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23055

1

SIR,

(No. 125.)

72

No. 40.

GAMBIA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 14 July, 1911.)

[Copy to Foreign Office, 3 August, 1911. L.F.] [Acknowledged 31 July, 1911.]

Government House, Bathurst, Gambia,

29 June, 1911.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 96, of the 26th ultimo,* in which you inform me that His Majesty will not be advised to exercise his power of disallowance in respect to Ordinance, No. 6, of 1911, entitled "An Ordinance to amend the Wild Animals, Birds, and Fish Preservation Ordi- nance, 1901.'

2. With regard to paragraph 2 of the despatch under reply, the quantity of ivory exported through the Gambia, which was:

1,611 lbs. in 1906

1,939

1907

32

4,087

1908

25

2,388 1,710

1909

""

1910

39

is not very great, and I do not think the fixing of a minimum limit for tusks would affect the ivory trade of this part of the West Coast of Africa to any material extent, though doubtless the ivory that is shipped at Bathurst would find its way to Europe through the French ports until some international arrangement was arrived at.

3. May I again point out that Mr. Rhys Williams's great object in having the size of the tusks that may be exported from the Gambia defined was that his society might be able to approach other countries and persuade them to follow suit, and adopt the same minimum size as that prescribed in British Colonies.

4. I am afraid I could do little with the Governor of French West Africa in the way suggested in the last paragraph of your despatch, but if I may be allowed to do so I beg to say it appears to me a matter that could be better dealt with by the British Consul-General at Dakar.

I have, &c.,

GEORGE C. DENTON,

26457

No. 41.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 12 August, 1911.)

Governor.

Foreign Office, August 11, 1911. SIR,

WITH reference to the letter from your Department, No. 23055/11, of the 3rd instant, on the subject of the Gambia. Wild Animals, Birds, and Fish Preser- vation (Amendment) Ordinance, 1911, I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to forward herewith, for the information of Mr. Secretary Harcourt, a copy of a des- patch which has been addressed to His Majesty's representatives at Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Brussels, on the subject of the desired co-operation of the Governments to which they are accredited in raising the minimum weight of elephant tusks exported from Africa.

Before taking any further steps in this matter Sir E. Grey proposes to await the answer of the French Government to the representations of Sir F. Bertie.

I am, &c.,

W. LANGLEY.

73

Enclosure in No. 41.

The SECRETAry of State FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS to HIS MAJESTY'S REPRESENTATIVES AT BERLIN, ROME, PARIS, AND BRUSSELS.

SIR,

(Africa. No. [56] [24] [42] [74].)

Colonial Office, February 25.

To Colonial Oflice, May 23. Colonial Office, June 2.

Foreign Office, June 13, 1911. I TRANSMIT to Your Excellency herewith a copy of correspondence* which has passed between "the Colonial Office and this Department, the Colonial Office requesting that steps may be taken to ascertain whether the German, Italian, French, Belgian, and Soudanese Governments would be willing to co-operate with His Majesty's Government in raising the limit of weight at which elephant tusks may be traded in or exported from Africa to twenty-five or thirty pounds.

The letter from the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire of 30th December last shows that the extermination of the elephant is probable unless measures are taken without delay to prevent it, and the proposals put forward by Mr. Harcourt in the Colonial Office letter of February 25th appear to His Majesty's Government to offer a reasonable means of securing an object which all Governments concerned are anxious to effect.

I request that Your Excellency will bring the matter to the notice of the Govern- ment to which you are accredited and express the hope that they will assent to the views of His Majesty's Government, in which the Soudanese Government have already expressed concurrence.

I am, &c., (For the Secretary of State),

W. LANGLEY.

27698

No. 42.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 23 August, 1911.)

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 copy of the following paper:-H. M. Chargé d'Affaires

at Brussels, No. 129, Africa, August 16: (Protection of Elephants). Reference to previous letter: Foreign Office, August 11.† Foreign Office,

August 22, 1911.

Enclosure in No. 42.

Brussels, 16 August, 1911.

(No. 129. Africa.) SIR,

On the receipt of your despatch, No. 74, Africa, of the 13th of June last, I addressed an unofficial note to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs enquiring whether the Belgian Government would be willing to co-operate with the British and other Governments to take certain measures with a view to the further pro- tection of elephants in Africa. About the same time I happened to meet Monsieur Fuchs, Vice-Governor-General of the Congo at dinner, and I mentioned the proposal to him. He considered the question from two points of view, the commercial and the agricultural, that of the traders and that of the natives. The interest of the hunters was not one which he would take into consideration, nor did he seem con- cerned much with the report of the possible extermination of the species. He said that the destruction of the crops of the natives by herds of elephants was an evil which was greatly on the increase, and in some parts of the Congo the damage done by them was so considerable that the Colonial Government felt that measures should be taken to safeguard more effectively the plantations. The tendency of their policy was the reverse from that proposed by His Majesty's Government, and they felt that elephants were at present given too much freedom. Subsequently, M. Fuchs was

• No. 34.

† L.F. transmitting copy of Nos. 34 and 40.

29746

Nos. 25, 33 and 35.

† No. 11,

K

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