A COLONY IN THE MAKING 
CHAP. 
3*4 
tinually bring complaints, and very natural complaints, 
of the damage they incur through the inroads both 
of the game in the Reserve and of the lions which 
follow that game. These farmers are, as a whole, a 
most sporting lot, and have never yet collectively made 
any suggestions for limiting either the size of the 
Reserve, or of the quantity of animals contained in it. 
What they do ask, however, is that they should be 
afforded some protection ; this protection, they suggest, 
would be adequately afforded by a game-proof fence 
running along the line for a distance of some thirty 
miles. 
Now it may be asserted, and with an element of 
truth, that the farmers in question have not a very 
substantial grievance. A considerable proportion of 
them took up their farms, not only aware of the presence 
of great herds of game on their land, but in some cases 
actually because of its very presence. Furthermore, 
that the money and energy expended on the whole 
area in question is very small ; too small altogether to 
demand the expenditure of some six or eight thousand 
pounds of Government funds. Admitting both these 
arguments, I venture to say that the real point is 
obscured. We have here in our Southern Reserve a 
national asset—an asset which most of us hope will 
delight naturalists and nature-lovers for centuries to 
come. As owners of that asset, I venture to assert 
that it is our duty to see that its presence inflicts, not 
only the minimum of inconvenience on those who may 
at the present moment be affected by living in prox¬ 
imity to it, but also on those who by purchase or 
otherwise may be affected by it to-morrow or in the 
immediate future. 
As to the fence in question, the Government have 
