Governing the Game: Expertise, Administration, and the Making of Colonial Wildlife Policy in Uganda and Northern Rhodesia

Schauer, Jeff

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02883-1_3

Jeff Schauer⁴

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

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Abstract

This chapter highlights the critical role of administration amidst the shift from imperial preservation to colonial conservation between the 1920s and 1950s. Uganda created an Elephant Control Department to integrate wildlife management with authorities’ emphasis on development and agriculture, breaking the hold of preservationists over policy as colonial wildlife officers leveraged new expertise and exported their model to Northern Rhodesia through surveys, demonstrating the importance of colonial networks and of the methods developed in colonial contexts. Not only were African subjects in Uganda and beyond crucial for enabling the work of wildlife departments during this period, they also experienced violence and dispossession from game departments, and used their relationship with the provincial and district administrations to constrain the ambitions of wildlife departments.

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Notes

1.
HMSO, Further correspondence relating to the preservation of wild animals in Africa, 1910, Cd. 5136, 44.
2.
Gissibl, Nature of German Imperialism; MacKenzie, Imperial Nature; Neumann, “Postwar conservation boom.”
3.
William Malcolm Hailey, An African Survey: a Study of Problems Arising in Africa South of the Sahara (London: Oxford University Press, 1938).
4.
Richard Price, Making Empire; Kirk-Greene, Symbol of Authority: the British District Officer in Africa (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006). As distinguished from the “official mind,” described by Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians: the Official Mind of Imperialism (London: Macmillan, 1961).
5.
Joanna Lewis, Empire State-Building: War & Welfare in Kenya, 1925–52 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000), 15. Tilley, Africa as a Living Laboratory; Jocelyn Alexander, JoAnn McGregor, and Terence Ranger, Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the ‘Dark Forests’ of Matabeleland (Oxford: James Currey, 2000), 72.
6.
Richard Reid, Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2002), 56.
7.
Reid, Political Power, 57–61.
8.
Reid, Political Power, 170.
9.
Doyle, Crisis, 118–19.
10.
HMSO, Correspondence relating to the preservation of wild animals in Africa, 1906, Cd. 3189, 110.
11.
Robert Olivier, The Murchison Falls National Park Management Plan, 1992–1997 (Nairobi: UIE, 1992), 6.
12.
HMSO, Further correspondence relating to the preservation of wild animals in Africa, 1910, Cd. 1910, 44.
13.
“Species inflation: hail Linnaeus,” Economist 52 (May 19, 2007), https://www.economist.com/leaders/2007/05/17/hail-linnaeus
14.
Geoffrey Archer, Personal and Historical Memoirs of an East African Administrator (London: Oliver & Boyd Ltd., 1963), 144. C. F. M. Swynnerton estimated the number at nearer 30,000. Pitman to Allan, March 3, 1960, Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT C.69.
15.
Archer, Personal, 145–6.
16.
Ibid., 146–7.
17.
Further correspondence, Estimates of the East African Colonies and Protectorates, NA CO879/121: 448–9.
18.
Kenya’s Game Warden became manpower director during Kenya’s Emergency, and Pitman served as the Director of Security Intelligence in Uganda during the Second World War. Gardner Thompson, “Colonialism in Crisis: the Uganda Disturbances of 1945” African Affairs 91,365 (Oct. 1992), 605–624: 624.
19.
Vacancies for Field Officers, Tsetse Control Department, Uganda Herald, May 21, 1947.
20.
