The chief matters preoccupying the Department in the Northern Division may be classified as demarcation of Reserves, the question of grass and grazing rendered so important owing to the famine, the free grant of wood, and plantation and sowing work. In many districts friction was apparent in connection with the first three, and the unfortunate attitude taken up by Shuttleworth was inevitably reflected in some cases in the actions of his officers. Progress in demarcation had been interrupted by the famine, as so many Assistant Collectors had to be delegated on famine duty, and under existing orders the presence of an Assistant Collector working in conjunction with the Forest Officer was necessary where new areas were being selected for formation into Reserves. In spite of this the area of Forest Reserves rose from 4022 square miles in 1876-7 to 4407 in 1877-8, the additions made being 350 square miles in Khandesh, 32 in Poona, 2 in Sholapur and smaller portions in Thána and Kolába. " Much remained," said the Bombay Government (Resolution dated 11th March, 1879), "in the two last-named districts and Ratnagiri, as well as in several others, and the issue and publication of lists of Reserved Forests under the new Act will probably go a long way to satisfy the demands of the Conservator on behalf of his Department."

The controversy over the grass and grazing question covers much of the old ground of the past with one new factor. Under the pressure of the famine the Department had undertaken the work of cutting and baling the grass to be utilized as fodder for the cattle. The people would not, however, buy the cut and stacked hay, stating that the cattle would not eat it, and the work was stopped. The conservative nature of the ryot is well known, but in the existing state of unpopularity of the Department in many districts it is difficult to say at this length of time whether the steps taken were such as to induce the people to try the new departure. As an outcome, Shuttleworth drew attention to the large amount of grass which was allowed to remain and rot in the forests. The Commissioner of the Northern Division in commenting upon this remark said that during the last ten or twelve years the grass lands of the Presidency had been more and more transferred to the Forest Department, until in places the Department had a monopoly. The Commissioner had himself always considered this a mistake. He was of opinion that large areas of grass land for the people should have been left outside the charge of the

Department, but he did not explain why the people refused to make use of the grass within the areas under the Department, merely stating that this was the case. The Commissioner of the Central Circle makes similar remarks, but he adds that thousands of cattle went to the forests (owing to the famine), but comparatively few went back as the dry grass in the forests was not worth eating. As is well known during severe famine conditions large numbers of the miserable type of Indian village cattle are inevitably doomed under a feeding system which depends entirely on grazing. Nevertheless the conflicting opinions did not make for the harmonious progress of the Department.

Another cause of friction also supervened. The Conservator objected to free grants of wood to cultivators even of the poorer type, such as Bhils and the like. Several of his officers acting, it may be imagined, under his orders had endeavoured to enforce his views and been overruled by the Collectors. The difficulties concerned with the collection of fees on forest produce and so forth in Bombay have been previously dealt with in this history and had caused the Department unending worry. But it is difficult to justify the position taken up on this point. The very people they objected to giving free wood to were those they should have been making their friends with a view to ensuring their co-operation in forest work. And the whole sum involved was a petty Rs.1,100 per district. In their Resolution the Bombay Government said that the question of free grants of timber would be considered after the Rules which were being framed under the Forest Act had been discussed and sanctioned. But, as a result of the unsatisfactory position of the grass and grazing question and the free grants, the prosecutions for theft and trespass were already assuming an unenviable position in the Forest Officer's daily work, making him regarded rather as a police officer than as a real friend of the people, his proper sphere in the administration of the countryside.

The question of forming plantations in the Presidency, especially to assist the fuel-supply question, was dealt with at length in a previous part. This work was making headway, and considerable success was said to have been attained during the year with broadcast sowing. The three systems being adopted were: (1) Rearing seedlings in nurseries and then planting them out in pits in the forest; (2) Ploughing and digging up land and sowing seed thickly (under this plan, a thinning of the seedlings had often been necessary before the

plants established themselves); (3) Sowing broadcast and protecting the areas sown against man and animals. The first method was considered to be only applicable to small areas favourably situated and with a good soil. The second system was pursued on comparatively flat lands and on banks of streams and rivers where the soil was deep, i.e. the babul (Acacia arabica) Reserves in the Deccan and Konkan. The plan was also expensive. Shuttleworth considered broadcast sowing to be the only feasible plan for large areas and it had been carried out with great success, and was the system in his opinion for adoption in the reboisement of denuded hill-slopes. The Forest Guard was the main factor in this work. The Forest Guard collected the seed and sowed it and looked after the area in his "beat." Therefore the greater the staff of Forest Guards in suitable areas the greater would be the progress of the work! A rather optimistic opinion to hold perhaps when dealing with a totally untrained subordinate staff. This regeneration and planting work had two main sides. An example of the first was the fuel plantation adjoining the G.I.P. Railway. This was a babul (considered the best species for the work) plantation, the ground having been ploughed and sown. Seedlings raised from seed sown in 1874 were then 12 feet high. Other plantations contained teak (Rajwadi in Kolába district) with a little blackwood. Casuarina at Dapoli (Ratnagiri district) and so forth. The second example was the broadcasting method in the forest areas, adopted in many districts, the species used being babul, anjan (Hardwickia binata), khair (Acacia Catechu) and bamboos. In the review of this work it was suggested that greater attention should be paid to sowing bamboo, of which there was always a large demand, and it was added that the Department were not paying sufficient attention to the manufacture of charcoal, the demand for which was also large.

