ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. Xxl1. 
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of External Affairs, 
Melbourne, 30th June, 1908, 
I have the honour to acknowledge, by direction, the receipt of 
your letter of 22nd instant, transmitted through the Honourable 
the Premier of New South Wales, written with the object of 
securing the renewal of the Proclamation which, it is stated, was 
at one time in force against the indiscriminate destruction of 
birds in Papua. 
2. In 1894, a Wild Birds Protection Ordinance was passed 
under which a Proclamation was issued on 25th June, 1904, pro- 
hibiting throughout the Possession, except under special permit, 
the destruction of Birds of Paradise. 
3. In consequence of a petition received from local residents, a 
suspension was granted for one year, terminating on 30th April 
last, covering a limited area, namely, that part of the Central 
Division which lies between the Kemp-Welch and Brown Rivers, 
This represents less than one-twentieth of the territory, the pro- 
hibition remaining in force over the remainder. No authority 
has been given for the extension of this period of suspension. 
4. I may add that in a recent communication on the subject, 
the Acting Administrator refers to “‘the natural desire which has 
always existed on the part of the Government to preserve these 
birds from any—even the slightest—danger of extinction”; so 
that the views of the local administration are in harmony with 
those of the Federal Government on the subject. 
5. Consequent on various representations made to him, the 
Prime Minister has called for an exhaustive report on the whole 
question, which is expected to be received at an early date. I am 
directed to say that no course will be sanctioned which appears to 
render in the least likely the destruction of any species of the 
Bird of Paradise. 
ATLEE Hunt, Secretary. 
F. B. Guthrie, Esq., Hon. Secretary, Royal Society of New South 
Wales, Sydney. 
