Nov. 2, 1903.1 THE TEOriCAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
337 
CEYLON GAME PROTECTION SOCIETY. 
Meeting of the Haputale Branch. 
The Anuual General Meeting of this branch was 
held at Haputale Resthouseon Saturday, 3rd Octo- 
ber, There was a poor attendance. Mr C S Burns 
was elected Chairman. 
THE EEPOKT. 
The Hod. Secretary presented his Annual Ke- 
port as follows : — 
Since we last met the Government have come to 
what, for the present at all events, we must regard as 
a final riecision on the question of shooting on the 
hilla. This decision is, as you probably know — first, 
that shooting sambnr over an elevation of 4,000 feet is 
forbidden, over dogs, everywhere, whether the country 
ia ever visited by a knifing pack or not ; second, 
the licenses to 3talk anywhere over 4,000 feet are to 
be issued by the Government Agents to all fit and 
proper persons ; and third, that red deer may be shot 
over dogs, by license-holders in the open season, at 
any elevation. This is, as you are aware, a very big 
concession from what has been the rule for the las.t 
four years, but I submit that it does not go far 
enough. Why it should be illegal' to shoot sambur 
over hounds where no rea;i3tered pack ever hunts and 
where stalking is impracticable, I fail to understand. 
It is clearly not because it is considered unsports 
manlike, as some of tbe men who have been most 
energetic in getting the law imposed, find it very 
snorting to bring their packs down below 4,000 'eat and 
shoot samhnr and spotted deer over them theve. The 
Hon. the Colonial Secretary writes that it is imposed 
" purely in the interests of sport and to prevent the 
extermination of game." I fear it may have rather the 
opposite effnct. Superintendents who are not allowed 
to shoot elk themselves are not likely to risk making 
their coolies dissatisfied by being too energetic in 
stopping their hunting, and it is from these cooly 
gangs that the only danger of extermination arises. 
However, one of the great objections to the old rule 
was that it conferred an entire monopoly of the sport 
over the enormous area of country over 4,000 feet 
on those very few men who had the snare time to 
run a knifing pack. The conces.'ion of the right to 
stalk anvwhero goes a long way to remove this com- 
plaint. In addition to those who have not the spare 
time to run a knifing pack, there are a very large 
number of sportsmen who object to knifing, owing to 
the large proportion of does and immature sta^s, 
whose slaughter this form of sport entails, and to * base 
sportsmen the concession of the right to stalls stags 
should be acceptable. Those men who own red deer 
packs will be pleased to see all the Uva patanas again 
thrown open to their sport, although t must say that 
the rule closing them has not been very carefully 
observed. From this vou will see, that though we may 
not have got all we think we are entitled to, still the 
agitation, for which this branch was mainly responsi- 
ble, has secured some valuable concessions. No 
doubt you have seen in the pape -s the draft of the 
proposed new rules for the Society. I notice in them 
there is no mention of the power of bnnohes to spend 
a portion of their funds in their district, and I will 
endeavour to get this inserted. I would also call your 
attention to rn'e XI, by which members bind them- 
selves to observe the existing Ordinances. By these 
Ordinances a close season has been fixed for red deer, 
but I understand that many of the leading members 
of the Society ignore this nltogether. Either the rule 
or the Ordinance will have to be altered. A watchman 
has been appointed tpmporarilv for the country im- 
mediately below the Haputale estates. His salary is 
paid, half by this branch and half by the Wellum- 
wittia Hunt Club. Should he prove to be doing good 
in stopping coolies hunting, I hope to give him 
the permanent appointment, but subscriptions to the 
branch must improve or it will be difiioult to pay his 
salary. The parent Society still pays for a watchman 
43 
in Lower Uva, and considering the claims of other 
lowcountry districts for grants for watchers, I don't 
think we can ask for more." 
Mr. A C FRA.SER referred to the subject of the 
right of branches to spend a portion of their funds 
on their districts, and a discussion followed. 
The meeting unanimously expressed its opinion 
that the old rule, whereby branches had a claim 
to three-quarters of the local subscriptions, should 
be inserted in the new rules, and the Hon. Secre- 
tary was instructed to do his best to secure this. 
They further expressed their opinion that the 
Hon Secretaries of all branches should be ex-ofiScio 
members of the Working Committee of the Society 
in order to render that body as far as possible ia 
touch with the general feeling ot the Society. 
THE DUTY ON CARTRIDGES. 
Mr J Marks brought up the subject of Mr T G 
Elliott's letter Co the last meeting of the Parent 
Society on the question of the duty on cartridges. 
He particularly pointed out that an enormous 
majority of imported cartridges were used on 
feather and not on big game. 
The opinion of the meeting, with one dissentient, 
was that as the Society is presumed to be repre- 
sentative of the leading sportsmen in the island, 
the question of the cost of cartridges does concern 
them, and in their opinion, Mr Elliott's letter 
deserved fuller consideration from the Parent 
Society than it received. 
The meeting then adjourned. 
W. Ormiston, 
Hon. Secretary. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
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Batavia. 
BRITISH POSSESSIONS AND THE TEA 
TRADE, 
{To the Editor of the London "Times.") 
Sir,— On the 17th inst,, in summarising the 
contents of the Blue-book on " British and Foreign 
Trale and Industry," you gave a condensed 
statement of tlie sources of supply of eight leading 
articles of food consumed in the United Kingdom. 
A noteworthy feature in this statement is the 
unique position of tea. While in the case of the 
other seven articles British possessions supply 
only from 4 per cent to .33 per cent, of the whole, 
in the case of tea the porportion is close on 90 
per cent. This has not always been so. In 1872, 
when Messrs Keir, Dandas & Co., of Kandy, in 
which firm I w,ts then a parcner, produced and 
shipped to London the first consignment of tea 
ever e.x'ported from Ceylon, the proportion of the 
home consumption then contributed by British 
possessions— i.e., by India— was only 13 per cent. 
