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peoples of India, and insisted that the freedom and property of the private individual, his customs and caste prejudices, should receive the utmost consideration from officials of every degree. This has been throughout the period of British rule the guiding factor, it might be almost termed the unwritten and undeviating law, which the newly joined young official has had impressed upon him with uncompromising and unswerving directness. That the forests of the country suffered under its strict observance is unquestionable. But the damage they suffered was not due to the application of the strict letter of the law, but rather to the ignorance existing on the subject of what was the absolute minimum essential in the management of the forests to ensure their preservation. As the above Minute of the Court of Directors displays, they considered, as did the bulk of their advisors in India, that it was only necessary to make provision for the Government's requirements in timber, and that when this had been safeguarded the timber requirements of the people could be left to the forest proprietor and timber merchant. They did not recognise at that period that the interests of the Indian ryot were intimately bound up with the forestry question and the maintenance of a certain proportion of the forests, that that aspect of the question was in reality of as great importance as the provision of the timber supplies required for Government purposes.

CHAPTER VII

FOREST OPERATIONS IN THE MADRAS AND BOMBAY

Ο

PRESIDENCIES (continued), 1840-50

THE CONOLLY TEAK PLANTATIONS

N receipt of the Court's Despatch alluded to in the last chapter, the Government of India (April, 1840) called upon the Governments of Madras and Bombay for information regarding the Malabar

and Canara Forests.

The only new matter supplied was contained in a letter from Mr. Conolly, who was acting principal Collector of Malabar. This is Mr. Conolly's first appearance on the scene, but his name was destined to become enshrined in the chronicles of the history of the forests of India. In his letter (12th June, 1840) Conolly confirms the destruction of the private forests which had been "dilapidated by a selfish and short-sighted policy," and urgently called for some measures to put a stop to their total destruction. He approved of the policy of prohibiting the felling of teak under a certain size by the imposition of a high royalty, but disapproved of the suggestion of reasserting the Company's right of royalty by proclamation so long after its virtual relinquishment in 1823, owing to the discontent it would give rise to. He favoured the acquisition of private forests sufficient to supply the average quantity of timber required for the public service, but as the native proprietors would consider the parting with their lands as involving a loss of honour Conolly thought that the end would be "just as effectually secured by taking forests on the usual mortgage-tenure system of the country"; and by advancing nearly the value of the estate the Government could secure themselves against any intrusion, as, " in Malabar mortgages are never foreclosed, but by a common tenure (Kooty Kunum) the proprietor in case of redemption is bound to pay for all improvements made by the mortgagee." The

proprietary right would thus become a merely seignorial one whilst the Government would secure perpetual possession. Conolly also advocated the appointment of a Sub-Conservator with a knowledge of Arboriculture to be placed under the Collector.

The Government of Madras approved of this proposal of renting the forests, and instructed Conolly to ascertain and report upon the terms upon which the proprietors would be prepared to lease their forests to Government.

Lord Auckland, Governor-General, in a Minute (August, 1840), reviewed the reports submitted by the two Governments. He approved generally of the measures which had been taken for the preservation of the Malabar Teak Forests (though these had not yet proceeded further than the recommendation stage), but objected to measures of prohibition or to duties contrived to discourage the felling of small trees, since the older woods required to be thinned at intervals to allow more room for the growing trees. He still thought apparently that the forest proprietors would safeguard their young trees and forgo the money they could obtain from them in order that their successors might reap the benefit some eighty years or so ahead. A somewhat amazing opinion in view of the evidence before him. He, however, asked for further information on the subject.

The Government of Bombay again addressed the Government of India in this matter. Farish approved of Conolly's proposal for renting the forests by mortgages, but thought that the period must be stated, otherwise, when the forests had improved wealthy timber merchants would step in and redeem the mortgages, thus securing the accrued benefit to the forests for themselves. He supported Conolly's plea for the appointment of a Sub-Conservator under the Collector and an Agent distinct from the Conservator. He added the following interesting remark :

"

Looking beyond Indian interests in this national question I suggested that copies of these reports should be furnished to the Admiralty Board and other Departments that take cognizance of the timber resources for the Royal Navy."

