20 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PEE8EEVATION OF 



GAME PBESEEVATION IN THE TBANSVAALi 



By Major .T. Stevenson-Hamilton 

 (Warden, Transvaal Government Game lieserves). 



Previous to the war, notwithstanding the fact that elaborate 

 game laws had been framed, and two Game Beserves set aside by 

 the Boer Government for the preservation of the fast disappearing 

 fauna of the country, little was in reality done to chock the 

 professional hunter, whether Dutch or English, and the native 

 armed with breechloading rifle, from a continual and wanton 

 destruction of the wild animals. Those whose duty it was to see 

 the law in this respect observed were both indifferent and vena,], 

 so that no doubt a very few years more would have seen the com- 

 plete extermination of all the larger species. During the war itself 

 the 'Low Veld' so called— -i.e., the strip of unhealthy and thickly 

 wooded country lying between the Drakensberg and the Portu- 

 guese border in the North-Eastern Transvaal— was patrolled by a 

 corps of irregular horse whose duty it was to guard the border ; and 

 though they no doubt were responsible for a considerable amount 

 of destruction, their adjutant, Capt. Greenhill-Gardyno of the 

 Gordon Highlanders, a keen sportsman with large Indian experi- 

 ence, was successful in limiting it considerably, and was able lo 

 save the larger animals, such as buffalo, giraffe, and hippo, from the 

 fate which threatened them. 



On the conclusion of peace it was decided to inaugurate a 

 system oi game protection, and to revive as a game nursery the 

 1,500 square miles of country known under the old Government as 

 the Sabi Eeserve. The matter was placed in the hands of Sir- 

 Godfrey Lagden, head of the Native Affairs Department, who, from 

 the keen interest he took in all matters affecting sport and his 

 previous experience of African game, was particularly anxious to 

 see the scheme carried to a successful issue. 



_ Accordingly, on July 1, 1902, the Sabi Eeserve (1,600 square 

 miles) was declared, and a warden, with a staff of three white men 

 and fifty native constables, was appointed, a sum of £4,000 being set- 

 aside m the Estimates in order that adequate pay and equipment 

 might be provided. Shortly afterwards an excellent code of game 

 laws affecting the whole country was drawn up, by which a licence 

 costing £25 was required to shoot a limited number of the larger 

 species, while to kill game birds and antelope up to and including 

 reedbuck and impala a, £3 licence only was necessary. The 

 promulgation of these laws was soon followed by that of 'by-laws 