Roger Courtney, Footloose in the Congo (London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, 1948); John Boyes, The Company of Adventurers (London: East Africa Ltd., 1928); “Crops Were Saved,” Uganda Argus, May 12, 1960.
21.
“Crops Were Saved—But the Villagers Complained” Uganda Argus, May 12, 1960.
22.
Frank Melland, Elephants in Africa (London: Country Life Ltd., 1938), 16.
23.
Archer, Personal 164.
24.
Uganda Protectorate: Annual of the Game Department (Government Printer, 1929), 11.
25.
Uganda Protectorate, Annuals of the Game Department (Government Printer, 1925), 49.
26.
“Uganda Game,” Times (London), July 31, 1929.
27.
Perryman to Parkinson, May 19, 1930, NA, CO536:159:1.
28.
Pitman to Uganda Game and Fisheries Department biologist, March 3, 1960, Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT.C69; Proposal for an investigation on elephants in Africa, 1945, NA CO927/7/8.
Pitman to Allan, March 3, 1960, Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT.C.69.
29.
Undated paper by Pitman, Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT.C.3; “No wholesale killing of African game: famous Uganda warden’s assurance,” Cape Argus, December 23, 1932.
30.
Clipping from East Africa’s “Who’s Who,” Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT, A.15. James Stevenson Hamilton was a similar figure. See Jane Carruthers, Wildlife and Warfare: the Life of James Stevenson-Hamilton (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2001).
31.
“The fauna of northern Rhodesia,” East Africa, March 16, 1933.
32.
Uganda Protectorate, Annual of the Game Department (Government Printer, 1940), 15.
33.
“The fauna of northern Rhodesia,” East Africa, March 16, 1933. He also gave interviews to or featured in the Cape Argus, Irish Times, Weekly Northern Whig, The Field, and African World.
34.
See “Game Bill,” 1927, NA CO525/119/6; Hailey, African Survey, 161; Seventh Annual Report of the Joint East Africa Board, 1930, KNA GH284, 7.
35.
Pitman to Chief Secretary, January 19, 1929, NA CO536/155/3.
36.
Uganda Protectorate, Annual of the Game Department for the year ending 1925 (Government Printer, 1927), 13.
37.
Stephen Constantine, The Making of British Colonial Development Policy 1914–1940 (London: Frank Cass, 1984), 10–11, 62.
38.
Michael Havinden and David Meredith, Colonialism and Development: Britain and Its Tropical Colonies, 1850–1960 (London: Routledge, 1993), 79, 104–5.
39.
Jane Carruthers, National Park Science: A Century of Research in South Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 38, 90.
40.
Roben Mutwira, “Southern Rhodesian wildlife policy (1890–1953): A question of condoning game slaughter?,” Journal of Southern African Studies 15, 2 (January 1989): 250–262: 257, 254, 258; Hailey, African Survey, 874–880.
41.
Peter Matthiessen and Bob Douthwaite, “The impact of tsetse fly control campaigns on African wildlife,” Oryx, 19, 4 (1985), 202–209: 202–205.
42.
Charles Robert Senhouse Pitman, A Report on a Faunal Survey of Northern Rhodesia with especial reference to Game, Elephant Control and National Parks (Livingstone: Government Printer, 1934), 143.
43.
Pitman, Report, 152
44.
Pitman, Report, 137.
45.
Colonial Reports—Annual for Uganda (Government Printer, 1932), 59.
46.
See Tilley, Living Laboratory.
47.
Uganda Protectorate, Annual of the Game Department for the year ended December 31 1930 (Government Printer, 1931), 1, 12. Also Tanganyika Territory, Game Preservation Department Annual Report for 1933 (Dar es Salaam: Government Printer, 1934).
48.
Bruce Kinloch, Shamba Raiders: Memories of a Game Warden (Southampton: Ashford Press Publishing, 1988), 177.
49.
Uganda Protectorate, Annual of the Game Department for the year ended December 31 1932 (Government Printer, 1933), 4, 7.
50.
Kenya Game Report 1932–1934 (Government Printer, 1935), 20.
51.
