32 MR. E. P. STEBBING ON" 



(Cervus axis) and hog-deer {Cervus porcinits) would require a 

 comparatively small one. 



Pheasants, again, would not require large areas, and the same 

 applies to the hill sheep and goats — a nullah or certain nullahs 

 being prescribed as closed to shooting, as, in fact, is done in 

 Kashmir. 



Game Sanctuaries may be of several kinds : — 



1. Entirely closed to all shooting. 



2. Closed to beating only. 



3. Closed to the shooting of certain species of game. 



4. Closed to shooting of all game, save noxious ones, such as 



carnivora, pig, etc. 



The question of enforcing the sanctuary law against shooting 

 is one of some difficulty. In Reserved Forests it is comparatively 

 easy, since all shooting without special passes in such areas is for- 

 bidden and the granting of these would be stopped for sanctuaries. 

 Outside, however, the matter is by no means so simple, and 

 the people of the country, particularly the shooting element, 

 will require a careful education if they are to understand and 

 respect the sanctuary, should it be formed in Government Waste 

 Land, It will be necessary to fully explain the vises of sanctuaries, 

 and the reason for closing the areas as soon as attempts have been 

 made to form them. 



At present anyone may enter on land, which is not reserved 

 forest, and shoot. To alter this would at once curtail what is a 

 prescriptive right, and this is the main obstacle to the introduction 

 of a Game Law. Rich and poor alike enjoy this privilege, and 

 although the occupier may in time come to learn that shooting 

 rents can add to his income, or reserve his waste land for his own 

 shooting and close it to the general public, as is done in many 

 cases in the Dun below the Mussoorie Hills, it will be difficult to 

 introduce restrictions on areas in whiph shooting is practically a 

 right ip all but name. 



It is, we fear, hardly to be ^xpected that the question of the 

 formatioji of sanctuaries and their closing will be received without 

 opposition throughout the country evgn amongst the Europeans, 

 but I ?im of opinion that the matter is one of such great 

 importance that the outcry of the few interested people opposed 

 from pei^sonal motives to their formation on Government Land, 

 both Reserve Forest and Waste Land, should not be allowed to 

 blind the public generally to their immense value. It is con- 

 ceivable that the Zemindar and large landed private proprietors 

 would in course of time follow ap. example so set when its value 

 pnade itself apparent to them. 



It has been said that some Provinces, as also Native States, 

 have already taken up and dgalt with this matter, and it will be 

 interesting here to see, province by province, exactly what progress 

 has been made towards carrying oujb the policy of game protection 

 by this mean^. 



