CO885-(19-20) — Page 244

Enclosure 1

No. 39.

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lives at home, but exactly the opposite for the settler, who, after all, makes the country, and is absolutely dependent on labour at a reasonable price. It is well known that all natives refuse to work when they have ample funds in hand. I have known Government itself have to pay a fancy price" to get work done, and in a place where there were plenty of boys.

I have, &c.,

+4

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6. The matter is one of great urgency, but, as mentioned above, I cannot recommend that the whole cost of the fence should be borne by this Protectorate in the present condition of its finances, as this would necessitate sacrificing useful public works.

I have, &c.,

E. P. C. GIROUARD,

Governor.

21966

ARTHUR S. WARWICK,

Captain.

(No. 56/11.)

SIR,

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

། ། ། ། ། །

C.O.

Reference :-

885

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

SIR,

(Extract.) (No. 318.)

No. 39.

EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 5 July, 1911.)

[Answered by No. 43.]

Government House, Nairobi,

British East Africa, June 6th, 1911.

In accordance with the request contained in your letter of 8th February last,* I have the honour to submit a detailed account of the damage done by game in the Machakos and Nairobi districts, on the border of the Southern Game Reserve, and also a full report from the Game Warden on the whole question, with suggestions as to the most feasible method of dealing with it.

*

*

*

*

*

3. I would desire to point out at the same time that the Government of this Protectorate as well as the settlers themselves are not at all in favour of throwing open the reserve, and I consider that it would be a premature and unnecessary sacrifice which would not bring about the desired result.

4. The most practical suggestion for dealing with the matter is that a game- proof fence should be erected along the railway line between Nairobi and Kiu stations. There are many advantages in this plan, which have been clearly put forward in the Game Warden's report, and I am inclined to recommend that it should be adopted, but, seeing that the necessity for such action is dictated largely by the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, I am of opinion that it would be inequitable that the whole expense, or even a large proportion of it, The fence has been estimated to cost at least should be borne by this Protectorate.

£7,000, and I consider it would not be unreasonable to ask the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire to render assistance by opening a sub- scription list with a view to raising a fund to be devoted to its erection. This sub- scription should be open to all sportsmen and naturalists. The Society would no doubt be willing to make appeals to other societies in Europe and America which have been permitted to obtain large numbers of game animals from the East Africa Protectorate, and whose members are no doubt interested in the preservation of the big game, and better able to pay for it than the settlers of this country. I refer particularly to such societies as the Smithsonian Institute, the Zoological Society of New York, the Museum of the University of California, the American Museum of New York, the Zoological Society of London, and the British Museum. It is within the power of the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire to organise such a fund as no one else can do, and if the matter is taken up and energetically pushed forward, I feel sure that a very substantial sum of money will be raised. It is probable that a sum of nearly £2,000 could be realised out of the sale of hides and biltong, and this, together with the fund raised by the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire would go far towards meeting the cost of erecting the fence.

5. I am persuaded that the Society will realise that the Government and the people of this country are anxious, as they are themselves, for the legitimate pre- servation of game, and if they, with the co-operation of kindred societies, can subscribe a reasonable amount, the remaining sum which would be needed might be provided for out of the revenue derived from game licences.

* No. 16 in [Cd. 5775], July, 1911.

Game Warden's Office, Nairobi, March 25th, 1911. I HAVE the honour to submit a detailed account of the damage done by game in the Machakos and Nairobi Districts, north-east of the Southern Masai Reserve.

I have recently visited all these farms, and in most cases it is impossible to arrive at the actual amount of money lost, as farmers seldom know exactly how many acres they have under cultivation, nor what has been spent on it, and, of course, there might be included the profit on the crop which presumably would have been reaped. There are as well other undefinable items, such as fouling water holes and bringing ticks, eating all the grass, and particularly plants on which ostriches feed, but on the whole damage for which the game is responsible, and which gives genuine cases for com- plaint, may be included under the three headings:

(1) Damage to fences. (2) Damage to crops.

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(3) Carrying and distributing ticks.

And I admit and recognise that there are many genuine cases where farmers have suffered from the game; but the question of game and settlement has always been a stormy one in all new countries, and it is inevitable that the case is not always what it is represented to be by the defenders of either side. However, admitting this. I shall endeavour to state the case impartially as it appears to me.

1.-DAMAGE TO FENCES.

that the

The principal reason why so much damage has been done to fences material of which they are made is not sufficiently good or strong, and the fences themselves are not well put up. Usually barbed wire is used, which is very weak and easily broken, and the barbs in no way deter game from running against the fence. The posts are not strong enough nor well set in the ground, and most important of all, the wire is fastened to the posts with staples, which very easily draw out. The fences around small patches of cultivation are broken down, not by the game trying to get in to eat the crops, for it is then moving slowly and very carefully by night, and either jumps over or pushes through the wires. Once inside, an imaginary alarm or real attempt of the farmers to drive them off scares them, and they rush blindly The hartebeest is the principal into the fence, breaking and knocking it down. offender in these cases, and if the fence was good enough in the first place to prevent them getting in at all, no damage would be done, for no game ever make mad rushes for the purpose of getting in to eat crop. The case is different where there are very long fences, e.g., boundary fences or those enclosing large areas of cultivation. Here the damage is done by a mob of game which is either moving from one district to another generally at night-or has been stampeded by lions. In these cases the zebras are the chief offenders, for they move in a much closer packed formation, and have thus less chance of pulling up or jumping a fence even if they would. Person- ally I have never seen a zebra jump a fence, but the kongoni can jump well, and, moving in more open formation, have an opportunity to do so or sheer off.

Of course, it is obvious that why higher and stronger fences are not put up by settlers is on account of the extra expense, but I am bound to say also that very few people in the Protectorate know how to put up a good fence. Some of the fences I have been shown, which were put.up to protect crops, were perfectly absurd; one had only two strands of barbed wire.

2.-DAMAGE TO CROPS.

It is clearly impossible that agricultural farming can he carried on successfully

game.

if the crops are liable to be overrun by herds of

In the case of wheat farmers who have suffered tell me that more damage is done When the wheat is young by trampling down the wheat than by actually eating it.