took them took your property. He contended that game was the property of the person upon whose land it was for the time being." Precisely, and as the turnips belong to the tenants, the hares are their property. No moderate game-law reformer has ever asked for the tenant more than is implied in that very statement. Does Mr. Walter claim any right to his tenants' turnips? No more than the owner of his London house does to Mr. Walter's chandeliers.
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