141 acres in Mokka Beeling, Nyanlay and Bwet. The results were very successful. The bands were commenced by Mr. Wild in the Mokka Beeling Forest. If the cost could be reduced Brandis thought the method would be a very good one, (b) Dibbling in seed when the bamboo had flowered, or in forest without bamboo under girdled trees. This operation had been commenced by Ribbentrop in 1876. About 950 acres had been treated under myinwa (Dendrocalamus strictus) and tinwa (Cephalostachyum pergracile) bamboos after flowering in Choungzouk, Bwet, Nyanlay and Mokka Beeling; and 635 acres under girdled trees in Kangyee and Mokka Beeling (10 acres only in last named). This plan Brandis considered excellent, since it was cheap (Rs.5 per acre); but he pointed out that efficient control over a large number of small plots would not be easy; and it is known that subsequently many of them were lost sight of and not thinned at the proper time. Many thousand acres could, he pointed out, be converted into rich teak forests. For the present he suggested that Rs.6000 per annum might be devoted to this work. As regards climbers, he alluded to the freeing of teak from these pests, to which Falconer drew attention in his Report (Vol. I, p. 232) and suggested felling badly infested trees. Brandis noted that this work was being carried out along existing paths. Later on it should be undertaken in the interior of the blocks of forest. With reference to future girdling, which operation had been restarted, he considers the question in all its aspects. Briefly his recommendations were that valuation surveys were to be the basis of girdling operations; that the work could be restarted in the demarcated Reserves on the findings of valuation surveys; that it should be undertaken with great caution in districts where demarcation had not been completed; and, lastly, that in all areas finally excluded from the demarcated Reserves all teak which had reached a marketable size could be girdled as required. The main out-turn would come during the succeeding five years from the Pegu Circle as it would only be possible to girdle sparingly in the Tenasserim Circle. In order to obtain accurate statistics regarding the rate of growth of teak, Brandis advocated the marking out of sample plots of which records could be kept. An interesting survey is given in the Report of the great amount of work which had been undertaken in blasting rocks to open out streams, by which means forests previously inaccessible, and which had consequently escaped the destructive energies of contractors, had now become exploitable. To demonstrate the importance of this work, Brandis states that "of the whole out-turn of timber which the Tharrawaddy Forests have furnished during the last twenty-three years, and which amounts to 198,000 tons, two-thirds could not have been extracted, had the streams not been opened by blasting and otherwise." Of course the importance of this class of work is well known. The Governments of Sweden, AustriaHungary and Rumania in the latter half of last century raised considerable credits which were devoted to these purposes, with the result that they captured the European timber markets, Sweden the British, and the other two countries the markets of the Mediterranean. Under the organization of the Department, Brandis recapitulates the work before the Burma Forest Officers, and it was sufficiently arduous: (1) selection of Reserves, settlement of rights, demarcation; (2) protective work; (3) planting and other measures of improvement; (4) girdling operations and systematic examination of Reserved Forests; (5) opening of streams for floating, etc.; (6) working of the forests on Government account; (7) collection of revenue from forest produce exported for trade from forests outside the Reserves. The Controlling Staff already mentioned earlier in this chapter had been slightly increased, but it was quite inadequate for the work. Brandis suggested that a commencement should be made to train a number of young Karens and Burmans as apprentices for appointment subsequently as Forest Rangers. The Government of India said there need be no limit to the number of such apprentices entertained as the Chief Commissioner had the power to appoint any additional temporary establishment required. If the men turned out well they would be appointed as Forest Rangers and could rise to Sub-Assistant Conservators. The work before the Department could only be accomplished, in Brandis' view, by a considerable increase in this cadre, since there appeared small hope that the Controlling Staff would be increased. In this policy the Inspector-General was only advocating a measure he had prescribed elsewhere in India. His hope for years had been and still was that a sufficiently good stamp of man would come forward. The hope had not been realized by the end of his service, nor was it realized to any extent by the end of the century. And throughout the period the Controlling Staff was kept far below the requisite strength to cope with the work demanded of it. That this was the case Brandis' enumeration of the Controlling Staff in Burma in 1880, of 2 Conservators, 7 Deputy Conservators, 7 Assistant Conservators and 4 Sub-Assistant Conservators, shows. The deficiency (twenty-three officers excluding the Conservators were required), he remarks, could most economically be filled by increasing the number of SubAssistants, but even if the appointments were made they could not be filled as there were no Forest Rangers in Burma qualified to fill them. The operations, therefore, he admits, would have to be contracted until the staff was at full strength, and the growth of the revenue and the improvement of the forests would be much influenced thereby. As an indication of the great progress made in Forest Administration in Burma within a score of years of the time at which Brandis took up his appointment as Superintendent of Forests in the Province, the Working Plan prepared for the Thonzé Forests, situated on the borders of the Yoma in Pegu, may be briefly alluded to. This plan was drawn up in 1883-4 by Mr. J. W. Oliver, Deputy Conservator of Forests, assisted by Mr. H. Slade. The forest for which it was prepared was the Thonzé Reserve of 69,734 acres, which included an area of 9413 acres made over to the Karens for taungya cultivation at the time of the Settlement. The field work undertaken consisted of (a) the division of the forest into blocks and compartments, (b) the valuation of the forest in each compartment, (c) the calculation of the rate of growth of teak trees of different classes. The work in the forest was interrupted by the sickness of the staff, due to the malarious nature of the forests and the necessity of constantly having to recruit fresh men and teach them the work connected with the enumeration of the growing stock, and so forth. The cost of this part of the work, amounting to Rs.15,482, was consequently higher than it would have otherwise been. The objects of management were described as follows: "to utilize to the best advantage the existing growing stock of teak timber, and at the same time increase the percentage of that species in the Reserve." Oliver added the remark: "In view of the almost certain falling off in quality and eventually in quantity of teak timber from foreign countries, both the interests of the State and the requirements of the consumer demand the production chiefly of dimensions suitable for the European and Indian markets (6 to 7 feet girth), and in a less degree of trees of smaller size for provincial requirements." There are several points connected with this plan which render it noteworthy for the period as marking a long stride in a forward. |