In a second letter Conolly stated that although at first the proprietors had regarded his suggestion for leasing their forests with suspicion several were now prepared to entertain the idea. He estimated the amount of timber required for the public service in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies at

6000 candies annually, supposing one Government vessel was constantly under construction in the yards at Bombay. He estimated that 260 square miles of forest land would be required to supply this quantity, as the Nilumbur Rajah obtained nearly 2500 candies from his own area of forests which extended to 130 square miles. The Government of Madras authorised the Board of Revenue to request Conolly to commence making arrangements to acquire this area of forests by mortgages as opportunity offered. The Government of India was informed of the arrangement, to which it gave approval and reported the matter to the Court of Directors in January, 1841.

In a despatch (November, 1842) received by the Government of India in January, 1843, the Court of Directors reviewed the mass of correspondence on the subject of the forests and agreed to the proposals recommended up to date and the orders issued; but they could not "refrain from expressing some astonishment at the very large extent of country, no less than 260 square miles," which it had been calculated was required for public forests, the acquisition of which had been authorised. Taking 6000 candies or about 200 trees to be the amount of timber annually required by the Government "to supply this quantity annually, as the teak tree reaches maturity in about 60 years, would require about 120,000 trees planted in succession. We will not undertake to say with any exactness how much ground each tree should occupy, but we are persuaded that it cannot be nearly so much as 6000 or 7000 square yards, which is about the space that would be allotted to each tree if the number mentioned were scattered over a tract of 260 square miles."

This is delightful. One can picture the member of the Court trotting out to his little English home woodland counting up the trees on an acre or two and arriving at the brilliant solution above described, thus convicting the Indian Government of an attempt at land-grabbing on a wholesale scale. Though, in truth, his Whitehall descendant has on occasions in the past fallen into the same trap. It was intimated to the Court that the tropical primeval forest had but little similarity to the British woodland, and that there were a hundred other species of trees for every teak growing in the Malabar Forests, and in addition areas of marshes and grass, rocky outcrops and so forth, which were treeless or unsuited for teak in any event. The Court did not foresee the development of the Indian

Forest Service. They expressed the opinion that plantations on a much smaller scale would suffice for all the demands of the public service, and that, although to supply this both in India and England was admittedly a matter of great importance, yet there should be some limit, to overlook which in providing for the future would only be to incur unnecessary trouble, expense and responsibility.

In a subsequent despatch they considered that the timber required by Government should be obtained by contract, since that method had proved so successful in Tenasserim. The analogy was a bad one, as Tenasserim had larger untapped teak forests still extant. They sanctioned a new tariff, drawn up by Conolly, for teak in Malabar and Canara, in which the duties to be paid, especially the inland one, were reviewed and increased. Thus a first small commencement in the protection of the forests was initiated and Conolly was authorised to appoint a Sub-Conservator of Forests to work under his own direction with a modest establishment (the Sub-Conservator drew Rs.150 per mensem and the establishment Rs.51); but in addition to this Conolly obtained sanction to a temporary establishment of Rs.1735 per mensem for planting work, and with this he commenced the formation of the Nilumbur teak plantations, which have since become famous and associated with his name in the minds of every Indian Forest Officer.

The first set of rules for the working and protection of the forests were drawn up by Conolly, and it is to the credit of this gifted and far-sighted man that they remain the basis and foundation of the codes and rules of the great forest service which has grown up in India since his time.

Conolly's instructions to his Sub-Conservator were :

(1) To obtain a complete knowledge of the quantity and quality of timber in each forest.

(2) To prevent any kind of depredation being committed in the forests, whether bona fide belonging to Government or rented by them.

(3) To improve the forests by new planting and by unremitting attention in fostering the growth of young trees.

The following is an abstract of the rules to this end which he formulated :

Ist. To make circuits of the forest and prepare a register of the number and quality of trees in each, specifying as nearly as possible their age and size, their distance from water carriage and the probable number of other trees, not teak, which it may be

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