All of these offices will be open without distinction to Europeans and natives of India, subject to the rules and conditions herein prescribed." The italics are the writer's. It appears to have been a common impression in the past that the superior ranks of the Department were not open to Indians. The truth is to be found in the fact that owing to the disinclination of Indians for a forest life, the right stamp of man did not present himself for competition with the European applicants. This matter is dealt with in the next chapter. “ III.—The number of Conservators of each class will be settled from time to time by the Government of India, and the total number of Deputy Conservators and Assistant Conservators, respectively, will be fixed for each Province by the same authority. There will be no fixed proportion between the numbers in the several grades in these last-named classes, which will necessarily vary under the rules for promotions which follow. IV. First appointments of officers to the Controlling Establishment of the Forest Department under the Government of India will be made either by the Secretary of State for India, or by the Governor-General in Council. V.-Persons admitted to be officers of the Forest Department will, as a rule, be appointed as Assistant Conservators, 3rd grade, but the exigencies of the service may demand the occasional first appointment of officers to the higher grades. VI.-Promotions from one grade to another of Assistant Conservator and of Deputy Conservator will be made by Local Governments, subject to the conditions named in Rules VIII and X; and under Local Administrations such promotions will be made by the Government of India on their recommendation. VII.-Promotions to the classes of Deputy Conservator or Conservator will be made by the Government of India, which will generally be guided by the recommendation of the Local Government or Administration, though it reserves to itself the right of selecting any of the existing establishment to fill vacancies in these classes. Promotions from one class of Conservator to another will also be made by the Government of India. VIII. No Assistant Conservator, 3rd grade, will be eligible for promotion to Assistant Conservator, 2nd grade (1) Until he shall have passed the examination for the first or lower standard laid down in General Order, Military Department, No. 734, dated 9th September, 1864, or a similar examination in the language of the Province in which he may be employed, or in such other language as may be ordered by the Government of India, and shall have been duly reported to be able to read letters and accounts in the native character; and (2) Unless he has been duly reported to be competent to hold charge of a forest range or division. IX.-Assistant Conservators of the 3rd grade, who have not complied with the conditions laid down in Rule VIII, will not, as a rule, be placed in charge of a forest range or division, but will be attached as supernumeraries to an experienced Forest Officer. X.-Assistant Conservators of other grades than the 3rd, and Deputy Conservators of all grades, will not ordinarily be eligible for promotion to the next higher grade or class till they shall have served, respectively, three years in the lower grade, and unless they shall have passed the examination for the first or lower standard as defined in Rule VIII, or such other examination in the languages, or in surveying, or in other matters, as the Government of India may from time to time prescribe. But length of service, and the passing of these examinations alone, shall not entitle anyone to promotion; and if in any special case it may be considered desirable to grant promotion before the expiry of the three years' service, or to dispense with the examination test, the sanction of the Government of India must be first obtained. XI.-Appointments of Deputy or Assistant Conservators to officiate as Conservators, or of Assistant Conservators to officiate as Deputy Conservators, or of persons who are not officers of the Forest Department under the Government of India, to officiate in any class or grade, will, in all cases, be made by the Government of India. XII.—As a rule, all officiating appointments will be made to the lowest grade of Assistant or Deputy Conservator, and to the lowest class of Conservator; and in such cases the pay of the acting officer will be that of the lowest grade or class of the office in which he is acting. There being no fixed number in the different grades of Assistant Conservator and Deputy Conservator, no acting appointments in the higher grades within these classes will be permitted. XIII.—If in any special case an officiating appointment is made otherwise than to the lowest grade or class of Assistant or Deputy Conservator or Conservator, the pay of the acting officer will be regulated by the ordinary rules regarding acting allowances, or will be specially fixed by the Government of India. XIV. To enable the Government of India to select officers for promotion to the rank of Deputy Conservator and Conservator, Local Governments and administrations should submit, from time to time, to the Government of India, the names of any Assistant Conservators or Deputy Conservators whom they may consider deserving of such advancement; and, after a consideration of such recommendations, a selection will be made by the Government of India on the occurrence of vacancies. In the absence of properly qualified officers in the higher grades, junior Deputy or Assistant Conservators will be eligible for promotion to the next higher class. XV.-Local Governments and administrations may recommend to the Government of India the names of any members of the subordinate establishment whom they may consider specially deserving of promotion, or the names of persons who are not officers of the Forest Department, to be brought forward as candidates for the controlling establishment. XVI.-In cases of misconduct of Forest Officers, Local Governments may reduce Assistant or Deputy Conservators to a lower grade in the same class. Under the local administrations, cases calling for the reduction of officers to a lower grade will be referred to the Government of India for orders. The reduction of Conservators to a lower class, the reduction of deputies to the class of assistants, and the removal of officers from the controlling establishment, or the final removal of Forest Officers from the Department, will rest with the Government of India. XVII. The Government of India alone has the power of accepting the resignation of officers of the Forest Department. XVIII.-Transfers from one Province to another will be made from time to time by the Government of India, as the exigencies of the Service or the merits of the officers concerned may require. In such cases the Government will use its discretion in giving promotion within the established complement, should it be deemed proper. XIX. Postings and transfers within a Province will be made by the Local Government or administration. XX.-Leave of absence may be granted by Local Governments to officers of the Forest Department, under the rules which may be applicable to the branch of the Service to which such officer belongs; but the power of local administrations in this respect is limited to privilege leave, and to urgent cases of medical certificate. All other applications for leave from officers serving under local administrations should be forwarded, with the opinion of the local administration, to the Government of India. XXI.-All appointments, promotions, transfers, leave of absence, dates of departure on, and return from, leave, etc., will be reported to the Government of India. They will also be notified in the official Gazette of the Province, or if there is no local Gazette, they will be notified in the Gazette of India. (3) The established number of Conservators will for the present be as follows: 1st Class, I; 2nd Class, 1; 3rd Class, 2; 4th Class, 3. Total, 7. Being one for each of the provinces named below, viz. Bengal, North-Western Provinces, Punjab, Burma, Oudh, Central Provinces, Mysore and Coorg. (4) In the Berars, the appointment of a Deputy Conservator only has been sanctioned; but during the incumbency of Mr. F. Read, who ranks as a Conservator, no change will be made, and the junior Conservator, Lieutenant Van Someren, will rank as a super numerary. The Deputy Conservators will be fourteen in number, distributed as follows: North-Western Provinces, 3; Punjab, 3; Burma, 3; Central Provinces, 3; Mysore, 1; Berars, 1. Total 14. The proposed number of Assistant Conservators and their distribution are as follows: Bengal, 3; North-Western Provinces, 6; Punjab, 6; Burma, 9 ; Central Provinces, 5; Oudh, 3; Mysore, 2; Coorg, I; Berars, 1. Total 36." The receipts and charges of the Department up to 1867-68 have been already detailed. The following abstract from the Provincial Budget of the Forest Department for 1870-71 is of interest as showing the position the Department had arrived at, at the end of the period here dealt with : "ABSTRACT OF THE PROVINCIAL BUDGET ESTIMATES OF THE FOREST GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN THE The following remarks are made on the abstract :The total amounts, omitting Mysore and the Berars, for the last few years, are : A comparison of these figures with those given in the orders on the Forest Budgets for the current year shows a DEPARTMENT THROUGHOUT INDIA FOR 1870-71, AS PASSED BY THE |