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my transfer to Oudh, and from this side there was not much difficulty; that lay rather in closing accounts with contractors and subordinates, a task which occupied much time, and revealed some transactions almost humorous in their impertinence."

In the Inspector-General's "Review of Forest Administration for 1891-2" the backwardness of Oudh in forest organization (for Oudh had lost its former pre-eminence) is commented upon. In 1892-3 the Government of India (in the "Annual Review") note the marked progress in the preparation of Working Plans which had taken place under the guidance of the Conservator, and they had also remarked upon the excellent results which had attended in this Circle the efforts made to improve during the past four years the organized exploitation of forest produce.

The Conservator's next task was to make a regular Working Plan for the area, and part of this work was entrusted to Mr. Keshavanand, "a man who had been trained at Dehra Dun and had supplemented this training by much careful study. He undertook the enumeration of all the trees of two species in three age classes over the 150 square miles of forest. With this work accomplished, the basis was laid for determining the amount of timber to be felled annually, and the enumeration showed that it totalled in number of trees about four times those previously felled, and in volume even more than this would appear to indicate; for sawing was carried out in the fellings, as well as logging, in order to work up all the inferior material. The promise of an annual out-turn for a fixed period of years prescribed by the Working Plan was sufficient to induce the Rohilkhand and Kumaun Railway to construct a branch line from Mailáni to Dudua, and this new departure finally insured the change of system which freed the Forest Officer from the duties of a timber-merchant and gave him some time to devote to the scientific working of the forest." This line, as it served the timber and grain trade of Nepal, proved a paying one and led to the construction of others to tap the villages and forests of Bahraich, Gonda and Gorakhpur. The success following the introduction of the Kheri Working Plan was so marked that it led, during the next few years, to the compilation of other plans for the whole of the workable forest areas of Oudh. With reference to these plans and the obvious great value of their introduction (for scientific forestry or a guarantee that a forest is not being overworked cannot be said to exist until Working Plans are in

existence) Eardley Wilmot remarks: "The period covered by these plans has long since expired, but they have been since followed by others that are similar, but even more exact and more effective, because at the time of their compilation more detailed records of the past were available as to the rate of growth of the timber, as to the reproduction of the species, as to varying effects of soil and locality-in short, with regard to all those items of local knowledge that are essential for the progress of Indian sylviculture."

The demarcation work of the forests, always an intricate matter in a populous country-side, to which allusion has already been made in previous pages, had been by no means satisfactorily settled, and this was the second matter taken up by the Conservator. In consequence of the opening up of the area, cultivation was pressing on the forest boundaries, which were lengthy and intricate and far from being satisfactorily defined. With the object of shortening them and consequently cheapening their upkeep it was decided to effect, where possible, exchanges of land between the Government and adjacent landowners, a process which absorbed much time, as it probably would in any country where landownership was valued by the private individual. As the process was gradually effected in each locality the boundaries were permanently fixed by means of numbered sandstone pillars from the quarries of Mirzapur; and between each pair of pillars a bridle path was constructed, so that, whether mounted or afoot, inspection could be easily carried out, whilst the boundary was plainly visible to the public, and prosecution for trespass would lead to conviction in the Courts. The delineation of a boundary by stone pillars is expensive, and can only be carried out where the annual revenue to be expected from the forest justifies the expenditure. Cheaper and more temporary pillars are in use for first demarcation of forest areas, such as blazing trees, mounds of earth or stones, or a green cutting or stake of a tree driven into the ground in the hopes that it will root and so forth (cf. II, p. 478). One of the exchanges had reference to the area of 30,000 acres occupied by the Tharus alluded to above. It was desired to bring these people under the control of the Forest Department, and they themselves wished it; they were in close touch with the Forest Officer and dependent on the forest for their livelihood. To settle them down within the forest in forest villages entirely under the Department was as great a gain for them as for the Forest Officer, who thus had

ready to hand an invaluable labour supply. Orders were, however, issued to hand over the Tharus to the Revenue Officer, a proceeding as short-sighted as it was distressing to the two chief parties concerned. It is refreshing to know that some ten years later, when Eardley Wilmot was Inspector-General, the matter again came up for consideration and, on his clear exposition of the case, the decision was reversed.

