§ MR. REESI beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for the Colonies whether any decision has boon arrived at regarding the question of reducing the area or altering the boundaries of the game reserve at Chiromo in view of further reports received from British Central Africa concerning the difficulty of using the road from Katungas to Chiromo, owing to the loss of human life and of cattle by lions, and the further loss of life by lions in Chiromo, and the consequent interruption to business enterprises in that locality?
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Secretary of State has received a detailed report from the Commissioner of the British Central Africa Protectorate which shows that the area of the game reserve near Chiromo has been reduced, and is now very much smaller than it originally was. It is considered that the present limits of the reserve should be maintained, and the Secretary of State has decided not to direct any further reductions at present. The reserve is intended only for the remnant of the buffalo in that Protectorate, 1320 and in no way to protect, lions or other carnivora, which can be shot at any time by any one. The road from Chiromo to Katungas does not pass through the reserve, but quite clear of it on the east side; the railway passes far to the east of it. There has been no loss of life or cattle through lions on the road or in the neighbourhood of Chiromo which can be traced to the existence of the game reserve.