are Members of the Legislative Council. The non-cooperative movement had no effect on the forests.

Bihar and Orissa.-During the height of the non-cooperative movement in 1921-2 a larger proportion of the forests were burnt in the annual fires, but it was not certain that this was due to wilful firing. In Puri there were a number of raids on the forests and trees were cut down. In common with other Provinces, where such raids were made, it was attributed to the impression amongst the populace that the British Raj had come to an end.

Assam. Under the non-cooperative movement there was some trouble in Kamrup, and in Goalpara all the forest villages went on strike, instigated thereto by agitators.

Central Provinces. In these Provinces the position of the Department is very much the same as before the introduction of the Reform Act. The Chief Conservator of Forests is not a Member of the Legislative Council. Some trouble was experienced in January, 1922, in South Raipur from the noncooperative movement, the people entering the forests and committing damage, under the impression that all authority on the part of Government had ceased. In most Divisions a larger proportion of fires occurred, attributed to the same

cause.

Madras. The difficulty complained of in Madras was the long delay experienced in getting new proposals requiring financial aid through the Legislative Council. The Chief Conservator may be a Member of the Legislative Council. In the Quinquennial Review of Forest Administration ending 1923-4 the following appears: "The non-cooperative campaign brought about organized defiance of the forest law. This was especially serious in the Guntur District, where many cases of violence against forest officials occurred. Several Forest Guards were murdered. The definite break-down of the movement towards the close of the quinquennium had an important reaction for the better on forest protection. Lawlessness was much less in evidence, the change being especially marked in Guntur. During the Mappilla rebellion in 1921 the Nilambur Division was for several months in the hands of the rebels. The District Forest Officer and his subordinates had narrow escapes from death; work was entirely dislocated and most of the buildings were destroyed or badly damaged."

Bombay. The Forest Department is a "transferred"

subject. The Chief Conservator is not usually a Member of the Legislative Council. Since 1921 the Presidency, which was outside the sphere of the Inspector-General of Forests, has been included therein for the purpose of technical advice. A period of agitation of all kinds commenced at a time coincident with the introduction of the Reforms. The year 1920-1 was a year of bad fires, especially in the Southern Circle. The attitude of the people has improved a great deal since then. The agitation against the Department was strongest in Kanara, aided by the non-cooperative movement. A Forest Settlement Officer was appointed in consequence to enquire into the complaints. A grievances Committee has recently been instituted to adjudicate on Forest grievances.

The chief troubles in connection with the administration of the country under the Reform Act have been due to the desire expressed by a certain section of Indian politicians for an acceleration of the Indianization of the Services and of local self-government. These matters, in so far as they concern the management of the Forest Estate, come up for consideration in the following chapters.

Lord Reading's period of service comes to an end early in 1926. The selection of the Right Honourable Edward F. L. Wood, M.P., British Minister of Agriculture, as the ViceroyElect, was announced on October 30th, 1925. Mr. Wood is the grandson of Sir Charles Wood, first Lord Halifax, who was President of the Board of Control from 1852-5 and First Secretary of State for India from 1859-66. It was due to Sir Charles Wood's untiring vigilance and extraordinary knowledge on forestry subjects, then a dead letter in England, that the infant Forest Department made such good progress during the first difficult years under Brandis. That this was the case has been abundantly shown in this history (cf. I, p. 530 and many references in Vol. II).

CHAPTER XII

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN BRITISH INDIA AND BURMA, 1901-25

I

N the second part of the second volume of this history a general review was given of the progress made by the Department between 1871 and 1900. A survey of pro

gress during the first quarter of the present century will be now attempted. That the Department has made a noteworthy advance in the practice of scientific forestry will become evident from the sequence and the subjects dealt with in this Part. In the review in the second volume such items as the State proprietorship in the land, Forest Laws, Settlements, Demarcation, Surveys, Exploitation and Protection took precedence, the progress made in sylviculture, Working Plans and research having been comparatively small. During the succeeding quarter of a century the position was reversed. As mentioned in Volume II (p. 463), a period of stagnation followed the completion, for the most part, of the above-enumerated work. This was terminated by what may be termed the renaissance of sylviculture and much else besides, due to the introduction of Research which, as has been strikingly demonstrated, had been delayed far too long. In the present Part chapters on Research, Sylviculture and Working Plans take the premier position, a position this professional work now occupies in many Provinces in the country. Some areas, it is true, are lamentably backward; in others the old ideas that revenue-making and the balance-sheet can be the only justification for according larger grants to the Department still remain supreme. But this old fetish is dying and, unquestionably, faith in the value of research as a potential factor in the financial improvement of the Forest Estate has become an established fact.