Bruce Kinloch, Shamba Raiders, (New York: HarperCollins, 1972), 168
52.
Rennie Bere, A Cuckoo’s Parting Cry: Life and Work in Uganda, 1930–1960 (Cheltenham: Cedar Publishing Ltd., 1990), 119–121.
53.
Bere, Rennie, The Story of Uganda National Parks, RCMS 170: 7/14–7/18, Royal Commonwealth Society Library: Cambridge University Library.
54.
Ibid., 7/14–7/18.
55.
Ibid., 7/14–7/18.
56.
Ibid., 7/14–7/18
57.
Carr, White Impala, 50–53.
58.
Government of Northern Rhodesia, Game and Tsetse Control Department, Annual Report for the Year 1947 (Government Printer, 1948); Administrative notes for the guidance of field officers, March 18, 1954 NAZ SEC6/316.
59.
“Obituary Notices: Major R W G Hingston, MC, MB, CHB, BAO, IMS (RETD),” British Medical Journal (August 20 1966): 474.
60.
Works included Darwin (1934); Instinct and Intelligence (1929); The Meaning of Animal Colour and Adornment (1933); A Naturalist in Himalaya (1920); A Naturalist in the Guiana Forest (1932); Nature at the Desert’s Edge (1925); Problems of Instinct and Intelligence (1928).
61.
R. W. G. Hingston, “Proposed British National Parks for Africa,” The Geographical Journal 77, 5 (May 1931): 401.
62.
Hingston, “Proposed British National Parks,” 402.
63.
Hingston, “Proposed British National Parks,” 401–422, 401.
64.
Perryman to Acheson, August 28, 1930, NA CO536/159/1.
65.
Hingston to Acting Governor of Northern Rhodesia, June 18, 1930, NA CO795/39/16.
66.
Illegible of Colonial Office, 1930, NA CO822/34/11.
67.
Hingston, “Proposed British National Parks,” 401–422, 407–409. “Empire fauna,” The Times, March 10, 1931.
68.
Pitman, Report (1934), iii.
69.
“Game Notes, Northern Rhodesia,” 1931, Natural History Museum, Z.MSS.PIT, B73–80; Pitman, Report, 23–5,
70.
Pitman, Report (1934), 331.
71.
Pitman, Report, 142.
72.
Pitman, Report, 144.
73.
Kinloch, Shamba Raiders (1972), 202–3.
74.
Uganda Protectorate, Annual of the Game Department for the year ending December 31 1928 (Government Printer, 1929), 11, 26, 31.
75.
Pitman, Report, 338–9.
76.
Pitman, Report, 339.
77.
Pitman, Report, 63.
78.
Pitman, Report, 136, 138.
79.
Pitman, Report: 136, 138, 62, 140.
80.
Tanganyika Territory Game Preservation Department Annual Reports.
81.
Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report 1936 (Government Printer), 8. Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report (Government Printer, 1930), 16.
82.
B. D. Nicholson, “Observations on Elephants in the Southern Province of Tanganyika,” Undated, NAZ SEC 6/117.
83.
R. Sperling to Undersecretary of State at the CO, 22 May 1923, KNA KW27/4.
84.
Kinloch, Shamba Raiders (1988), 28.
85.
Colony and Protectorate of Kenya: Game Department Annual Report 1928 (Government Press, 1929), 12.
86.
Game Warden to Finch, November 16, 1917, KNA KW14/2; Game Warden to Goldfinch, November 30, 1917, KNA KW14/2.
87.
Hailey, African Survey, 145, 147.
88.
Antoinette Burton, The Trouble with Empire: Challenges to Modern British Imperialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015); Jon Wilson, The Chaos of Empire: The British Raj and the Conquest of India (Public Affairs, 2016).
89.
One tusk was paid to the “finder” in these cases. Secretary of Native Affairs to Acting Chief Secretary, May 18, 1933, NAZ SEC2/474.
90.
Acting Administrator to Secretary BSAC, November 2, 1909, NAZ BSA A2/4/3/9; Marks, Life as a Hunt (2016).
91.
District Annual Reports, 1919–1932, NAZ NP1/1/1.
92.
Provincial Commissioner (Eastern) to Officer in Charge of Game Investigations, July 6, 1937, NAZ SEC6/225.
93.
Provincial Commissioner’s (Kasama) provincial circular, May 28, 1932, NAZ RC1260.
94.
Provincial Commissioner (Kasama) to Chief Secretary, January 20, 1934, NAZ SEC1/1015.
95.
Secretary of Native Affairs to Chief Secretary, January 13, 1933, NAZ RC/1260. See also NAZ RC/1262; RC/1261; RC/1263.
96.
