10 THE SOCIETY FOE Till! PBESEEVATION OF 



and great anxiety with regard to it, and very wise measures are 

 being taken. Others are extremely optimistic, so optimistic that 

 we regard them with some suspicion. We think that that 

 optimism, is sometimes the result of an imperfect understanding 

 of what is going on, even locally. Others, again, make no 

 reference to the subject, and that we think a pity. It seems to 

 show that they have not, in those territories, realised the im- 

 portance which is attached to this question by a number of people- 

 Now, what we wish to ask you is whether it is not worth 

 while that a certain amount of expenditure in all territories 

 connected with this Office should be incurred for the purpose of 

 preserving the animals. Take, for instance, British East Africa ; 

 a very considerable revenue is derived from the game, to put it 

 on the lowest ground — from the licences — and nothing like that sum 

 is spent on preserving it. We find in the last British East African 

 Eoport an extremely glowing account of the game. One would 

 think that everything was going on in the best possible way, 

 whereas we do hear of various things there which we think are 

 very likely to be extremely injurious to the game. For instance — 

 it may be unavoidable — the most important Game Eeserve there 

 marches with the German territory, and we are told that a colony 

 of Boers has been established on the boundary who habitually 

 intrude on the British Eeserve. That may or may not be the case, 

 but we have not been able to hear of any measures being taken to 

 counteract it, or any representations being made. We may be 

 quite wrong with regard to it, but that is our impression at this 

 moment. 



Then there is another point about the expenditure. There are 

 some territories where a very large expenditure is now incurred. 

 Perhaps I may mention, for the sake of illustrating this point, 

 that outside the Empire, in America, they are spending enormous 

 sums on their Eeserve. (Hear, hear.) Again, in the Transvaal, 

 in proportion to its size, a large expenditure is being incurred. 

 Why is that? Because the game was nearly killed out. In fact, 

 it was left till too late, and where that is the case, and public 

 opinion is only aroused at a very late stage, much greater 

 expenditure has to be incurred in order to save the remnants. 

 (Hear, hear.) Therefore, from the economical point of view, 

 we wish to put it to the Colonial Office that it is worth while 

 incurring now, while the game is still abundant, a reasonable ex- 

 penditure to preserve the herds, and that it is worth while to have 

 a reasonably strict administration, or otherwise, at a later stage, 

 when some of the species have become so thinned out as to be dilli- 

 cult to preserve you will have to spend five or six times as much. 



Now I should just like to mention three or four matters to 

 which this Society attaches importance. Of course these sugges- 

 tions are already incorporated in the Game Laws of different 

 territories, perhaps in all — I am not quite sure — but this is, we 

 consider, a very valuable point, to have a royal or sacred list of 

 those animals which are to be absolutely immune from slaughter, 



