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one of which had been managed by a Conservator, while the other was without such minute superintendence." He also called for a detailed report from the Commissioner of the Tenasserim Provinces relative to the whole previous working of the forests, the method of forming young plantations, the possible income to be expected and the effect on the general prosperity of the State resulting from the trade, and upon the powers to be delegated to the Conservator. On the latter point" he was doubtful whether it would be necessary or proper to give to such officer such full and independent magisterial powers for the conservation of the forests as was suggested," and he thought that an uncovenanted officer who had gained character in the Department of Works and Survey should be appointed to the post of Conservator if created, and that the post should be rather temporary, of the nature of a "Reporting Officer" merely, than permanent, and that his work should be confined to obtaining full details on the present state and management of the forests. Lord Auckland concluded his Minute that he would on no account add to the present duty on timber, nor is he inclined to reserve the cutting of the trees as a monopoly in the hands of the Government.

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The information solicited from the Government of Madras was obtained, and Blundell intimated in August, 1838, with reference to the orders he had received (as detailed above), his intention of first visiting the forests in order to report on the several questions raised by the Governor-General.

Nearly two years elapsed without any references to the teak forests appearing in the papers extant. A veil is drawn over Blundell's activities in this connection. All that is apparent is that the heavy fellings in the teak forests continued unchecked and that their condition went from bad to worse.

The next record refers to Madras. To the Despatch, which has been already mentioned in a previous chapter, dated 26th July, 1840, from the Court of Directors, directing the attention of the Government of India to certain measures which had been proposed for the preservation of the teak forests of Malabar. In April, 1840, the Government of India, in accordance with this Despatch, called upon the Governments of Madras and Bombay for information respecting these forests, receiving in reply the voluminous correspondence which has been already reviewed.

Before passing to the subsequent action taken it will be necessary to glance at Dr. J. W. Helfer's reports. As far

back as the end of 1836 Lord Auckland, in a Minute dated 26th December, 1836, suggested to the Government of Bengal that the deputation of Dr. Helfer enquire into the material and commercial capabilities of the Tenasserim Province "in order that the Government and the public may be enabled to judge with what advantages of circumstance, and consequently with which prospect of success, commercial speculations and the employment of capital may be directed towards them." The results of Dr. Helfer's researches were submitted by him to Government in three reports which were presented in 1838-39. After treating of the distribution of the teak and the destructive habits of the natives "who ring and kill trees of all sizes, many of which are never felled and utilised," Dr. Helfer mentions in this connection: "This number of killed trees which are suffered to decay generate a host of insects. Though it is pretended that teak is not attacked by vermin, yet a great deal of these decayed trees are attacked by Bostrichus, Passalus and other coleopterous insects,1 and the consequence is that these animals have attacked other good trees before they were sufficiently seasoned. He also alludes to the firing of the forests and the toungya (shifting) cultivation under which so much valuable teak forest was being destroyed. "As teak is such a valuable article in general," he remarks," and, it may be safely asserted, hitherto the only one to which Moulmein owes its daily increasing prosperity, the preservation of teak forests should be the principal care of Government." He strongly advocated the formation of plantations since, even with good management, the number of trees must yearly decrease, and that timber in localities of easy access must soon become rare. Experience has shown, he said, that new trees disseminated by nature on places where timber has been hewn grow only very scantily up. Helfer's remarks on the subject of natural regeneration in the teak forests, as also his suggestion that the new plantations could be formed by clearing the jungle, loosening the soil, and then scattering the seed over it, were opinions held at the time, but were disproved by Mr. Conolly's experiments and failures at Nilumbur.

In his second report he points out that although the licence system introduced in 1829" without doubt in the first instance

1 The writer found the following upon teak on the Salween and Attaran Rivers and elsewhere in Burma: Species of the genera Basilianus, Adelocera, Stromatium, Gelonaetha, Xylotrechus, Cryptorhynchus, Xyleborus, etc.

contributed to render Moulmein a prosperous place, it cannot be denied that a continuation of the same system will lead in a short time to the extermination of all available teak forests, and deprive Moulmein of this valuable resource, and render Calcutta even more dependent upon foreign importation for teak timber." He pointed out that the private individuals cutting in the forests and naturally wishing to render themselves independent in as short a space as possible, had no interest in the preservation of the forests, and that experience had shown that far more trees were destroyed under the present system than were actually utilised. He therefore recommended the adoption of Blundell's recommendations for the future conservation of the forests.

