Maboh 1, 1904.] tHE TROPICAL AGHICULTURIST. 
599 
convictions hare been obtained, the fines are gener- 
ally so paliry as to prove no deleirent to crime. 
The Soeieiy pays out large sums anruially to pame 
walcheis who in ihe execution of iheir duty anest 
at some personal risk to theniselves notoiioun 
poachers in the possession of deer meat, of 
hiiJes, horn? and of carcases— havinjj also do^s 
and guns with them— and yet they are unahle 
to secure a conviction. Tiiis seriously affects 
prestige of the Society and is very apt to bring 
it into contempt amongst native poachers. Our 
watchers become disheartened or resign or go over 
secretly to the other side and accej t bribes. This 
inelficacy of prosecutions has been the but den of 
our song, for some time past, and no one who has 
not looked at it with the eye of a ciitic or the 
spirit nf an earnest Ganie-Proiectionist can realise 
how galling these fi uitless prosecutions are. I do 
not think tiiat we can justly cavil at the Game 
Laws themselves as they stand at present but in 
the adminisiiatioa and interpretation of these laws 
we liMve frequently ground for complaint. Our 
way out of these difficulties, and away from t,his 
great stumbling block in our progress, appears to 
me to lie in the direction of 
OUR FOREST DEPARTMENT 
and I would propose that, we approach Govern- 
ment earnesi ly on this subject. There is an old 
Ordinance No. 10 of 1885 in which Sub See. 
E of Section 26 is one to which we might well 
have recourse; but first and foremost it will be 
necessary that large forest areas be reserved by 
Government. This is, I believe, and has been for 
some time, under consideration ; but the process 
of determining these reserves is slow almost to 
inanitifjn. Nearly 2^ years ago the views of mem- 
bers of the GPS, upon this Ordinance 1 have 
quoted, were obtained at the request of Govern- 
ment but no action has been taken subsequently. 
The Ordinance empowers the Government i^geiit 
of a Province by rules to make it illegal in a 
reserved forest to hunt, shoot, fish, poison water or 
set traps or snares or guns or to use explosive 
substances. If t he Society can induce Government 
to bring this Ordinance, which appears now to be 
obsolete, into operation and the Government 
Agents will act upon it, the protection of game 
in Ceylon will become a far simpler matter. 
In 1902 I ascertained by means of corres- 
pondence with the Forest Department and with 
the Government Agents of Uva and Saba- 
raganiuwa that at that time there were in 
the Hill country adjacent to Nuwara Eliya 
about 1,400 acres of reserved forest and that the 
Pedru Kurundu Forest— consisting of 16,000 acies 
— was shortly to be reserved. That in Sabara- 
gamuwa adjacent to the Hil' country there were 
laige forest reserves and that the wilderness of 
the Peakwas shortly to be added. That in Uva 
there was the Namunukula reserved forest only, 
and that no further reserves in Uva were contem- 
plated. This was in 1902. 1 am not personaliy 
aware of any further reserves having been added. 
In page 2 of my last report reference is made to the 
PROHIBITION OF TIIK EXPORT OF CUT-HORNS 
OF SAMBUR AND SPOTTED DEER 
for 2 years. The figures I have obtained from 
the Hon. the present Collector of Customs, shows 
a filijiht falling off in the export of Deer and 
Sambur horns during 1903, but not enough to 
point to any material improvement iu our position, 
Horns from shot Deer are undoubtedly still being 
exported iu laige qu:iiitiiiev. 
SANCTUARII S. 
In my speech at the annu:ii general ineeling 
last year I introduced the subj'jct of a private 
sand uaiy to be acquired, watched and contmlled 
by the GPS and suggested as a locality the 
Vetticaiclii forest, plains in the N. Province near 
'J'rincomalee. This contrary to my expectations, 
drew forth very little comment from members*. 
Mr H A Storey of the Matale District wrote, 
strongly protesting against this particular locality 
being chosen, and Mr A H Burns wrote, approving 
the idea in the abstract. This suggestion of 
mine was, as I said at the time, thrown out as a 
feeler, with the hope of eliciting expressions of 
opinion on the subject but to very little purpose. 
There appears in these latter days to be too much to 
occupy men's minds to enable them to give due 
thought to the protection of game in Ceylon. 
The P. A n)eetings are numerous. The Kennel 
Club, the C M I, iheCPKC, the S f 0 A, the 
Lawn Tennis, the Golf, the Cricket' and 
Football, the Gymkhanas and the Race 
meets— go a very long way towards filling up the 
spare time of a hard wot ked and hardworking 
community. Hence the C G P S receives but 
scant attention. My object iu introducing the idea 
of a private sanctuary was to secure the sympathy 
of all sportsmen by holding out to them what 
w >u'd eventually prov<j a boon. The Governmen 
Sanctuary a' Yala is an unqualified success and 
doubtless much game has already overflowed into 
adjacent forests. I hear that the proposed Sanc- 
tuary in the Puttalam Distiict is still under the 
consideration of Government but very little has 
been done. Mr Spence of the C G Forests has his 
eye on it and it will be not his fault if it does not 
become un fait accompli before long, 
THt PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 
Mr Farr said the suggestion to discuss this 
came from the Lieub. Governor. From correspon- 
dence with the Government he was inclined to 
believe that there was a good deal of trade going 
on between India and Ceylon in skins and j luniage 
of birds and eggs and edible Swifts' nests. When 
he received the Colonial Secretary's letter, he 
wrote to the local papers, but the information 
obtained was small. He then read an extract 
sent him by Mr 0 H Bagot ; — 
(To the Editor of the London ^- Times.") 
Sin,— Auy one who bestows even a passing glance 
at the milliners' windows cannot fail to notice with 
amazement the profusion of stuffed birds birds' 
wingp, and various bird trimmings which are cona- 
picuons iu eo many of them, whether in Regent- 
street, Kensington, the suburbs, or in far provincial 
towns. Hats composed of feattiers — some wreathed in 
buUfioches, some with twisted and distorted bodies of 
terns, others decked with dyed plumes — offend the eye 
at every turn. From sea gulls and bullfinches, in fact, 
to the brilliant gem of the tropica, nothing appears to' 
be sacred to the trade. Is it useless to protest yet onoe 
moro against the reckless slaughter of bird-life which 
this barbarous fashion entails ? The personal vanity 
which eacrifieea not the life only but the very race of 
birds created for the beautifying of the world is 
unworthy of the civilisation of the ^Oth century. In 
the interest of good taste, and for the sake of bird- 
life, 1 hope I need not plead in vain. I am 
yours sincerely, ' 
tVINIFKED PORTLAND, 
HORTON PLAINS NEW BOUNDARY. 
The following correspondence was read on the 
iubject ;— 
