THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIRE 29 



GAME AND GAME RESERVES IN THE TRANSVAAL. 

 By Sir Alfred E. Pease, Bart, 



Major J. S. Hamilton, the Game Warden of the Transvaal 

 Sabi Game Reserve, contributed in Vol. II. of this Journal a very 

 full and most interesting account of the present condition and 

 prospects of the wild fauna within the Government Reserve. Since 

 Major Hamilton wrote his article further evidence is forthcoming 

 of the success that has attended his efforts. If the present policy 

 could be guaranteed permanency, it is certain that this Reserve 

 would be the means of not only increasing the head of game 

 throughout the Eastern Transvaal, but of restoring the eland, the 

 giraffe, and the elephant. When I left the Transvaal last year 

 (1905) there were no eland left within the Reserve, and probably 

 none outside in the Transvaal. Some five or seven giraffes still 

 lived in the Reserve, and one small herd of elephants had entered 

 it from Portuguese territory. 



The question of the immediate future is what will be the atti- 

 tude of the new responsible Government towards the Reserve, 

 and it is important to secure a healthy public opinion on the sub- 

 ject of the preservation of the fauna of the Colony. 



The present boundaries and condition of this Game Reserve 

 would be difficult to maintain under any Government, owing to 

 the number of highly mineralised farms owned by private indi- 

 viduals and companies within its borders, to the existence of mineral 

 resources on farms and lands belonging to the Crown, and to 

 the prospect of a railway being completed through a portion of 

 the Reserve. The position may become more precarious when a 

 representative Government is in control. I believe, however, that 

 a great deal may be done to secure the results of the efforts of 

 the past three years, even if a large area of the existing Reserve 

 has ultimately to be abandoned. This paper is therefore supple- 

 mentary to Major Hamilton's, and is written with a view of point- 

 ing out what is the general position immediately outside the 

 Reserve on the eve of a new form of Government, and to press 

 the necessity of an endeavour being made to educate public opinion 

 and enlist its protection for all species of wild animal life which 

 are harmless to the public interest. 



Those who honestly fear the risk of increasing pests such as 

 the tsetse-fly, and those who, out of simple cussedness, oppose 

 restrictions on the slaughter of wild animals, are the people who 

 are likely to be the most difficult to deal with. 