James D. Ross to Chief Secretary, February 11, 1930, NAZ RC/1263; Tour Reports regarding Damage done by elephants to Native Crops, 1931–1933, NAZ SEC1/1014.
97.
Lancaster to Provincial Commissioner (Fort Jameson), September 20, 1938, NAZ SEC1/996.
98.
Langham to Provincial Commissioner (Kasama), June 1, 1938, NAZ SEC1/1018.
99.
District Commissioner (Mporokoso) to Provincial Commissioner (Kasama), December 16, 1933, NAZ SEC1/1015.
100.
Memorandum on Policy Concerning the Founding of a Game Department and the Conservation of Fauna in Northern Rhodesia, 1938, NAZ SEC1/994.
101.
June Session, Provincial Commissioner’s Conference, 1936, NAZ SEC1/993.
102.
June Session, Provincial Commissioner’s Conference, 1936, NAZ SEC1/993.
103.
Internal Memo, March 16, 1935, NAZ SEC1/1008.
104.
Executive Council meeting, November 22, 1939, NAZ SEC1/993.
105.
Notes on the game laws for coloured and native conservation staff, undated, NAZ CNP2/13/10.
106.
Game and Tsetse Control Department progress report on December 31, 1943, NAZ SEC6/451.
107.
Northern Rhodesia’s provinces were divided up into districts. Within these were “tribal” territories, where Native Authorities governed with the guidance of DCs and PCs. Barotseland was administered separately as a protectorate.
108.
Report on Chiefs’ Courses from Jeanes School Principal, September 25, 1942, NAZ SEC1/448.
109.
Secretary of Native Affairs to Acting Chief Secretary, June 15, 1932, NAZ SEC2/474.
110.
Government of Northern Rhodesia. Game and Tsetse Control Department, Report for the Year 1944 (Government Printer, 1945).
111.
Government of Northern Rhodesia, Game Department Reports, 1959, 1968 (Government Printer).
112.
Government of Northern Rhodesia, Game and Tsetse Control Department, Annual Report for the Year 1947; Administrative notes for the guidance of field officers, March 18, 1954, NAZ SEC6/316.
113.
Minutes of the 12th meeting of the Kafue National Parks Advisory Board, June 2, 1964, NAZ ML1/02/23.
114.
Circulate Minute No. TSN 287, Secretariat, June 7, 1957, NAZ SEC6/541; Game Ranger (Serenje) Annual Report for 1951, January 10, 1952, NAZ SEC6/85.
115.
Game Ranger (Serenje) Annual Report for 1951, January 10, 1952, NAZ SEC6/85.
116.
Marks Life as a Hunt.
117.
Game Ranger to Game Department director, March 9, 1948, NAZ SEC6/163.
118.
Tour reports from Aaron Musana, October 20, 1948, and Mubanga Mutosa, January 31, 1949, NAZ CNP2/3/2.
119.
Duties of Game Guards, July 27, 1938, NAZ SEC1/999.
120.
Ranger to Provincial Game Officer (Central), July 23, 1954, NAZ SEC6/550.
121.
Eustace Poles, May 15–18, 1956, Private Field Journals, ZSL.
122.
Game Ranger to Director, March 9, 1948, NAZ SEC6/163.
123.
Mpika Tour Report No. 9 of 1959, NAZ NP1/1/122.
124.
Poles, Field Journal No. 15, August 5, 1953.
125.
Poles, Field Journal No. 1, June 28, 1947.
126.
Poles, Field Journal May 1949 to July 1949, June 27, 1949.
127.
Statement by Guard Sanyenera Banda, July 9, 1948, NAZ SEC6/163.
128.
Statement by E. C. G. Mubanga Mutosa, February 15, 1948, NAZ SEC6/163.
129.
Patrol of the Lamba Lima Native Reserve, Ndola Rural District, February 26, 1954, to March 27, 1954, NAZ SEC6/163.
130.
“Obituaries: Major Eustace Poles,” Daily Telegraph, August 15, 1990.
131.
Poles Field Journal 1, May 7, 1947; Poles Field Journal May 1949 to July 1949, June 19, 1949.
132.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 14, August 2, 1953.
133.
Poles, Field Journals No. 13 and 14.
134.
Poles, Private and Confidential Field Journal No. 16. December 18, 1954, to January 6, 1955, Ulendo.
135.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 17, June 18, 1955.
136.
Poles, Field Journal 1, February 3, 1947.
137.
Poles, Field Journal 7, October 3–5, 1951.
138.
Poles Private Field Journal No 12, March 30, 1953.
