21:
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
C.O.885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
:
AFRICAN
AND
MEDITER-
BANKAN
COLONIES.
Fines by whom and
h recover
able.
Portion of
fine to be paid
to informer.
Ostriches
may be pro- tected for
certain aam her of grace.
Alecto of
from
prima farie
licence.
-
60
LAWS IN FORCE IN THE COLONIES AS TO TRESPASS,
well of himself as of the Crown, in all cases where the fine shall not exceed fifty pounds sterling, in the Court of the resident magistrate of the district where the offence may have been committed; the sentence, however, being subject to review by the Supreme or Eastern Districts or Circuit Courts, as the case may be, and in other cases in the Supreme Court, the Court of the Eastern Districts, as the case may be, or the Circuit Court for the district where the offence may have been committed; and a portion of any fine imposed upon any offender on conviction for contravening any of the provisions of this Act, not less than one pound nor exceeding five pounds, at the discretion of the Court, shall be paid to the person on whose information such conviction shall have taken place, provided such person be not an accessory.
9. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation in the Government Gazette, to proclaim and declare, as to any parts of this Colony, that wild ostriches shall be pro- tected and not destroyed for any number of years not exceeding three, to be mentioned in such proclamation; and any person contravening the provisions of any such pro- clamation shall be subject to the like penalties as those provided by the second section of this Act; and it shall also be lawful for the Governor from time to time to revoke, alter, or amend such proclamation.
10. In any prosecution for infringement of the second section of this Act, it shall be lat offences prima facie sufficient for the prosecutor to show that the accused does not appear as the holder of a licence in the list of persons to whom the requisite licence in such case shall of have been issued, respectively, kept in the office of the resident magistrate, before whom or in whose district such case shall be brought for trial in any court; but it shall be lawful for such accused person to rebut such evidence by proof that he was, in fact, at the time of the commission of the offence charged, the lawful holder of such licence.
Given at Government House, this 5th day of May, 1870.
By command of His Excellency the Governor,
R. SOUTHEY, Colonial Secretary.
GAME LAW PROCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL THE RIGHT HON. LORD CHARLES HENRY SOMERSET.
WHEREAS, it has appeared to me that the existing regulations against the destruction of game, and for the preservation of some particular species of the same, do not wholly meet the laudable object with which they have been established; and whereas, the rapidly increasing population renders it daily more necessary to guard against the total destruction of game in this colony, in the most efficacious manner: I have thought proper to order and direct, and it is hereby ordered and directed accordingly :
1. That from and after the 1st July until the 30th November, in each year, both days inclusive, all persons whosoever are strictly forbidden to shoot any pheasant, partridge, korbaan, wild peacock (paauw), ostrich, buck (comprising the whole antelope species), hare, or zebra, under a penalty of fifty rix-dollars for each head of game so killed during said period--namely, from the 1st July to the 30th November, in every year, both days included, together with all the costs and expenses attending the prosecution; or in failure of payment thereof, one month's imprisonment in the gaol of the district in which such offence shall have been committed, for every fifty rix-dollars which the transgressor shall be found to have forfeited, in proportion to the quantity of game he may have killed.
2. From this prohibition and penalty are, however, exempted, farmers and other free persons travelling through the country, and shooting game for their actual consumption on the road, provided it be on the other side of Hottentots Holland Kloof, and at the other side af the Great Berg River, so that the prohibition contained in the preceding article is to be in full force and rigour, in the whole of the Cape district, and in the district of Stellenbosch, at this side of the Hottentots Holland Mountains, and the Great Berg River, under a like penalty of fifty rix-dollars for each head of game which shall be found to have been shot in the Cape or Stellenbosch districts, respectively, within the limits herein speciñed, or beyond the same, if not actually shot on the road for the consumption of farmers or other free persons travelling through the country; or one month's imprisonment in case of failure of payment, in proportion of the pecuniary penalty incurred. In no case whatever shall game so shot be brought into Cape Town, or any of the residences of the country districts, under the penalty hereafter prescribed in article fourteen.
