recruiting of the Department with trained men from home, and had solicited the opinions of the Governments of Madras and Bombay in the matter. The correspondence thus elicited is very lengthy and covered a great deal more than the question of the future recruiting of the upper grades of the Services. Cleghorn himself, writing as Conservator of Forests in Madras, was in full accord with Brandis, and suggested the division of the Department into two classes, viz. Upper or Administrative and Subordinate. This would at once differentiate the two classes and render more intelligible the kind of training it was intended to give to the administrative. Cleghorn, a Scotsman and a medical officer, could more easily comprehend, whilst appreciating its dangers, the opposition which had come from Scotland and elsewhere at home on the subject of training the Forest Probationers on the Continent and realised the inability of the opposers to understand, owing to the absence of all scientific forestry training in Britain, what this training really meant. It is impossible to deal with the correspondence here in any detail. The opinions elicited came from LieutenantGovernors, Chief Commissioners, Conservators of Forests, and Collectors of Districts throughout the country. In the main it was favourable to the future recruiting of the Department by trained men. In this latter connection the question of promotion came up for consideration. At the time each Province or administration had its own department with, in consequence, a very slow promotion amongst the few officers in it. Suggestions were made for dealing with this matter.

A striking passage in one of the answers is from the Chief Commissioner of Oudh in a letter from Colonel C. A. Hutchinson, R.E., Secretary to that Government in the Public Works Department (letter dated 3rd December, 1867). In this letter the following paragraph appears :

'There being no forests of importance in their own country, Englishmen commonly know nothing upon the subject. They are, for the most part, ignorant even of the existence of the scientific system of management which has grown up on the Continent of Europe, the success of which has been proved by long experience to be complete, and without which, it may be confidently asserted, the destruction of every forest is a mere question of time. In spite of all that has been done, there is probably no Indian forest which is not at the present time in course of destruction. The wanton ruin of the forests which

formerly went on has doubtless been checked, but beyond this there has been little real progress. It is doubtful whether there is a forest, at least on this side of India, in which even an attempt has been made to carry out what Dr. Brandis calls the plain fundamental principles of forestry, not to cut more within one year on a given area than is produced within the same time, either by natural growth or by planting.' The common objections that are often heard, that the system which has proved so successful in Europe is not applicable to India, have their origin in ignorance alone. The fact evidently is that, without special education, a man can no more learn to manage a forest than he can learn to be an engineer, or a lawyer, and until this truth is recognised we shall never have an efficient system of forest management in India.”

Brandis summarised the evidence in these letters in his Report dated Simla, 28th July, 1868. He recapitulated his previous letters on the subject, and pointed out that the first seven probationers had been selected after an examination in English, etc. He then dealt with his latest proposals and the various suggestions in the correspondence before him, including his own proposals for placing the Forest Officers under the Government of India on to one cadre, graduated scale of pay, and so forth.

The proposals of Brandis had been objected to by the Government of the North-West Provinces, by Colonel Ramsay, Commissioner of Kumaun, and by Mr. Henry Leeds, who had succeeded Brandis in Burma and since been transferred as Conservator to Bengal. The principal objections to the scheme were on the score of expense and the uncertainty whether the young men selected and sent out after completing their course of training would be able to stand the fatigue and exposure of the forests, whether by temper and disposition they will be fitted to manage the natives of the country, and generally whether they will make efficient Forest Officers." These objections, as Brandis said, applied equally to the Civil Service, Public Works and other Departments, and hardly required discussion. The chief factor underlying the objections was attributable to the fact that youngsters, unable to pass examinations at home, had been sent out to India to obtain appointments in the Government Service, and already the new Forest Service was looked upon as a desirable one for this purpose. This attitude Brandis exposed. Leeds apparently

favoured this method of recruitment. But this gentleman's ideas on forestry education were very rudimentary, as in a subsequent communication he wrote: "In order to master the subject of forestry, after obtaining the certificate of one of the Agricultural and other societies in England or Scotland, a few months' run into the forest land in Great Britain under proper guidance, and a couple of months in Hanover and Germany or France afterwards, is all that is required!" A more noteworthy suggestion, and yet equally fallacious, was the proposal to establish a forestry branch at the Engineering College at Rurki. This had been urged by the Government of the North-West Provinces as early as 1863, and the proposal was again repeated. Brandis admitted that Rurki was favourably situated, but, he added, “until a series of well-managed forests under different methods of natural and artificial reproduction was in existence in India it would be premature to consider it possible to train the superior grades of the Service in that country."

