xxxi GAME RESERVES 315 



admitted themselves to be in sympathy with the idea, 

 but plead a shortage of funds. A suggestion was put 

 forward that the financial help of the Society for the 

 Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire should be 

 invoked. This society, which is better known to its 

 friends under the title of " The Fauna," and to its 

 enemies as "The Penitent Butchers," has always been 

 most active in the past to prevent needless and exces- 

 sive destruction of both beasts and birds. It has ad- 

 mittedly done a great deal of good work, even if, as its 

 detractors aver, it has occasionally erred in being some- 

 what officious ; an accusation which, as a u Penitent 

 Butcher " myself, I must strenuously rebut. It must 

 be confessed, however, that it is hard to see how such 

 a society can reasonably be expected to expend a large 

 sum of money to protect the property of others. It 

 must be borne in mind that not only has the game been 

 a source of revenue to the Protectorate in the past, 

 but that at the present day the Game Department 

 has, in licences and fines alone, a sufficient surplus 

 income in one year to meet most of the expenditure in 

 question. 



The object of a Game Reserve, it may be presumed, 

 is, in addition to the moral obligation to the game 

 itself which I have adduced, to provide the maximum 

 amount of pleasure to the large and increasing class of 

 those persons who are interested in wild animal life. A 

 further object is to provide an area within which scientific 

 observation and experiment may be carried out, and 

 by this means to provide both benefit and gratification 

 to many who will never be able in person to visit the 

 sanctuary. To attain these ends, it obviously is not 

 desirable to close up the Reserve and allow the en- 

 trance only of game rangers and privileged persons. 



