PART I

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST CONSERVANCY IN THE SEVERAL PRESIDENCIES AND PROVINCES

BETWEEN 1871-1900

THE FORESTS OF INDIA

CHAPTER I

FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY, MYSORE (TO 1881) AND COORG, 1871-1900

I

T will be remembered that in his Despatch reviewing the Forest Report of the Madras Presidency for 1869-70 the Secretary of State (the Duke of Argyll) expressed the opinion that much more might be made out of the fine forests of the Presidency; and that of late years sound principles of conservancy had not made the progress which they should have done from the earlier start which Madras had had over the rest of India (Vol. II, p. 121). That friction existed between the Civil and Forest Officers was well known; but it could scarcely fail to have been otherwise when the attitude of the Government and the Board of Revenue is taken into account. Matters did not improve during the next few years, as is ably shown in a clear exposition of the position, and the attitude respectively of the Government of India and the Government of the Presidency, contained in a "Memorandum on the demarcation of the Public Forests in the Madras Presidency" (15th August, 1878) by Brandis. The Governor of Madras at the time was the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos and he appears to have taken up the same non possumus attitude vis-à-vis the forestry question which he displayed towards the Government of India's recommendations during the great famine of 1876-8 (Vol. II, p. 459).

In his Memorandum Brandis, at the outset, strikes a different note a far harsher note-than that which usually runs through his tactful Memoranda on forestry questions dealing with the Provinces, or even with the Presidency of Bombay, where matters at the period were far from presenting a roseate hue. But a perusal of this Memorandum quickly gives evidence of his reasons for assuming the attitude. With a knowledge

of the previous history of the Madras Forestry question the reader is left with a feeling of amazement and incredulity at the position herein depicted. Brandis' opening paragraph tersely explains it. "For some years past a tendency appears to have prevailed in the Madras Presidency to give up the rights of the State in the forests, or at least not sufficiently to guard and protect them. A separate forest administration was organized as long ago as 1856; but while in the provinces under the Government of India and in the Bombay Presidency great progress has been made in separating the lands which are to be permanently maintained as forest, from the great mass of forest and waste lands, no progress on an adequate scale has been made in the Madras Presidency. The consequence has been that, with the increase of cattle and population in most parts of the Presidency, denudation has made most alarming progress, and this denudation has greatly aggravated the evil effects of the late years of drought and famine."

Whilst Cleghorn was on special duty in the Punjab he and Brandis had drawn up a joint Memorandum, which they submitted to the Government of India, urging the necessity of the early demarcation of Government and village forests in the Madras Presidency (Vol. I, p. 324). This document was transmitted to the Madras Government, but its suggestions had remained without effect. In September, 1869, the Government of India addressed a communication (No. 458-F., dated 29th September, 1869) to Madras, urging the early demarcation and efficient protection of extensive Forest Reserves, chiefly in order to secure a permanent supply of fuel for the Railways. Between that date and 1878 several remonstrances had been addressed by the Central Government to Madras on this question without effect. Four instances of the existing situation were dealt with in Brandis' Memorandum. The first was the case of the Tinnevelly Forests. In September, 1867, the Collector had addressed a letter to the Conservator pointing out that the river-irrigated section of the district was dependent on the continuous flow of water in the rivers rising on the Western Ghâts. This flow had notably decreased of late years, the decrease being attributed to the destruction of forests on the Ghâts, due to a great extent to the clearances of forest by coffee planters. The destruction of the fine timber forests had left the coffee gardens exposed and they were subsequently deserted. The agriculturists were now