139.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 18, September 7, 1955.
140.
Poles, Field Journal 1.
141.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 15, August 27, 1953.
142.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 9, September 13, 1952.
143.
Poles, Private Field Journal No. 12.
144.
Poles, Field Journal No. 19, October 26, 1955.
145.
“Elephant Control Guard Killed by Elephant,” Mutende, March 6, 1947.
146.
Statement by A Chisenga, July 13, 1960, NAZ SEC6/599.
147.
Patson Bwalya’s letter to cover A. Chisenga’s statement, July 17, 1960, NAZ SEC6/599.
148.
Serenje Game Ranger’s annual Report for 1951, January 10, 1952, NAZ SEC6/599.
149.
Provincial Game Officer (Kasama) to Director, February 13, 1958, NAZ SEC6/593.
150.
N. J. Carr, “Administrative Notes for the guidance of field officers,” March 18, 1954, NAZ SEC6/316.
151.
N. J. Carr, “Administrative notes for the guidance of field officers,” March 18, 1954, NAZ SEC6/316.
152.
Game and Tsetse Control Department Progress Report on December 31, 1943, NAZ.
153.
Memo by Vaughan-Jones, January 31, 1938, NAZ SEC1/994.
154.
Director to District Commissioner (Gwembe), May 7, 1957, NAZ SEC6/296.
155.
Provincial Game Officer (Central) to Director, September 12, 1957, NAZ SEC6/593.
156.
Poles to Northern Province Biologist, September 14, 1951, NAZ SEC6/11.
157.
N. J. Carr, “Administrative Notes for the Guidance of Field Officers,” March 18, 1954, NAZ SEC6/316.
158.
Biologist (Kasama) to Director, September 8, 1951, NAZ SEC6/11.
159.
Private Field Journal, May 19, 1949, to July 30, 1949, June 30, 1949; Field Journal 1. Poles, May 7, 1947.
160.
Provincial Commissioner (Northern) to District Commissioner (Mpika), October 13, 1942, NAZ SEC6/112.
161.
District Commissioner (Mpika) to Provincial Commissioner (Northern), October 16, 1942, NAZ SEC6/112.
162.
Provincial Commissioner (Northern) to District Commissioner (Mpika), September 15, 1943, NAZ SEC6/112.
163.
Vaughan-Jones to Director of Medical Services, July 29, 1940, NAZ SEC6/200.
164.
District Commissioner to Provincial Commissioner (Northern), NAZ SEC6/226.
165.
Game Ranger (Serenje) to Provincial Biologist, September 23, 1952, NAZ SEC6/85.
166.
Game Ranger’s (Serenje) annual report for 1951, January 10, 1952, NAZ SEC6/85.
167.
Instructions to game guards, undated 1938–1951, NAZ SEC6/232.
168.
Private Field Journal, May to July 1949. June 26, 1949.
169.
Game Ranger (Serenje) to Central Province Biologist, September 10, 1953, NAZ SEC6/85.
170.
Serenje District Commissioner comments on game laws, October 20, 1953, NAZ SEC6/85.
171.
Private Field Journal 6. May 11, 1951.
172.
Private Field Journal No. 9. May 5, 1952.
173.
Private Field Journal No. 17. July 15, 1955, and July 25, 1955.
174.
Statement by John Kapangula of Kalengwa, October 10, 1960, Statement by Chitenge Lukama of Matokashingumbe, October 10, 1960, Shenton to District Commissioner (Namwala), October 11, 1960, NAZ SEC6/599.
175.
District Commissioner, Namwala, September 18, 1957, NAZ SEC6/590.
176.
Alan Prior (District Commissioner Namwala) to Senior Game Ranger Kafue National Park, November 15, 1960, NAZ SEC6/599.
177.
Director to District Secretary (Namwala), July 23, 1966, NAZ ML1/04/17.
178.
Report by Provincial Commissioner (Kasama), October 17, 1953, NAZ SEC5/122.
179.
Report by Provincial Commissioner (Kasama), October 17, 1953, NAZ SEC5/122.

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Schauer, J. (2019). Governing the Game: Expertise, Administration, and the Making of Colonial Wildlife Policy in Uganda and Northern Rhodesia. In: Wildlife between Empire and Nation in Twentieth-Century Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02883-1_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02883-1_3
Published: 05 December 2018
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