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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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however, appears to me that other countries who would be interested in such an experiment, learned societies, and private individuals who are interested in the preservation of fauna, should be asked to subscribe towards a sum, which I have roughly estimated as being anything from £30,000 to £40,000, towards having this experiment made on the scale which I propose. Sir David Bruce, to whom I men- tioned the matter, is enthusiastically in favour of it. In his letter in reply to mine he says:

"The question must be solved this time by hook or crook, and it is difficult He says, to see how the question can be answered except by such an experiment." in another place: "I am impatient to see it (the experiment) begun."

I write to you thus unofficially, as you may be able to pass the matter on either to some individual or to some society and the matter might be taken up as an international one or a British one, and a fund opened for subscriptions towards the object. It might then be suggested that Nyasaland is the ideal place for the experi- ment, that a country exists where game is abundant and where tsetse fly is becoming increasingly prevalent, that a Scientific Commission under Sir David Bruce, the well known expert on trypanosome diseases, is present in the country, that he is in favour of the experiment, and that the opportunity should not be lost during the time that the Commission is present in Nyasaland to carry out this experiment, which should definitely settle the vexed question of the connection between game and tsetse fly.

I think that some such definite experiment on a large and comprehensive scale as I have outlined will, in the near future, have to be undertaken in Africa so as to settle once and for all the still undecided problem connected with tsetse and game, and it appears to me that the opportunity which now presents itself in Nyasaland to undertake the solution of the problem is one of which we and other nations having possessions in Africa should avail ourselves [of].

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No. 59.

Yours sincerely,

W. H. MANNING.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received May 15, 1912.)

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, for observations, copy of a despatch from Sir E. Goschen, No. 18, Africa, April 30: (Game Regulations for German East Africa).

Reference to previous letter: Colonial Office, No. 37611, January 17.* Foreign Office,

May 14, 1912.

(No. 18. Africa.) SIR,

Enclosure in No. 59.

Berlin, April 30th, 1912. WITH reference to Earl Granville's despatch, No. 49, Africa, of the 10th October last, I have the honour to transmit herewith copy and translation of a note from the Imperial Foreign Office giving the views of the Imperial Government respecting the raising of the limit of weight at which elephants' tusks may be sold in German East Africa and the Cameroons.

A translation of the Game Regulations for German East Africa, to which reference is made in this communication, was enclosed in my despatch, No. 14, Africa, of the 5th instant.

The Right Honourable

Sir Edward Grey, Bart., K.G.,

&c., &c., &c.

(Translation.)

I have, &c.,

W. E. Goschen.

Imperial Foreign Office, Berlin, April 27th, 1912. The undersigned has the honour to inform Sir Edward Goschen, in continua- tion of the note from the Imperial Foreign Office of October 8th last, respecting the

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raising of the trade limit of the weight of elephants' tusks, and on the strength of reports which have now been received from the Imperial Governors of German East Africa and the Cameroons, that, as the Governor of German East Africa has already informed the Governor of British East Africa in reply to a direct enquiry, measures have been taken for German East Africa in conformity with the wishes of the British Government by provisions of the new Game Regulations of 5th Sep- tember, 1908/1st November, 1911, which came into force on January 1st last, and which provide, among other things, for the raising from 5 kilogrammes to 15 kilo- grammes the limit of weight for elephants' tusks which has been in force up to the present. Moreover, the same regulations introduce a stricter protection of elephants by limiting to two the number of elephants which may be shot within a year under the larger shooting licence; further by greatly reducing the permissions granted to natives to shoot big game, especially elephants; by prohibiting the shooting of young elephants and female elephants when accompanied by their young; and, finally, by making it possible to create special reserves for elephants besides the game reserves. To this may also be added the practice, already followed for some time by the authorities, of seeing that the larger game licences, which alone give the right of shooting big game, should be issued only to reliable persons. As far, therefore, as the East African Protectorate is concerned, it would appear to be in a position to participate in any international agreement which may be come to respecting the trade limit of weight of elephants' tusks on the basis of the proposal put forward by the British Government.

As regards the Protectorate of the Cameroons, on the other hand, the Imperial Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, in agreement with the Imperial Govern- ment of the Cameroons, is, in principle, favourably disposed towards a moderate increase of the limit of weight in this Protectorato also. It is therefore proposed, in accordance with the provision of Article 2, No. 11, of the Game Convention of May 19th, 1900, to fix at 5 kilogrammes each in the new game regulations to be issued for the Cameroons the minimum weight of the tusks of shootable elephants, provided that the French Government do not, on the ratification of the Game Convention, make any reservation as to the admission of a lower weight and thereby force the Imperial Government to make a corresponding reservation. The Secretary of State of the Colonial Office does not, however, see his way to agreeing to an increase of the weight beyond 5 kilogrammes, as already stated in the notes of 29th of June, 1909, and October 8th last, so long as it is not firmly established that the neighbouring non-British colonies also adhere to the proposal of the British Government. Without their adherence the measure would, apart from the fact that the prohibition to shoot elephants with tusks weighing less than 10 kilogrammes each would probably restrict the shooting and thereby also the ivory trade, in the opinion of the Colonial Adminis- tration, offer no appreciable advantage for the protection of the ivory stock in the Cameroons, and would probably merely lead to extensive ivory smuggling on the frontiers.

At the same time, it may be remarked, with reference to the statements made in the note of October 8th last, already mentioned above, that the Imperial Govern- ment are not disposed to go further into the question of an International arrange- ment for the Protectorate of the Cameroons in the sense of the proposals put forward until the British Government declare their position in the question of their adhesion to the Brussels Convention of July 22nd, 1908.

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The undersigned avails, &c.,

No. 60.

NYASALAND.

ZIMMERMANN.

SIR DAVID BRUCE to SIR J. ROSE BRADFORD. (Received in Colonial Office from Royal Society, May 25, 1912.)

Kasu Hill, Angoniland, Nyasaland,

2nd April, 1912.

MY DEAR BRADFORD,

I AM sending herewith a paper on the morphology of the human trypanosome of Nyasaland. I hope you will see your way to publish it (Bis dat qui cito dat), as it will add to the series already published by the Royal Society. It is evidently the same

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