EXTRAORDINARY DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN LIFE BY TIGERS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 53, 31 January 1843, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN LIFE BY TIGERS.

(From, the Singapore Free Press.J We find that last week, in stating the num-, her of people annually killed in Singapore by, tigers at 150, we were much below the mark. We are assured sby a person who has, the,best; means .of knowing the amount,, that more' than,

Tii ree Hundred natives are every year carried off. This gives nearly one in every hundred of the population of this island to the tigers annually ; and if we look only to the Gambier planters, who are the principal victims, we shall find that between three and four per cent, of this class are yearly carried off. Some instant measures should assuredly be taken to check this frightful slaughter. Government ought to be called upon to increase the reward, and hold out all manner of inducements to procure the destruction of these beasts. We would urge upon the inhabitants the propriety of making a' strong representation to the local government, and requesting them to bring the matter to tlie notice of the Bengal government. What is the loss of a few hundreds, or even thousands of dollars annually, compared with so many lives ? Although we are no friend to lavish expenditure on the part of the government, we should never grudge any money expended for the extermination of the tigers, and we are sure that there are very few persons on the island who would do so. Since the foregoing was written, we have received the subjoined note from our correspondent, whose query last week led to our noticing the subject of tigers : TO THE EDITOR OF THE SINGAPORE FREE PRESS. Dear Sir, —Allow" me to make a few remarks on the article in your late number referring to the note I sent you last week. Tou state the number of deaths caused by tigers during the course of last year to be 150, whereas I have ascertained, from undoubted authority, that it exceeded 320., Again, you appear ignorant of the fact, that, no less than six bodies were brought to the police office in one day, from whence they were conveyed without any notice being taken of them. The inducement some few have to allow the public to remain in ignorance of these facts is evident! for who would work in the Gambier and other plantations with the knowledge that a man is carried off by tigers every thirty hours on an average. The reward now offered is considered by the trappers too small, considering the risk they run; and the carcass of a tiger is now a rare sight in Singapore ; but were these numerous cases duly noticed by the proper authorities, the Government could not fail to hear of them, and might in consequence be induced to restore the tiger bonus to the former rate—loo dollars. I remain, your’s obediently, Delta. Our correspondent’s statement is confirmed by the information which we have just received, that a man was killed by a tiger on Tuesday afternoon about five o’clock, at a plantation within three miles of town, under the charge of a gentleman connected with this paper, and close to the place from whence a man was carried off about twelve or fourteen days ago, as noticed in last week’s paper. o