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also to build another 83 miles. All the Public Works roads would be main lines of export, those of the Forest Department feeder roads.

Fire protection in the Reserves had been as successful in Berar as in the Central Provinces, success during the previous five years having been almost complete, the cost being about Rs.3 per square mile. To Ballantine is awarded the main credit for this remarkable achievement. To some extent it must be attributed, however, to the method of working the forests. For many years past this, Schlich says, had been based on the following considerations: (1) To treat the Reserves with a view to their improvement. (2) To enforce no restrictions in the unreserved forests.

When laid down these prescriptions were sound, since the first Reserves had to be demarcated and the people educated to the idea of closure. But in most provinces the demarcation of the Reserves, owing to varying difficulties, proceeded very slowly. Thus, as Ribbentrop was the first to point out, the absence of restrictions in the unreserved forests, when it had been determined what area of permanent forest was necessary to the Province or District, the persistence of indiscriminate felling of the best trees in these unreserved forests when, rather, the felling should be done under the eye of the Forest Officer, or at least the trees should be selected and marked by him, was a negation of the first principles of a true forest policy.

True, revenue was made thereby-but at what a cost was only to be realized later. Schlich recorded that the principle of noninterference in the unreserved forests had only been departed from in one instance, when the rate due on teak bullies (poles) was raised from I anna to 4 annas each, with the view, surely justified, of reducing the number cut annually. He remarked in his report: "Considering the large area in the Reserves and the immense stock of young trees growing in it, I am of opinion that no restriction need be imposed on the cutting of teak bullies outside, and I should suggest that action be taken accordingly." He suggested that the rate might be fixed at 2 annas instead of 1 anna.

The Reserves up to date had been worked at a loss, but there was a surplus on the total area of forests, though the revenue had fluctuated. The falling off in 1881-2 was ascribed to the check put on the felling of the teak bullies in the unreserved forests. The opening out of the forests by roads would, it was expected, lead to a rapid rise in the revenue, especially in that from bamboos. The total receipts in 1878-9 were Rs.1,22,255, and charges Rs.52,448; in 1880-1, Rs.1,11,069 and Rs.59,940; and in 1882-3, Rs.1,25,709 and Rs.67,614.

Sowing and planting of teak had been undertaken in the Province, as in the Central Provinces, with more failures than successes. Frost and rats were considered by Brandis to be the principal

dangers, whereas Schlich thought that the former was chiefly to be feared. He records that whereas the plantations made on low-lying land had been generally failures, those situated on the lower parts of the slopes, with a certain amount of cover, had done very well and had produced healthy saplings. He was therefore of opinion that sowing and planting should be continued in the future, but that the localities for these operations should be carefully selected.

In 1899-1900 the area of Reserves was 4176 square miles, 725 square miles of which were under Working Plans. The most important teak forest was the Melghat. The revenue for this year was Rs.4,78,230, with a surplus of Rs.2,43,850.

CHAPTER V

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST CONSERVANCY IN AJMÉRE-MERWARA (RAJPUTANA), 1871-1900

I

N the previous pages of this history the serious results which followed the destruction of the forests in parts

of the country have been alluded to (I, p. 210; II, p. 555). One of the most important aspects of this question, apart from the grazing and fuel, is the interference which the disappearance of the forest on the catchment areas occasions with the water supply of the neighbouring areas. This question may be regarded as quite apart from the problem of the actual influence of forests on the general rainfall of the country. In dry arid regions there is now little reason to doubt the beneficial attributes of the forest, even of scrub growth, as a water holder; whilst in addition a more plentiful supply of grass is obtained in the areas occupied by the forest growth. In no other part of the country has this been more marked than in the history of Forest Conservancy in AjméreMerwara. It has been shown (II, p. 553) that the whole of the waste and forest lands in these British districts were handed over to the people at the Settlement made by Colonel Dixon in 1850, the Government relinquishing all rights in the lands. The inevitable result followed. The forest disappeared, the areas became barren and unproductive, and the water supplies diminished and became uncertain. Tanks and wells, constructed for irrigation purposes at great expense by Colonel Dixon, became functionless; and embankments built to hold up the water in valleys were burst owing to the rush of water during heavy rainfall down the bare hill-sides, no longer protected by the forests. As has been mentioned, Rajputana was subjected to a terrible famine in 1867-9. Brandis visited the districts in 1869 and painted with a vivid pen the contrast presented by the British area and the adjacent territory of the Thakur of Bednor (II, p. 554). In the latter the forest had been carefully preserved as a game sanctuary for pig (wild

boar). These forests provided a plentiful supply of fodder for the cattle of the Thakur's people, whilst on the British side, to quote Brandis, "the cattle had perished, the people had fled, large villages were deserted and the country was almost depopulated by these years of drought and famine."