Full recognition has been accorded in this history to the great work undertaken by the first three Inspectors-General, who were of German nationality. They brought the Department

into being and established a Forest Administration in the country. But the rigid lines upon which German forestry was conducted, lines which modern German Foresters now realize were not in all things in conformance with nature, did not afford sufficient elasticity for Indian requirements or, in its broad sense, for tropical forestry. It is significant that the scientific application to Indian conditions of the training the Forest Officer receives has eventuated during the administration of English Inspectors-General. And the position achieved, as these pages will show, is remarkable if it be taken to date, as history will, it is believed, unerringly date it from the year 1906, when the Secretary of State (Lord Morley), in a memorable Despatch, No. 61-Rev., dated 23rd March, 1906, sanctioned the formation of the Imperial Forest Research Institute. But even the far-seeing statesmanship which provided the Department with the one thing needed, combined as it was with long-delayed reorganizations and improvement of salaries, to enable it to undertake the work its officers were trained for could not have anticipated the results achieved in two short decades. For no Forest Officer of the time and even a decade later foresaw the extraordinary development which, aided admittedly by War demands, was to take place.

It will be remembered that Ribbentrop, the last of the German Inspectors-General, retired in 1900 and was succeeded by Mr. H. C. Hill, C.I.E. Hill, after a bare two-years' service, of which the last few months were spent on furlough, died suddenly at home. Mr. R. C. Wroughton had been appointed to officiate for Hill on 20th April, 1902. Shortly after Hill's death in 1902 Wroughton proceeded on furlough and then retired. Mr. (now Sir Sainthill) Eardley Wilmot, K.C.I.E., was called from Burma, where he was Conservator of Forests, and was appointed Inspector-General on the 4th February, 1903. Eardley Wilmot was succeeded on 9th November, 1908, by Mr. F. Beadon Bryant, C.S.I., who retired on 4th April, 1913, to be succeeded by Mr. (now Sir George) Hart, K.B.E., C.I.E. Hart was followed on 23rd February, 1921, by Mr. (now Sir Peter) Clutterbuck, C.I.E., C.B.E., V.D., who still holds the post (1925). During the period the following officiated as Inspectors-General: Mr. J. H. Lace, C.I.E., from 17th April, 1907, to 16th July, 1907; Mr. L. Mercer, C.I.E., from 31st August to 30th November, 1911; Mr. M. Hill, C.I.E., from 30th March, 1914, to 9th October, 1914; Sir Peter Clutterbuck from 26th May, 1919, to 27th October, 1919.

With the increasing work which the administration of the forests threw upon the staff it became necessary to subdivide the Circles and, as a consequence, increase the number of Conservatorships in the larger Provinces. These additions gave rise to confusion owing to the number of independent heads in charge of Forest Administration in a Province. It is true that in a Province where there was more than one Circle the Secretariat had to some extent endeavoured to take the opinion on technical matters of the Senior Conservator; but directly this did not obviate friction, since the Senior Conservator had no authority over the other Conservators. In 1904, when Burma had four Conservators-Messrs. F. B. Manson, F. Beadon-Bryant, T. A. Hauxwell and H. Slade-these officers drew up a Memorandum, dated 26th April, 1904, suggesting that a post of Deputy Inspector-General should be formed in the Province. The history of this proposal is of interest, and since the arguments in its favour were, or became, common to all the Provinces it is necessary to briefly review it. The Burma proposal was no new one. It had been first suggested sixteen years before. On his transfer to Upper Burma in 1887 (after the third Burmese War) Mr. H. C. Hill was made Secretary to the Chief Commissioner in Forest matters and held the post for two years, when he quitted the Province. Before Hill left, however, in 1888, Sir Charles Crosthwaite (No. 992, 31 B., dated 27th August) recommended the appoint-t ment of a Deputy Inspector-General of Forests in Burma. gamb The suggestion was not approved (G. of I. letter, No. 381 F., dated 31st (30th ?) April). Ten years later Ribbentrop, Inspector-General of Forests (No. 1227, dated 11th October, 1898), advocated a return to the arrangement in force between 1887 and 1889. Sir Frederick Fryer, the Lieutenant-Governor, was not in favour of the proposal and made certain alternative suggestions (letter No. 495, 2 A., 23, dated 21st December, 1898). He was unable to recommend the step owing to "the difficulty in defining the respective jurisdictions of the InspectorGeneral and the new Deputy Inspector-General." He proposed the appointment of "a Conservator who would be Forest Secretary and would control the Rangoon Depot, but would have no territorial jurisdiction." No further action was taken until the Burma Conservators drafted their Memorandum of 1904. Sir F. Fryer's main objection had been that as the system of issuing purchase contracts for the extraction of teak was to be continued the time was not ripe for the

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