CO885-(19-20) — Page 248

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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more land, and intends to plant several hundred acres of sisal. Letter from Mr. Thomas attached.

Has had 35 acres of land culti- Mr. S. Clarke is going in chiefly for cattle. vated for four years, planted with Indian corn, beans, and a little oats; the crops are unfenced, and so is the farm. States that the first two seasons, which were fairly good rainy seasons, he gathered his crop, but that the last two years, which had been bad drought years, the game has eaten all the crops. He says that he used to invite people to come and shoot on his farm, and always allowed anyone who asked per mission to shoot, hoping they would reduce the numbers of kongoni and zebra, but he found that they only killed the impalla and Grant's gazelles and wildebeests and other kinds of game, which does no harm, and which he wished to preserve, and did not shoot the zebra and hartebeest.

Mr. Heatley has a large estate, and is going in for cattle ranching on a large scale. He states that some years ago, owing to the presence of the herds of the game, He has notice boards he was saved from losing all his cattle from East Coast fever. up at the entrance of all roads on to his land, to the effect that “shooting is strictly prohibited." His land is conveniently bounded by rivers to a large extent, and what game is on it generally remains there.

Mr. Macmillan has a large estate next to Mr. Heatley. He was away when I visited the district, but his manager, Mr. Duirs, states that the game does consider- able damage. One hundred and twenty-five acres of black wattle and Indian corn- planted together-were damaged, the Indian corn being eaten and the black wattle badly trampled down. Also 35 acres of black wattle in another place, and 20 acres of sisal were much damaged. He admits also that the droughts did much damage to the crops. However, Mr. Macmillan, who is a very wealthy American, is strictly preserving the game on his land, and has numerous notice boards up to that effect. His property is also conveniently bounded by rivers, and the game on it does not migrate much.

Mr. Debeer, a Boer from South Africa, has a farm on the Nairobi River; it is unfenced, and he has been going in for general farming on a small scale after the usual manner of Boers, that is to say, he keeps a few cows and oxen and goats, and grows enough mealies for his own use with sometimes a few bags for sale. He has a piece of land fenced along the edge of the river, of about 100 acres, and in the middle of this he has irrigated about 20 acres, and has grown a good crop of mealies for the last five years.

He states that the game has not damaged his fence nor touched the I am bound to say that crop, which he has gathered in good condition each season. this is an exceptional case, and a matter of surprise to me, for his land is frequented by large numbers of zebra, hartebeest, and Thomson's gazelles. Ilis fence is not a particularly good one, consisting of four strands of barbed wire with ample room between the wires for game to get through. The only explanation I can see is that he has been very active in shooting game near his crops, both by day and night, which has, no doubt, made them shy of the place. Most of the Boers live largely on gaine meat which helps to explain the fact that Mr. Debeer says that he has no complaint to make against the game, and that he would be sorry to see it destroyed. Strange to say he is apparently aware of the fact that the game cleans infected ticks, and he says also that the damage they do by eating so much grass is of less importance to him than their destruction. Of course, he has only a small head of stock on his land, and therefore is not pressed for grazing. A letter from him is attached.

Mr. H. R. Laws has a farm at the foot of Doinyo Sabuk. Some years ago be put up a fence about 3 of a mile in length to enclose a long strip of land of 120 acres along the foot of the mountain, on which he intended growing wheat. He states that the game, chiefly zebras, broke down so much of the fence that it becaine useless, and he did away with it, and resorted to the plan of putting several small native huts along the edge of his cultivation in the direction from which the game came; in' these natives spent the night and kept fires burning, and in this way he has succeeded in preventing any serious damage being done to his crops. When I visited him he was in the middle of harvesting his crop, which is all wheat. The crop was not a heavy one, owing to the land not being properly cleaned of grass, but the wheat looked strong and healthy, and the grains well filled out, but they did not appear to be of the hardness necessary for first quality flour. Mr. Laws also complained of the great numbers of ticks brought by the game. This subject I shall deal with in my attached report.