The Government of India reviewed the whole matter and reported their proposals and suggestions to the Secretary of State in their Despatch, No. 10, Forests, dated Simla, 19th September, 1868. This Despatch is as follows:

"After mature consideration of the reports and of the views of the local authorities, we have come to the following conclusions, which we now beg to submit for the sanction of Her Majesty's Government.

We fully acknowledge the necessity of employing the agency of specially trained officers in the administration of the forests in the different provinces of India. These forests, if managed according to a well-considered system, will, we trust, in course of time, come to be one of the most important sources of national wealth for the inhabitants of this country; whereas, if managed by persons ignorant of their profession, their ultimate ruin appears to us to be almost inevitable.

Hereafter we hope that it may be possible to establish a forest school in India, where young men, natives of this country and others, may be instructed in the theory and practice of forestry, and be prepared for service in the Department. Until the establishment of such a forest school in India, however, it appears to us that it will be necessary annually to select a limited number of young men in England, and to send them

1 The italics are the writer's.

out after they have passed through a regular course of professional training, similar to that which has been arranged for the seven young men now under preparation in the forest schools of France and Germany.

For the present, we consider that it will be sufficient to send out four probationers every year. This will probably not suffice to provide for all vacancies, but it seems right to reserve a number of appointments to be filled up by promotion from the lower establishments, either of Europeans or natives of the country, and by occasionally appointing officers of the army, or other gentlemen in this country, who may possess such qualifications as may make it desirable to secure their services for the Department. Of the specially trained probationers, a few will from time to time be posted to the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay as necessity may arise.

Further experience will show whether the number to be sent out annually should hereafter be increased or diminished.

If arrangements can be made early enough, we would request that candidates be at once recruited this year in time to commence their course of instruction in March, 1869, and to be sent out to India in the autumn of 1871.

As a year has elapsed since the first selection was made, we would suggest that a larger number, not however exceeding eight, be selected this time.

If arrangements can conveniently be made, it appears to us desirable that about one-half of the candidates be sent to Germany, and the other half to France for their instruction.

In the notification inviting candidates, we think that great stress should be laid on active habits and a strong, hardy constitution, and the medical examination should be strict, so as to exclude all those not likely to stand fatigue and exposure in the climate of India.

We further think that candidates should be selected by a competitive examination in the following branches of knowledge :

(1) English writing from dictation and English composition. (2) Arithmetic in all its branches. (3) Algebra, elementary principles, simple and quadratic equations, ratios and proportion, logarithms, arithmetical and geometrical progression. (4) Geometry (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Books of Euclid) and plane trigonometry. (5) Free-hand and plan drawing. (6) A good colloquial knowledge of either French or German, with

the facility to read and translate the works of some classical writer in the language. These six subjects should be compulsory, and proficiency up to a certain standard should be indispensable for admission. We consider that it will be better to select a smaller number of candidates than to be satisfied with an insufficient preparation, which would prevent their deriving the full benefit from the professional training at the continental forest schools.

It might be useful to add the following branches of knowledge as optional, and to say that proficiency in these subjects would entitle candidates to preference :

(1) Surveying and land measuring.

(2) The elements of any of the following natural sciences : mechanical and natural philosophy, chemistry, botany,

geology.

You will observe that we do not at present advocate the adoption of the plan sketched by Mr. Brandis in his letter to the Under-Secretary of State for India of the 13th February, 1867, received with your Despatch No. 8, of the 28th February, 1867. This plan is doubtless more complete, but it appears to us preferable for the present to maintain the arrangements made for the training of the probationers of 1867, which, if we may judge from the reports received from you regarding the studies of these young men, appear to us to give every promise of proving successful.

Hereafter, when the capabilities of the young men to be sent out by you for forest service in this country will have been tested, we shall better be able to appreciate and to remedy any defects which the present arrangements may possess.

We would therefore suggest that for the present the candidates, whose qualifications shall have been tested in the manner indicated above, be sent to some of the forest schools or other place of instruction on the Continent for their professional training during a period of two years and a half. In addition to this, if it should be found practicable to send the young men to an approved Forester in Scotland for a few months before coming out to India, we should consider such an additional preparation as an advantage.

Having thus explained our views regarding the selection and training of probationers to be sent out from England, we would draw your attention to another subject intimately connected with the first, and, in our opinion, of equal importance for a successful administration of the forests.