and very large areas were absolutely without forests under Government control.

Of the other Divisions Chittagong had made some progress by the end of the century, and would have made still more had an adequate staff been available. The Division, the greater part of which had to be visited by water, was unwieldy. It consisted of two main portions. Some small detached blocks of Reserves situated in the Chittagong Collectorate containing bamboos and grass as their chief products, the demand for which was large. The rest and greater part of the forest area consisted of the unclassed forests in the hill tracts. These were being worked on the old system-the hill people cut out timber, bamboos, canes, etc., made them into rafts and floated them down the rivers, royalty being paid at the toll stations. At this period revenue was the chief preoccupation of the divisional officer.

In the Singbhum Division there was little work of interest taking place: protection, fire work in the hot weather and the marking for sale of a few hundred sâl trees formed the chief work of the Forest Officer up to 1896. Additions had been made to these forests in 1884-5 and subsequently. When the Bengal-Nagpur Railway was driven through the heart of the forest, between Porahat and Saranda, in the late eighties, the Department apparently tried to obtain too high a price for its sâl timber and the line was sleepered with iron pot sleepers !-and is so to the present day. A later opportunity was not let slip. In 1896 Hill, who was officiating as InspectorGeneral of Forests for Ribbentrop, obtained a Government contract to supply 2 lakhs of sâl sleepers from Singbhum and some of the magnificent old growing stock from Saranda and other parts at length fell beneath the axe. These sleeper works were a great help to Bengal in the years 1895-6 and 1896-7. In the Inspector-General's Review of Forest Administration for the latter year he remarks (p. 39): "The operations for the supply of sleepers to the Rae BareillyBenares Railway continued in Singbhum, where the outturn was 538,972 cubic feet, and Mr. Wild (the Conservator) points out that it was only these operations that enabled the Circle to maintain its financial position during the year, which the prevalence of drought and scarcity in the Sundarbans and Chittagong (these being the Divisions which usually yield most profit) would have otherwise endangered." The first Working Plan for these forests was

prepared by Mr. H. H. Haines towards the close of the century.

In the Sundarbans further additions had been made to the forest area by the gazetting in 1878-9 of 1925 square miles as Protected Forests. Of this 1875 square miles were in the 24-Pargannas, and 50 square miles in the Jessore District. With reference to this area Brandis wrote ("Review of For. Administr., 1878-9," p. 18): "The land included within these protected forests will, under definite rules, be available for the extension of cultivation, but Government retains the control of the forest growth upon it, until it is actually cleared and brought under the plough. The same revenue will be paid upon the wood and timber exported from such lands as is paid upon the wood and timber exported from the remainder of the protected forests." The demarcation of the large area of these Sundarbans Forests had presented little difficulty, since the boundaries were water ones and the area intersected with river channels and tidal "khals," which rendered the subdivision for working purposes a facile matter. An efficient organization was gradually built up and a Working Plan was prepared. Theft was one of the great sources of trouble in the management of this Division.

In 1899-1900 the total area of forests under the Department amounted to 13,589 square miles, of which 5881 square miles were reserves, 3675 square miles protected, and 4033 square miles unclassed (Chittagong Hill Tracts) forest (8.87 per cent of province). Of this area 5320 square miles were under Working Plans or plans were in course of preparation. The revenue for the year amounted to Rs.11,38,910, with an average of Rs.10,49,364 for the preceding five years; and the surplus to Rs.5,93,700 the preceding five years average being Rs.5,10,712.

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CHAPTER X

FOREST OPERATIONS IN ASSAM, 1871-1900

NE of the anomalies of the introduction of Forest Conservancy into India, as this history will have already shown, was the very varying condition of the forests and of the nature of the civil administration. Assam in 1870 forms a typical example. This area was not at that time an independent Province. The Central Provinces had been in a similar position in 1860 (I, p. 392). Assam was governed by a Commissioner under the orders of the Government of Bengal. Conservancy at this date had not been introduced and the first complete published Memorandum on the forests of Assam was included in the Bengal Report of 1869-70, as mentioned in Volume II (p. 426).

Before describing the introduction of Forest Conservancy in this area during the period under review, it will be of interest to deal briefly with the history of the forests previous to 1870. The first mention made on the subject of conserving the forests was in the year 1850. The Collector of Kamrup reported to the Commissioner that wood-cutters belonging to Bengal had now made their appearance in Kamrup in quest of sâl timber, the sâl forests in the districts lower down the Brahmaputra having by then been exhausted by indiscriminate and unchecked fellings. The Collector suggested that a tax should be levied on all timber felled instead of allowing the timber contractors to fell where they pleased after having paid unauthorized cesses to the Fiscal Officers, which was at that time the practice. He also advised that a check should be established on the felling of young trees of valuable species in order to prevent waste and ensure the regeneration of the forests. The tax proposed was a small one of Rs.15 per 100 logs, or nearly 2 annas a log. The income from the new tax was estimated to realize from Rs.500 to Rs.600 annually. The suggested tax was intended to supersede the one established in the previous year upon timber cut in the Garo and Khasi