XXXI 
GAME RESERVES 
3 J 5 
admitted themselves to be in sympathy with the idea, 
but plead a shortage of funds. A suggestion was put 
forward that the financial help of the Society for the 
Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire should be 
invoked. This society, which is better known to its 
friends under the title of “ The Fauna,” and to its 
enemies as “ The Penitent Butchers,” has always been 
most active in the past to prevent needless and exces¬ 
sive destruction of both beasts and birds. It has ad¬ 
mittedly done a great deal of good work, even if, as its 
detractors aver, it has occasionally erred in being some¬ 
what officious ; an accusation which, as a “ Penitent 
Butcher ” myself, I must strenuously rebut. It must 
be confessed, however, that it is hard to see how such 
a society can reasonably be expected to expend a large 
sum of money to protect the property of others. It 
must be borne in mind that not only has the game been 
a source of revenue to the Protectorate in the past, 
but that at the present day the Game Department 
has, in licences and fines alone, a sufficient surplus 
income in one year to meet most of the expenditure in 
question. 
The object of a Game Reserve, it may be presumed, 
is, in addition to the moral obligation to the game 
itself which I have adduced, to provide the maximum 
amount of pleasure to the large and increasing class of 
those persons who are interested in wild animal life. A 
further object is to provide an area within which scientific 
observation and experiment may be carried out, and 
by this means to provide both benefit and gratification 
to many who will never be able in person to visit the 
sanctuary. To attain these ends, it obviously is not 
desirable to close up the Reserve and allow the en¬ 
trance only of game rangers and privileged persons. 
