Related article: Messrs. Collins, Luce, Mont- morency, More, Parkes, Mitchell, Hollins, Billings, &c, are the most prominent. The " Freshmen " include H. C. Pilkington and Lord Francis Scott (Eton), F. W. Ratligan and W r . S. Medlicott (Harrow), T. R. Crawley- Boevey (Clifton), F. H. Humphreys (Shrewsbury), C. S. Hannay (Rugby), F. Kershaw (Chelten- ham), C. W. Wordsworth (Char- terhouse), &c. R. W. Fox, the 1898 wicket-keeper, has gone down, hence Messrs. Good (Mag- dalen)— a Senior — and A. B. Rey- nolds (Winchester) should stand a rosy chance of inclusion. Above and beyond the usual trial matches, nine representative fixtures have been arranged for the Oxonians also, including two with the Australians and new ones with Worcestershire and the Crystal Palace. Practice both ways is now the order of every succeeding way, and the season proper will commence simultaneously with 392 BAILYS MAGAZINE. [May the current issue of Baily. Next month we trust to report a good deal of progress. Other vacation and interim topics may be briefly dismissed. The Oxford Association Football Team completed their Continental sans defeat, and otherwise had a very jolly time. As the result, several Continental clubs will visit Oxford next season, we understand. The late Mr. F. 0. Hobson.— By the death of Mr. F. G. Hobson there has been removed from the Turf world one who was formerly a well known figure in steeplechase circles. " Freddy Hobson," as he was called, lived in the Hert- fordshire country, where he hunted with the Puckeridge Hounds, and at the time when Colonel Knox, Mr. Arthur Yates, Colonel Harford, George Holman, Robert I'Anson and others were riding, Mr. Hobson was fre- quently seen in the saddle ; his colours, scarlet, white belt, and blue cap, being familiar at most of the steeplechase meetings near London. He had one pe- culiarity, and that was, in jump- ing a fence he always caught hold of the cantle of his saddle, getting his hand back with sur- prising quickness, and never missing his hold. In 1877 Mr. Hobson succeeded in winning the Grand National on his own horse, Austerlitz, a five-year-old, and the third horse of that age to win the great race, the others being Alci- biade, in 1865, and Regal, in 1876, the year preceding Austerlitz's victory. Mr. Hobson owned a few horses which ran under Jockey Club rules. In 1876 he bought Hamp- ton from Mr. T. Harvey, and Robert Peck trained him ; while in the hands of Sam Mordan he won the Goodwood Stakes, and a good deal more in bets. Then, in 1877, the year in which Austerlitz won the National, Hampton won the Goodwood Cup, the Doncaster Cup, and the Northumberland Plate, after which he was sold to Lord Ellesmere. Mr, Hobson was also very fond of shooting, and was a pigeon-shot of some skill. The late Mr. F. T. Wilson.— In addition to the late Mr. C. P. Shrubb, Mr. F. T. Wilson the master of the Ledbury Hounds, must be included in the list of masters who have, so to speak, died in harness. Mr. Wilson gained his first experiences of mastership with the Wool hope Harriers. He then took the Herefordshire country in 1896 in succession to the Committee, who ruled after the departure of Mr. F. Vaughan Williams. He held the Herefordshire country for a single season only, and it was with much regret that his fol- lowers heard of his departure for the Ledbury country, which had just been vacated by Mr. George Thursby, whom he succeeded in 1897. He kept a fine stud of horses, and did the hunt well in every respect, which his means enabled him to do. Last year his health broke down, and he had to leave first of all for Hastings, and then for the Continent, but consumption had unfortunately marked him for its own. He was to retire from the Ledbury at the end of this season, but he may be said to have died before his term of office had completely run its course, and his death will be much lamented by a wide circle of friends. The Thames as a Trout and Salmon River. — The question of stocking the Thames with salmon is still attracting a good deal of attention, and Mr. R. B. Marston, whose views are well known on the subject, has written an article in 1899 " OUR VAN. »» 393 the Nineteenth Century in which all the facts and arguments bearing upon the matter are plainly and impartially set forth, and it may be interesting to our readers to state that probably the last Thames salmon to be killed with rod and line was caught at Shepperton on single gut and without a landing net. The fish weighed 21 1 lbs. Curiously enough about the same time as Mr. Marston's article appeared another was published in the columns of Blackwood's Magazine, entitled " The Thames as a Game Fish River," which, going beyond the salmon question, advocates the erection of hatch- eries on the river bank, and the practical conversion of the Thames ultimately into a trouting water. The Piscatorial Society.— At the annual dinner, recently held at the Hoi born Restaurant, the chairman (Mr. C. Butler), an- nounced that the Society had just acquired the lease of some new water at Uxbridge on the Colne, and he hoped that the Committee would be able to re-stock the water (which contains the usual variety of coarse fish), with some good trout for the benefit of fly- fishing members. The Museum has acquired a 13 lb. 14 oz. trout, once the property of the late Mr. Ross Faulkner, and believed to be the heaviest existing specimen of a Thames trout. Prominent amongst the members at this dinner was Dr. John Brunton, a well known fly fisherman, and Buy Lidocaine Powder Online a familiar figure at the meetings of the Piscatorial and Gresham Angling Societies. He