To the Editor of the "Norru-Cursa Dany News."
Sin,—The letters published in your issue of August 4, commenting on the "Mokanshan Notes" of your issue of July 30, revive a' very sore point in the minds of all good sportsmen in China, for the cause of such excellent letters is an old story and one which will continue unless some definite step is taken to eliminate it.
There has been a cry for Game Laws in China. There have been fictitious "close seasons" established by common sense and decency. There are large numbers of people imbued with the instincts of civi ization by which they at all times respect the natural close seasons ci game. But there always will be that proportion of game-hogs and close-season poachers who are willing to kill to the limit of their ability and at any season of the year, just because there is no law ex other force to prevent them from doing so.
Game laws work wonders in my country and elsewhere, but for the present, at least. -properly enforced laws for the protection of game are not apt to be had in China.
Therefore, to make the best of existing conditions, I wish to suggest that all true sportsmen and nature lovers, in and about Shanghai, unite into a society for the protection of game birds and animals, along the following lines.
To create a spirit of individual responsibility for the discouragement of close-season hunters and close-season consumers of game. To request the Municipal Council to promulgate and enforce definite regulations whereby. no game shall be killed, sold, consumed, or held in the possession of anyone within the Municipality between—_cortain dates. Exclude, of course, live game in captivity. for scientific, educational or ornamental purposes. To request the French Municipality to do. likewise. To request the authorities in adjoining Chinese territory to do likewise. To propose to the Municipal Councils of Treaty Ports to organize along the same lines, To appoint one or more prominent sporting members of each outport, having no Council, as a nucleus for an affiliated or branch organization. This includes Mokanshan. Where fines can_ be imposed; Ict us have fines. Where they cannot be imposed, a little moral "persuasion" or the publication of his deed will have some effect on the most persistent offender. And final after our organization is making headway, to propose the enactment and enforcement of effective laws by the Government.
In order to accomplish this, we need some organization and a lot of enthusiasm and pep. The writers of the letters in your August 4 issue would seem to be the logical charter members around which to build such an_organization. Can you not invite—these gentlemen to become the original
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.