Mr. J. K. Watson has a farm of 1,000 acres near Nairobi, and is also a builder and contractor in the town. Two years ago he fenced 15 acres of his land and planted

he had no trouble with the Indian corn;

game year, and gathered his crop. That

that

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was not a very dry season. Last year he fenced in the whole of his farm with a six- strand barbed-wire fence with the object of keeping the game off to get rid of the ticks before putting stock on the land. This fence was not very successful, as the small

game got through between the wires, and the larger game broke down the fence in several places to get at the water, which is the only permanent water for some miles round during dry weather. He states that that season all his 15 acres of crops were eaten by the game, and all the grass on his farm was eaten too. Drought and grass fires, of course, have a good deal to do with there being no grazing at certain times of the year. This year he has planted 60 acres of Indian corn and beans, and is fencing 150 acres with a fence laced with cross wires to keep out the Thomson's gazelles. He complains that his neighbours make no attempt to assist him, and suggests that if each settler put up a good fence round his farm a great deal of the trouble would be overcome. This is true if the fences were really good, but such fences cost more than most farmers can afford.

Messrs. Penton and Bunbury have a large farm of 13,000 acres at the foot of Doinyo Sabuk. They are going in for farming generally ostriches, stock, and agri- culture and intend trying sheep later. At present their principal industry is sisal growing, and their sisal crops have been damaged by the game considerably. In 1908 and 1909 they purchased 50,000 young sisal plants at £1 per 1,000, and planted these out on 50 acres of land, which was unfenced, and not near the house. They did not anticipate the game doing damage to sisal at the time, but we now know that during dry seasons the game chews the leaves for the moisture, and in trying to pull the leaves off pulls up the young plants by the roots. Mr. Bunbury told me that the whole of this 50 acres of sisal was ruined in this way, and including the cost of labour, it was a clear loss of £100. They are now fencing in a piece of land, and intend planting 200 acres of sisal. They also intend irrigating a large piece of land 500 or 600 acres in area near the Athi River if the game is reduced. Last season they planted 10 acres of wheat on a piece of land unfenced near the house; son's gazelles did a little damage to this, but the other game did not venture so near the house, and the crop was reaped in good order.

the Thom-

Mr. Bunbury has a farm near Athi River Station, managed by Mr. E. G. Hale, who has a piece of land of 400 acres fenced in with four strands of plain wire and one of barbed. About half of this land is planted with sisal, which is now six months old and the remainder is being planted. The Thomson's gazelles have done a certain amount of damage by pulling up the young plants, the replanting of which, do a good deal Mr. Hale tells me, cost £13 this year; he also says that the "hares

He states that

of damage to the sisal plants by digging down and eating the roots. replacing plants damaged by hares this year cost nearly £10. The hare referred to is probably the “ spring hare" (pedetes caffer) a nocturnal, burrowing_animal, which does great damage to crops in South Africa. The fence around this sisal crop has been broken in several places by zebra, and also near the river the hippo- potami have damaged the fence a good deal. This is probably quite unintentional on their part, as they are not accused of eating sisal. One season Mr. Hale planted beans among the sisal, but they were all eaten by the Thomson's gazelles and stein- buck and duikers, he states.

Mr. Webber has a farm on the lower slopes of the Mua Hills; he is not on it at present, and it is being occupied by Mr. D. Silver on the per cent. profit system. Last year Mr. Silver planted 35 acres of wheat; he says the drought was very bad and the game also damaged it a great deal, and he only gathered about half the crop. He also had 7 acres of Indian corn, more than half of which was lost owing to the He had also 2 acres of beans and 1 acre of oats and 1 of drought and porcupines. barley and half an acre of linseed; these crops were close around the house, and were undamaged except by the drought. He told me that his greatest difficulty was that the land had been left very dirty and full of weeds by Mr. Webber, and that he could not get enough native labour to cultivate his land properly nor as much land as he wished. He is going in chiefly for agriculture, and has only a few cattle, but he says that he intends growing a quantity of barley and going in largely for pigs.

Mr. G. Langridge has a farm on the top of the Mua Hills; he is out of range of the game and goes in only for fruit-growing, and is not troubled by the game except to a small extent by steinbuck and duikers eating his vegetables.

Mrs. Macmillan has a farm on the top of the Mua Hills of 1,000 acres, managed by a Swede, Mr. Johansen. Three years ago Mr. Johansen put up a fence round the whole farm, but it was so badly broken down during the first six months that it is now practically useless; no attempt was made to repair the damage, as Mr.