The third problem taken up, which cost an infinity of trouble and labour, was the preparation of the Record of Rights, a business which had not been settled. All villages within three miles of the boundary and, says Eardley Wilmot, there were many more in the now more populous country, were enumerated, with numbers of houses, cattle, acreage of land, etc., as also their requirements in fuel, grazing, etc., from the forest. Schedules were then prepared recording the annual grants of each to which the people were eligible. In this way the proportion of produce from the forests required for the local community was known and consequently the amount remaining for sale in the open market. This work occupied several years as it required constant reference to the Revenue officials. The Conservator refers to the early difficulties experienced during the first-half of his service in the attitude of the Revenue Officers vis-à-vis the new department and he correctly ascribes it, as has already been mentioned earlier in this history, to the ignorance existing in England at the time in all pertaining to forestry and the impossibility of the Indian civilian at home obtaining any knowledge of forestry, since it was then a terra incognita at the Universities. And the same applied with even greater force to the higher officials, who had the framing of the general forest policy to be applied to a Province. That the Department received the support it did in these early days was due, as has been often reiterated in this history, to the surprising (if it may be so termed) foresight and statesmanship of successive Secretaries of State, commencing with the first Sir Charles Wood (I, p. 530), and to one or two of the Governors-General of that period.

During Eardley Wilmot's Conservatorship in Oudh Mr. P. H. Clutterbuck (later Inspector-General of Forests) was in charge of the Gorakhpur Forests, which were separated from Bengal by the Gundak River. He there shot the last surviving buffalo and also the last rhinoceros, which had wandered down from Nepal, killed in this district. At this period Mr. B. A. Rebsch, one of the more senior untrained officers, was in

charge of Gonda. The Bhinga Forests have been already alluded to-Eardley Wilmot has the following interesting note concerning them : "The forests of Bhinga present a curious appearance to the forester. Thirty years ago the area was peopled with ancient trees that rose abruptly from a bare soil hardened by the hoofs of numberless cattle; there was no young growth, the parent trees were without progeny, and as they fell from natural decay their place was filled by a thorny growth, impenetrable to man or cattle. It was Nature's last despairing effort to protect the fertility of the soil. For a generation the Forester fought against fires, cattle and man, and yet there was no response in the appearance or in the continuance of seedling growth, till later, under the protection of the thorns, a few little trees began to show, and, encouraged by the admission of light, sprang up to give in their turn protection to hundreds of their kind, to assure the tardy regeneration of the former forest. To one acquainted with the past history of this forest, two questions naturally presented themselves-whether a whole generation was required to rest a tired soil, and whether the planting of any other than the existing species might have met with success." As the Conservator says, to these questions answers are indispensable if the forester is not to invite serious sylvicultural failures. Research work to provide knowledge on the rotation of species is essential in all countries, and perhaps even more so in areas where it is desired for one reason or another to raise pure crops, which are even more subject to insect attack and fungus diseases. Research is a paramount necessity in India, and through research work there can be little doubt that, as Eardley Wilmot expresses it, "we may some day light upon the causes that are at work when studying, as we now do, to remedy their effects, and there will become open to us those sylvicultural secrets with regard to teak, to sâl, to other valuable Indian timbers which at present so often stand in the way of the forester in his efforts to aid in the regeneration of those trees on areas where magnificent forests once flourished, or stand in splendid maturity even in the present day."

CHAPTER IX

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN BENGAL

1871-1900

HE position of the forests of Bengal and the commencement made in introducing forest conservancy was described at length in Volume II, Chapter XI. With the exception of some of the northern forest areas, but little real organization had been undertaken in the Province, and the position was retarded to some extent by the fact that Assam was still administered by the LieutenantGovernor of Bengal, and the Government of India had been particularly anxious to have investigations made into the value of the Assam sâl forests. In the Annual Report for 1868-9 the proposed forest divisions were the Sikkim and Bhutan, Lower Assam, Upper Assam, Dacca and Chittagong, each of the divisions being divided into two subdivisions (II, p. 423). The formation of Assam into a Chief Commissionship in 1874 relieved Bengal of the forests in that Province. Leeds was succeeded by Dr. Schlich as Conservator of Forests in Bengal in December, 1872, whilst the Executive Staff was raised from six to eleven officers. As a result of Schlich's work a proper organization of the forests was introduced before he left the Province in 1878, including the demarcation of the Reserves and so forth. Various rather retrograde steps had been undertaken. The Chittagong Division had been made over to the Commissioner, who was appointed Conservator of Forests. Schlich's first step was to start an efficient system of collecting detailed information about the forests from which, in a few years, he was able to give a very good general description of the forests of the Province. In 1872-3 there were five divisions: (a) Cooch Bihar Division, coinciding with the boundaries of the Cooch Bihar Commissionership, the Forest Officers being under the orders of the Conservator. (b) Assam Division, coinciding with boundaries of the Assam Commissionership. The Forest Officers were under the Commissioner,

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