Under Colonel Peyton's admirable administration the progress of forestry work in the Southern Conservatorship appears to have advanced most satisfactorily. Perhaps the outstanding feature of it was the success achieved from his method of dealing with the collection and sale of myrobalans.

Peyton's officers at this time included Barrett, Laird and Talbot who had exchanged with Betham. As in the Northern Division, demarcation work here had suffered owing to the famine. The Government of Bombay's Resolution on Peyton's Report epitomises the work carried out and progress made.

"The only addition to forest reserves made in the past year was that in the Bidi taluka of Belgaum, amounting to 307 square miles. Other proposals are being prepared for the approval of Government. It is observed that in this Division (i.e. Conservatorship) gratuitous grants of timber were freely made to the poor cultivators on the Ghâts, and this liberality, coupled with the popularity arising from the departmental collection of "hirda" (myrobalans), the fruit of Terminalia chebula probably accounts for the marked diminution in the number and extent of forest fires and the readiness which the villagers showed in assisting to extinguish them when they did occur. Forest offences were also fewer, there having been only 164 cases as against 215 in 1876-7. Owing to the unfavourable season-the long break in the monsoon after the first showers fell, and the excessive rain in subsequent months-plantings were, except in the eastern districts, under the broadcast system and in the case of the Casuarina Plantation at Karwar, scarcely successful. . . . Attention may be drawn to the great success of Čolonel Peyton's departmental collection of myrobalans (a success which is entirely due to his energy and forethought) and to the working of the Kanara Saw Mills, which despite the bad season made a net profit of Rs.3,848 and had in hand on 31st March, 1878, stock valued at Rs.54,881."

It should be mentioned that the extraction of timber, etc., from the forests of the Presidency was done by Departmental Agency and by sale to purchasers of trees standing in the forests. As regards the financial results of the year the Northern Conservatorship showed an unexpected and unexplained rise in receipts and a fall in expenditure from the amounts budgeted for. The Budget estimates were for Rs.3,94,919 and Rs.3,24,225 respectively. The actual figures were Rs.5,42,291 and Rs.3,06.527, with a net revenue of Rs.2,35,694 or 1 lakhs over the anticipated amount. The increase was most marked in departmental operations, sales of firewood and charcoal and bamboo. Khandesh, Surat and Kolába were chiefly responsible for this satisfactory position. In the Southern Conservatorship the position was not so favourable, only the myrobalan sales averting what would have possibly proved a deficit. Here the Budget estimates were for Rs.5,13,882 in receipts and Rs.3,15,326 expenditure, but the actuals were Rs.3,52,817 and Rs.2,79,353 respectively, with a surplus of Rs.73,462 only. As might have been expected the decrease in revenue was greatest in Kanara, Rs.1,37,350, and was due there to departmental operations in timber and bamboos.

The departmental collection of myrobalans (the fruit of Terminalia chebula used for tanning) was started on a small

scale in 1874-5 by Peyton at the request of the hill people. This minor product was an important item of the forest produce of Belgaum and Kanara. The right of collection of the fruits in the forests had been farmed in the various talukas since 1869-70 in Belgaum, and, in the two districts, since 1870-1. The small amounts collected departmentally from 1874 onwards to 1876-7 were shown in the accounts in the farm revenue for this product. The total sum realised from the farmers fluctuated a little, but Peyton satisfied himself that Government were not receiving the true value of this product owing to probable collusion of smaller officials and a ring amongst the farmers. He accordingly took the bold step of undertaking the whole of the collection from the forests through the local people departmentally during 1877-8 for the first time. In this manner he secured other benefits, especially great assistance in fire protection. The financial result was startling, as the following well shows: From 1870-1 to 1876-7 the right to collect sold on an average for Rs.24,883. In 1877-8 the departmental collection gave a net increase of (receipts Rs.1,17,038, expenses Rs.44,728) Rs.76,966, showing a balance in favour of 1877-8 of Rs.52,083. The increase from this product had trebled in one year and it was estimated that the net profit the following year would be a lakh of rupees, as the absence of the usual fires had produced a marked effect on the myrobalan crop. The local people had, of course, been the first to realize this. Referring to the new departure and its remarkable outcome Peyton prophetically remarks: "Doubtless there are all over India similar mines from which an enormous and like legitimate forest revenue might be expected, but if they are to be worked successfully, Forest Officers must not shrink from the closest personal examination of them, and, in assuming control or replacing whatever contract system may exist, secure to the collectors or pickers of the produce good and liberal rates far exceeding those of contractors."

In 1881 Brandis visited Bombay at the instigation of the Government of that Presidency. He toured in parts of the Deccan. One of the objects of the visit was the question of arriving at a decision on the classification of the forest areas. Brandis advocated the division of the hill reserves into two classes the one class to be strictly protected against unauthorized felling, grazing and fires, whilst in the second class grazing was to be permitted on payment, the burning of the forests, however, to be prohibited. The object Brandis aimed at was to