PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILL C.O. 885
سلسسلسا
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
42
As the writer of the article in.the "Times" alluded to by Acting Commis- sioner Wilson (Uganda), I desire to address your Lordship on portions of that gentleman's lettert where he expresses himself in regard to the article ("Times") bearing upon the Ordinance, of granting licences on payment to certain chiefs of Uganda to hunt elephants; and states that I failed to reply to his request for specific incidents in support of my allegations; his suggestion, I think I may say, being that I was unable to do so from lack of proof.
I should interpolate here, as Mr. Wilson attributes the representations made to him on this subject by a Sub-Commissioner of Uganda as due to my influence, that I neither influenced an officer of the Uganda Protectorate, nor, on the other hand, was I influenced by anyone.
I received Mr. Wilson's letter on my way to the coast from Uganda, but I could no doubt have replied to it, and I should have done so, had I perceived the smallest hope of doing any good to the cause I have very much at heart, and fresh from the experiences of three months in the forests of Unyoro hunting elephants. But Mr. Wilson's letter revealed that his convictions and bias were as strong then as he perhaps unconsciously displays them to be in this Blue Book, and my opinion was that it was wiser not to reply.
The article in the "Times" where it refers to Uganda bears witness to the abuses of the Ordinance under which chiefs were permitted to buy game licences to hunt elephants the deplorable cruelties committed by the natives and the attitude of the villagers to a sportsman in the districts of chiefs who were licence holders; on these points I have evidence if your Lordship desires it.
I beg to assure your Lordship from what I saw myself, and the information I obtained, that it was necessary, in a British Protectorate at any rate, no longer to countenance such practices, upon the grounds. of humanity alone.
I trust I may, without presumption, make the following remarks:-- In no other districts of Africa are elephants found at the present time with ivory of finer quality and larger size than those in the forests of Unyoro, the Nile Provinces, and east of the Somerset Nile to Mount Elgon. The Protectorate is highly favoured in the possession of an animal of such great and exceptional value. it is, therefore, most desirable that protection should be afforded them in good time, and the shooting jealously regulated, for to sanction their being shot, in Unyoro and its marches, with tusks under 40 lb. each in weight, is very much to be deprecated, they would be immature animals. The weight of the ivory may be said to range from 60 lb. to 175 lb. for each tusk, exceptionally 200 lb. each. The limit in British East Africa is 30 lb. each tusk, but the elephants there do not carry ivory of the weight of those in Uganda.
Owing to the size of the provinces, the extent of the forests, the presence of ivory traders, and other circumstances, I beg to urge upon your Lordship that Ordinances alone will not be sufficient in this case; it is essential that there should be officers of experience and special aptitudes for the work to control the application of the Game Laws, and place all these matters on a business footing, as, for instance, was done in the Keddah operations in India, and the Protectorate should obtain a hand- some return upon its outlay.
I have, &c.,
44814
No. 68.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received December 6, 1906.)
W. H. BROWN.
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, by direction of the Secretary of State, transmits herewith copies of the under-mentioned paper.
43
REFERENCE TO PREVIOUS LETTER. Foreign Office of November 20, 1906.*
DESCRIPTION OF ENCLOSURES.
Name and Date.
(1) His Majesty's Ministers at Brussels, No. 131,
Africa, of November 22.
(2) To His Majesty's Minister at Brussels, No. 127,
Africa, December 5, 1906.
SIR,
(No. 131. Africa.)
Subject.
Preservation of Wild Animals in Africa.
J
Enclosure 1 in No. 68.
Brussels, November 22, 1906.
I SPOKE to M. de Cuvelier to-day, as directed in your despatch, No. 118, of the 17th instant, about the ratification of the agreement of May 19 relative to the preservation of wild animals in Africa.
He replied that the ratification of the King Sovereign of the Independent Congo State had been sent to London in April, 1901, and he showed me a letter, dated May 1st, 1901, in which M. de Favereau informed him that M. de Beughem, Belgian Chargé d'Affaires in London, had communicated it to the British Foreign Office and had been told by the Under-Secretary of State that when all the other ratifications had been received, the Marquess of Lansdowne would address to the Powers the usual note respecting the "protocole de dépôt."
He added that he ought to mention, as one of Sir C. Phipps's published despatches had not brought out the point with quite sufficient clearness, that the Congo Govern- ment, though it had ratified the convention, would not deem itself bound to apply its provisions till the ratifications of all the other signatories had been received. He asked, and I was not able to inform him, whether Portugal had yet ratified, the question being, he said, one of some importance to the Independent State, owing to its proximity to the Portuguese province of Angola.
The Right Honourable
Sir Edward Grey, Bart., M.P.,
&c., &c., &c.
(No. 127. Africa.)
Enclosure 2 in No. 68.
I have, &c.,
SIR,
Foreign Office, December 5, 1906. In reply to your despatch, No. 131, Africa, of the 22nd instant, respecting the ratification of the agreement for the preservation of wild animals in Africa, have to inform you that Monsieur de Beughem, Belgian Chargé d'Affaires in London at that time, stated in a letter addressed to Sir F. Bertie on 11th December, 1900. that he had received the ratification from Brussels, and asked if His Majesty's Government would be willing to prepare the protocol of deposit. He was told in reply that it would be time enough to prepare this document when the ratifications of the other Powers had been received.
With regard to Monsieur de Cuvelier's enquiry respecting Portugal, you should explain to him that the other Powers Signatory have been informed of the willing- ness of the French Government to ratify and they have been asked whether they will be willing to do so too.
I am, &c., (For the Secretary of State),
E. BARRINGTON.
Sir A. Hardinge, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., &c., &c., &c.
Foreign Office,
December 5, 1906.
26th October, 190.
↑ No. 222 in [Ca. 3189], paragraph 17.
28810
• Not printed.
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