GOOD MORNING
No. 549
g e f a b o u n d
Hunting is just
nouns'
**V
COLUMN
i
Blood-lust
N appreciation of the past session of
I S iP a r lia m e n t, “ The Tim es’’ says:—
" In the progress that has ibeen made with
reconstruction plans, the present Parliamentary
¦session has so far been iby no means unim
pressive.
“ The outstanding events have been the dis
cussion of the Government's employment
policy, and a clear mandate was given to the
Government to guide the national economy
towards full employment and efficiency.; the
Education A c t; tine presentation and approval
of the main features of the Government scheme
for medicail services. . . .
“ Acts ihave been passed to provide for the
training and re-employment of disabled persons
and to reinstate ex-Servicemen in civil employ
ment. . . .
“ Plans for the demobilisation, training and
further education and resettlement of men and
women in the fighting forces are believed to
be well advanced.
“ In other important respects, however
Government initiative is lagging Car behind
the process of events and the needs of the
community.
?
“ f VNE instance 'is ithe (lapse of 21
months between the ismje of the
White Paper, now shortly expected, explaining
the Government’s own proposals for Social
Security. More serious has been the Govern
ment’s faltering approach to the rebuilding of
Britain’s towns, and the two wider problems
of Land Control and the Location of Industry
inseparable from it. . . . A ll this is but one
aspect of the apparent reluctance of the Gov
ernment to consider the full administrative
implications of the many projects they have in
hand.
“ The present Parliament has had a real
opportunity of being remembered as the Parlia
ment of Victory, but only if victory includes the
fem e Front.
“ As emphasis at last begins to shift from
>onibs to bungalows, public opinion will -look
'more and more for those main decisions that
are vital for the winning of the peace."
?
A F the 25,435 doctors who replied to
” the questionnaire on the White
Paper suggesting a National Health Service,
13,161—53 per cent.—it is revealed, say that
they do not favour the scheme.
Of the 39 per cent.—9,521—who do favour it,
most are younger men and women who have
not “ puit up their plates ” —salaried doctors and
those in the Services.
Consultants and specialists, the top people in
the profession, are strongest in their opposition.
FTfty-eight per cent, say “ No,” 36 per cent.
“ Yes.”
Replies show that general practitioners or
family doctors have fears for their future under
such a scheme.
“ Do you think,” they were asked, “ it will
or will not be possible for private practice to
continue ? ’’
Fifty-seven per cent, say “ No ’’ ; only 30 per
cent. “ Yes.”
But the consultants are more optimistic.
Forty-two per cent, think they would be able
to continue private practice; 34 per cent, say
“ No.”
?
I)O T H family doctors and consultants
are fearful of letting their sons and
daughters follow <them in the profession of
medicine “ if a National Health Service as con
templated in the White Paper is introduced.'’
Sixty per cent, of the family doctors against
25 per cent., and 65 per cent, against 29 per
cent, of the consultants, would not regard medi
cine as an attractive job for their children.
But the salaried doctors think it would—52
per cent, against 31.
The doctors were asked how much they
thought they should be paid, at the age of 40.
if the White Paper scheme were introduced.
They replied, on average: Consultants. £2.520
a year; family doctors, £1,620; and. for young
doctors, £520.
?
y ICTOR SILVESTER. “ c-o-r-r-e-c-t
’ tempo ” orchestra leader, got out
of tune, and for “ using the services of United
States Forces in a deliberate smuggling ven
ture,” was fined a total of £600 and fifty guineas
Costs at Marvlebone (London) Police Court
recently, for Customs and imports offences in
respect of silk stockings, perfume and wrist-
watches.
In an alleged statement, Silvester said thal
an American friend, a flyer, offered to get the
goods and send them to him when he got back
to England.
“ I paid for the first parcel,” said the alleged
statement, “ and added to the purchase price
not only the 25 per cent, which he was to
receive, but also some monies which I owed
a party at the Embassy. The total was £106.”
SAYS THE
BRAINS TRUST
'PHIE Brains Trust, consisting of a Professor
of Zoology, a scientific Farmer, the Master
of a celebrated Hunt, and a Philosopher,
discuss:—
Is there a real defence of hunting wild
animals for sport ? Shouldn t fox-hunting,
stag-hunting and grouse-shooting be abol*
ished in civilised countries ?
Professor: ‘ ‘ It is not for me to pronounce
on the ethics of the question, but the hunt is
an absurdly wasteful method of getting rid cf
* <
Xy-
mm i
. ¦
II
Could you teach me some nautical terms,
Adm iral ? ’
vermin. Also, many, if not
most, of the creatures hunted
or shot for sport are not
vermin at all.
“ In the old days, any crea
ture which was seen to eat
crops was regarded as an
enemy, but to-day we know
that most of them do good
work as well as bad, and
that the good generally out
weighs the bad.
“ For example, farmers and
gamekeepers used to persecute
(the jay and the magpie, be
cause they are notorious egg-
stealers. But it is now known
that they more than repay
their theft of eggs by destroy
ing enormous numbers of in
sects. slugs, snails, mice and
rats, and the jays and magpies
are now on the official list of
birds beneficial to agriculture.”
M aster: “ The trouble with
j5ys and magpies 'is that they
steal pheasants’ eggs and part
ridges’ eggs, and pheasants and
partridges make good food.’’
Farm er: “ I don't believe
¦that the jays make all that dif
ference to the pheasant popu
lation. If they did. it would be
a pity, but not because pheas
ants make good food, but be
cause they and the partridges
are two of the best friends of
the farmer.
“ Why, as many as 1,200
wire-worms have been found
i_ n the crop of a single pheas
an t
• • I found 440 leatherjackets
in one of m ine; and others
have reported mice, rats, and
even adders.”
Philosopher: “The defenders
of hunting and shootiing for
sport are on very dangerous
ground when they say they
are providing us with food.
“ Only a very small per
centage of the population eat
pheasant or partridge, and
quite obviously that is only
an excuse.
‘ • Consider the number of
birds killed at each shoot. It
is far, far greater than the
shooting party could possibly
eat. It is true that they give
most of them away, but if that
were the motive you should
find them equally willing to
rear cattle to give rounds of
beef away. It would cost them
less.*'
M aste r: “ The truth of the
matter is that while some birds
and animals are harmless, or
even beneficial, when their
numbers are kept down, they
rapidly become pests if they
are allowed to multiply too
quickly. This is the case with
rooks. They are listed among
the beneficial birds, provided
they are not allowed to become
too numerous.
“ It is necessary to thin
them down fey shooting them
from time to time.
“ If parties of well-to-do
people are willing not only to
do the thinning-down for noth
ing. but actually to pay the
farmer for being allowed to do
it, it is hard to see why they
should not do so.”
Professor: “ Thinning rooks
is a mJnor issue. Thinning
pheasants and partridges is
quite different. I am not satis
fied with the good faith of any
sporting party who professes to
shoot the birds because they
want thinning.
“ The reason, of course, is
because these benevolent
sportsmen actually protect
the birds in order to shoot
them.
“ If it was the thinning they
were concerned with, they
wouldn’t be so hot on prose
cuting poachers.”
Farm er: “ As far as thinning
goes, traps and poison-baats
will do wonders if used scien-
tincaiiy. Wot against oiras so
much, but as far as rats and
foxes are concerned. The truth
is, these sporting gentlemen
like hunting wild creatures to
death. I'm a progressive man
myself, and to my way of
thinking it's disgraceful and
barbarous. Any civilised coun
try ought to be ashamed of
such members of its society.’*
M aster: “ With all your con
cern for the wild animals, you
really haven't considered thb
point of view of the fox him
self.
To kill foxes scientifi
cally might be quick and
efficient, but by hunting them
we do at least give them a
chance. They often escape.
Moreover, it is their nature
to hunt and be hunted.
“ If you could ask them which
they would prefer, to be pois
oned or to be hunted, they
would say hunted every time.
Personally, I think they enjoy
it.”
Professor: “ That’s nonsense;
but if it were true, the hunt
would surely not be sport in
the finer sense of the word ?
A pack of hounds to one fox is
not most people’s idea of fair
play.
•Stag-hunting is, of course,
Just unmitigated cruelty and
blood-lust. Stags are often
first caught alive to have
their antlers sawn off. so that
they cannot injure the val
uable hounds.
Philosopher: “ I suppose if
st>ortsmen were real sports
they would go out against a
stag in his native country with
no other weapon than a knife,
or something equivalent to the
stags antlers. They would
never catch a stag.
BEELZEBUB JONES
DOGGONE IT) SHERIFF,
THEM GUYS AINT GOT
A DEMOCRATIC BONE
IN THEIR
BODIES/
I A
D.7.
YA DON'T EXPECT THEM ^
TO BE - THEY'RE THE BUSINESS
MEN AND LANDOWNERS- WE
GOTTA LIBERATE THEIR PEONS'
I
m
w :
vV:
JEST WHO ARE
WE GONNA GIT
TO BE PERSIDENT,
OF THIS DO G G O NE
COUNTRY ?
Lv. • • .¦ ?, ¦ ^vr!\’v
.Y&V
...
>y
BELINDA
'- S O S y o u c a n c o o u r
AMONG THE “WOLVES* FOR
MR STRAIGHT!-I'M NOT FIT I
TO REFORM THEM - 1 ALREADY
5LAPPED BULLDOZER’ S FACE AND
I'M LIABLE TO LOSE
MY TEMPER AG AIN!
7 HUH . ‘-M AYBE SHE'5 RIGHT! ^
8-BUT THIS REFORMING Bt/S'NESS
DO ESN 'T SEEM
QUITE SUCH A
CINCH TO M E.
EITHER-NOW I'M
NOT WITH THE
PARSO N.,.
POPEYE
WELL AT LEAST
VOU CAN STOP AT
AW LOCKER FOR
A C U P O F TEA ?