3. That no person whosoever shall, at any time, wilfully catch or destroy any pheasant,
61
AND ALSO AS TO PRESERVATION OF GAME.
partridge, korbaan, wild peacock, ostrich, buck, hare, or zebra, either by net, snare, APLICAN spring, or other engine, under the same penalty as prescribed in the two foregoing articles.
4. It is hereby especially enacted that no person shall, at any time, knowingly or willingly catch, take away or destroy the young or eggs of any such game as aforesaid, under a penalty of fifty rix-dollars for every offence, together with all the costs and expenses attending the prosecution; or, in failure of payment thereof, one month's imprisonment in the gaol of the district in which the offence shall have been committed.
5. Exclusive of the period prescribed in the first article--that is to say, from the 1st December to the 30th June, in each year, no person whosoever shall be at liberty, any- where, to shoot or kill any pheasant, partridge, korbaan, wild peacock, ostrich, buck, hare, or zebra, either by gun or dog, unless he shall have previously obtained a licence to that effect that is to say, all persons residing in Cape Town, Cape district, and the residency of Simon's Town, from the Colonial Öffice; and all other persons from the respective landdrosts, on a stamp of five rix-dollars, which licence will be in force only for one season, namely, from the 1st December to the 30th June, in each year, both days inclusive; any person shooting, killing, or destroying game without such licence shall forfeit the penalty prescribed in article one.
6. No holder of such licence, however, shall be at liberty to shoot or kill any elephant, seu cow, hippopotamus, boute buck, without having obtained a special per- mission to that effect from the governor for the time being, under a penalty of five hundred rix-dollars for each offence; or, in faflure of payment thereof, six months' imprisonment in the gaol of the district in which the offence shall have been committed. [Extended to elands, 14th March, 1823; repealed as to elephants, 23rd August, 1822.]
7. That no person or persons whosoever shall, under warrant of any licence or other authority, pursue or kill any game in or upon any lands the property of, or lawfully occupied by, any individual in the colony, without the express permission of the proprietor or occupier thereof, under a penalty of twenty-five rix-dollars for the first transgression, and of one hundred rix-dollars on repetition of the offence after the first warning, over and above the payment of damages, if such be proved, recoverable by ordinary prosecution at law; provided always, that due notice and warning shall have been given not to trespass in the pursuit of game, on the lands of the said proprietor or occupier, 8. That it shall at any time be lawful for any proprietor or occupier of land which shall have been brought into cultivation to kill, destroy, and drive forth, from and out of such land being in a state of cultivation, all and every species of game which shall have entered or harboured to the loss, annoyance, and injury of the proprietor or occupier; provided, always, that it shall not be lawful to pursue or destroy such game out of, or beyond, the limits of the land so cultivated.
9. As the respective holders of the leases of government places situated at Gwenekloof are expressly forbidden, by the conditions of the leases, either to shoot, catch, kill, or otherwise destroy any game within the limits of their respective places, or allow others so to do, such prohibition is hereby converted into a permanent law; and, that all game found on those places, being more especially considered as public property, neither the respective holders of such leases, nor any other person or persons whosoever, whether provided with a licence or not, shall be at liberty, at any time, there to shoot or kill any game specified in this proclamation (saving and except the liberty granted by article eight), under a penalty of fifty rix-dollars for each head of game so shot or killed; and on failure of payment thereof, one month's imprisonment in the town gaol, for every such fifty rix-dollars so forfeited and not paid.
10. That any herdsman, shepherd, or other person having the charge of or attending cattle, who shall be found in the fields carrying a gun loaded with shot of a smaller size than those which are commonly known and called by the name of loopers, or who shall be found in the fields with any shot of a smaller size in his custody or possession, shall forfeit such gun; and his master or employer, moreover, be fined in the sum of twenty rix-dollars, together with all costs and expenses attending the prosecution, in case of conviction; or in failure of payment thereof, one month's imprisonment in the gaol of the district in which the offence shall have been committed.
11. That no slave shall, at any time, be permitted to shoot or destroy game, on pain of forfeiture of the gun, or other engine, and a further punishment of one month's imprisonment; the costs and other expenses aftending the prosecution to be paid by the master on conviction.
12. And whereas, many persons hire or employ Hottentots, or other free persons, to
AND MEDITER-
BANEAN
COLONIES.
1 _ ....
TOPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO.