24 MR. E. P. STEBBIXG ON 



fathers before them. Formerly, however, owing to th'eir anti- 

 quated low-power weapons, the damage they were capable of doing 

 Avas of a negligible quantity : nowadays it is far otherwise, and 

 the methods to be put in force to deal with them form one of the 

 most difficult problems those responsible for the upkeep of the 

 game in the forests, and country generally, have to solve. 



The plea ever placed in the forefront by such men is that the 

 guns are required to protect their crops, and this plausible excuse 

 has been accepted by Local Government after Local Government ; 

 and we can quite see the difficulties that have' faced the latter, and 

 still do so, in a settlement of the question. It cannot, however, 

 be said to have been ever satisfactorily or fairly faced, and this 

 inaction on the part of the central authority has checkmated the 

 effijrts of many a Collector and' Forest Officer in bis- attempts 

 to keep down the nvimber of (poachirig) guns in a disti-ict. A 

 sympathetic Government has always been too eager to listen to 

 the tales of destruction to crops, and the District Officer, without 

 local knowledge, prefers to err on the &4de of liberality, and so 

 readily grants licenses to applicants. 



We all know the way these license' gun-holders go to work. A 

 machan (platform) is built on a kifown deer-run on the edge of the 

 forest and just without its boundary, if not inside, with the con- 

 nivance of the Forest Guard.- The' shikari occupies his post in the 

 late afternoon, and by sunrise next day several bucks and does 

 may be lying round the machaii ; the skins, ho^rns, should there be 

 any of the latter, and the flesh are taken off to the bazaar, Avhere 

 a ready sale is found for them throughout the country. The meat 

 is sold locally, the skins and horns being bought hj middlemen 

 for export. It is a commofi thing to see oti the platform at way- 

 side stations near forest-areas piles of skins and horns booked, 

 and openly booked, in defiance of all iiiles and regulations, to some 

 large centre. 



I would not be understood to say that it is the native shikari 

 alone who acts in this way. It is an open secret that the native 

 soldier of shikar-loving propensities, as also his British brother, 

 will act in an exactly similar manner on occasion. Once, however, 

 this matter is properly faced, the latter class of offenders can 

 easily be coped with. For the non-military native offender a 

 license to protect his crops should be given only after careful 

 personal enquiry on the ground by the District Officer. Also the 

 sale of venison in the open market should be made a criminal 

 offence. 



The whole crux of the position is, of course, the necessity for 

 regulating the number of animals shot, so as to prevent deterio- 

 ration or extermination of the game. On the whole, the European 

 is more destructive than the native to the animals which are 

 greatest in need of protection. Rules and the proper control 

 and management of shooting-grounds can control the European. 

 The native is, however, not so easily dealt with. In order 

 therefore to arrest the slaughter which takes place ostensibly to 



