3H A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



tinually bring complaints, and very natural complaints, 

 of the damage they incur through the inroads both 

 of the game in the Reserve and of the lions which 

 follow that game. These farmers are, as a whole, a 

 most sporting lot, and have never yet collectively made 

 any suggestions for limiting either the size of the 

 Reserve, or of the quantity of animals contained in it. 

 What they do ask, however, is that they should be 

 afforded some protection ; this protection, they suggest, 

 would be adequately afforded by a game-proof fence 

 running along the line for a distance of some thirty 

 miles. 



Now it may be asserted, and with an element of 

 truth, that the farmers in question have not a very 

 substantial grievance. A considerable proportion of 

 them took up their farms, not only aware of the presence 

 of great herds of game on their land, but in some cases 

 actually because of its very presence. Furthermore, 

 that the money and energy expended on the whole 

 area in question is very small ; too small altogether to 

 demand the expenditure of some six or eight thousand 

 pounds of Government funds. Admitting both these 

 arguments, I venture to say that the real point is 

 obscured. We* have here in our Southern Reserve a 

 national asset — an asset which most of us hope will 

 delight naturalists and nature-lovers for centuries to 

 come. As owners of that asset, I venture to assert 

 that it is our duty to see that its presence inflicts, not 

 only the minimum of inconvenience on those who may 

 at the present moment be affected by living in prox- 

 imity to it, but also on those who by purchase or 

 otherwise may be affected by it to-morrow or in the 

 immediate future. 



As to the fence in question, the Government have 