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Describing the Tenasserim Provinces (which he quoted as 30,000 square miles in area) as one immense forest with no marshes, sandy plains or bare rocks or savannahs, he assumed that only one-fifteenth part was cultivated; another onefifteenth was occupied by rivers, and two-fifteenths as the area burnt over and which was now only clothed with a useless rank jungle vegetation; this left 22,000 square miles occupied by the forests. Supposing that trees (measuring at least 7 inches in diameter) stand 30 feet apart from each other on an average in a forest and that each tree occupies 900 square feet or 100 square yards"; this would give, he calculated, 29,040 trees in one square mile, or 638,880,000 timber trees in the Provinces. Helfer continues this ingenious, but not uninteresting, calculation: "Each tree counted on an average at 2 annas intrinsic value on the spot, there is at present a dead capital of 79,860,000 rupees in the timber alone. . . . Though one-half of it is so situated that centuries will elapse before it will be turned to any use, yet the other half is so placed that it is available. The whole of the country on an average is not more than 50 miles broad, has a sea-coast, accessible in all parts, of 414 miles in length; the land is intersected in all directions by numerous rivers; the tide ascends in some parts 120 miles up country. . . . Much of this timber is entirely neglected. I have now already gathered a catalogue of 377 different species of trees, each of which attains a diameter of 7 inches, and amongst them are species of every imaginable purpose.'

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Helfer divided the trees in general into eight groups: (1) Precious trees; (2) woods fit for objects of ornament; (3) timber for shipbuilding; (4) timber for other purposes;

(5) spars for vessels; (6) chiefly fitted for planks; (7) produce good charcoal; (8) firewood.

Wallich and Helfer were remarkable men for their day to find at this period in India. The misfortune for the country resided in the fact that, a scientific training being unknown in the schools at home, the bulk of the officials, even those most highly placed, were unable to appreciate the deductions and warnings placed so plainly before them.

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In 1840 Captain E. P. Halsted, R.N., of H.M.S. Childers, then cruising off the west coast of the Bay of Bengal, became greatly interested in the facilities afforded by Moulmein, with its plentiful supply of timber, for the construction of ships, and he formed the opinion that its advantages in that respect were not surpassed, if equalled, by any spot in India," but were not so well known as they should be for general usefulness." Captain Halsted collected some interesting information on the subject of the Tenasserim teak forests and the destructive exploitation taking place in them, which he submitted to Lord Auckland in August, 1840. In the following November he again addressed Lord Auckland on the subject of the comparative strength of some Tenasserim pine which he had obtained from Moulmein and which he had submitted to a series of detailed tests with some Riga pine on the Childers.

The Moulmein pine gave such excellent results that he recommended its being utilised for spars for men-of-war, thus saving the expense then incurred of having the latter sent out from England.

CHAPTER IX

FOREST OPERATIONS IN TENASSERIM, BURMA (continued) 1840-1850

T

HE reports of Helfer and Captain Halsted, alluded to in the last chapter, both strongly animadverting upon the ruinous devastation taking place in the teak forests, convinced Government of the necessity of introducing an efficient system of conservancy, though the evil at that time did not seem to justify the resumption of the "permits," or a reconstitution of the former monopoly, as had been recommended by Blundell. With this view it was determined, instead of a separate Conservator, to appoint to the Department of Public Works in the Tenasserim Province an executive officer who, in addition to the duties of that Department, should have the charge of the Government teak forests. A moderate establishment was to be allowed him for their preservation, and for regulating the cutting of timber in those forests where the Government could, without injustice, interfere with the grantees; and he was also to act as Agent for providing timber for Government shipping purposes at Moulmein. Captain Tremenheere, of the Bengal Engineers, was the officer selected to hold this threefold appointment, and to undertake a work which would very easily have absorbed the full-time energies of three able men. The instructions which the Military Board were instructed to convey to him, if they were to be carried out with any degree of efficiency, were to require all his powers.

These were: (1) To complete a survey of the existing teak forests and of places suitable for fresh plantations; (2) to report on the condition of the several forests and their capabilities under proper management; (3) the means of increasing and perpetuating the resources of the Province by the appropriation and plantation of new tracts; (4) to submit a scheme for the supervision of the forests, consistently with the rights of the grantees; (5) to define and note the

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