Colonel Dixon, "who," to quote Brandis again, "for many years governed these districts in an admirable manner, and whose name is still remembered with feelings of sincere gratitude by the inhabitants," had acted, according to his lights, in the best interests of the people of the time. But he possessed no knowledge of forestry or of the enormous value of the forest as a preserver of water in a dry climate. He may well have been beloved of the people, for the waste lands and hills in the Government villages of Ajmére-Merwara were originally the absolute property of Government and the people had no vested rights in them. Yet in his Settlement he presented all these lands to the people, not foreseeing that the gift would ruin and kill off numbers of their descendants within a score of years. It is true that in return for the gift the villagers bound themselves to plant trees and preserve the jungle to a reasonable extent. This engagement they never attempted to keep, however, as has been shown was the case with similar promises made elsewhere in India-and for the matter of that all over the world, as forest history of the past century well exemplifies. Brandis wrote a Report of his visit to Ajmére-Merwara in 1869 which was published in 1871. In accordance with the suggestions made therein it was decided to acquire certain areas of the hills of these districts and to improve them by protection and planting. As the 1850 Settlement had expired a new Settlement was commenced in 1870. It was during the progress of this Settlement that the lands were to be acquired. As the people refused to agree to the proposals of the Settlement Officer in this connection recourse was had to legislation. Since the people had failed to keep the previous agreement, the lands had in reality lapsed to Government ownership. In December, 1874, the Ajmére Forest Regulation was passed, which empowered Government to take up any tracts of waste and hilly land for the purpose of forming State Forests, certain rights in such lands being secured to the villagers. The chief rights thus secured were the right to cut grass and such wood as was necessary for their household requirements and agricultural implements; also any rights of way which they had been in the habit of using before the areas were declared

Reserves. It was further arranged that two-thirds of the net profits from the management of the forest areas so demarcated should be distributed among those persons who, previous to the taking up of the land, were interested therein.

As a result of the recommendations made by Brandis, two Forest Officers, Mr. E. McA. Moir (Assistant Conservator), and Anwar Khan (Sub-Assistant Conservator), were posted to Ajmére in March, 1872. Under these officers operations were commenced in establishing plantations on certain lands at the disposal of Government and in affording protection to some of the tracts which were to be taken up as State Forests. As a result of this work, under the provisions of the Forest Regulation, a number of tracts aggregating about 64,000 acres were gradually taken up and declared State Forests; and in June, 1875, a set of Forest By-laws, drawn up under the Regulation, was published. The boundaries of the State Forests were surveyed by a party of the Topographical Survey Department and entered on the district maps. It was subsequently decided to be unnecessary to maintain a superior Forest Officer in Ajmére, probably chiefly owing to the fact that it would be long before the forests could show a satisfactory budget, and Moir was transferred to the Punjab in September, 1876. During the four years of his tenure of the post this latter officer had laid the real foundations of forest conservancy, and on his transfer it was stipulated that his services should be made available when required to inspect the Reserves and to give advice as to the work to be carried out.

In December, 1878, Brandis visited Ajmére-Merwara and Moir accompanied him on his inspection, as also, with the permission of the N.W.P. Government, Captain Bailey, R.E., the Conservator of the Dehra Dun School Forests. As a result of this inspection, which Brandis published in a Report dated November, 1879, the latter paid a glowing tribute to the results of Moir's work. This Report has, however, attributes other than those to be found usually at this period in the inspection reports of the Inspector-General. Brandis considers at length the possible future results of forest conservancy in a dry country like Rajputana, the results on the water supplies, the experiments and investigations to be taken in hand with a view to obtaining proof of the beneficial effects of the steps now being taken to reclothe barren tracts and to protect the catchment areas, and the value of the forest in its power to increase the supplies of grass and fodder for the cattle of the villagers.

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