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miles, but by the end of 1897-8 it had increased to 16,536 square miles, and in July, 1899, comprised about 20,000 square miles. The above figures only refer to the Bengal Presidency, where at present (1900) about two-fifths of all reserves are worked under regular detailed working plans. In Bombay and the Madras Presidencies the preparation and control of working plans is entirely local, and there is no technical adviser beyond the Conservator who submits the plans. In the Bombay Presidency regular working plans existed at the end of 1897-8 for 2484 square miles, and were under preparation for an additional area of 3514 square miles. In the Madras Presidency the staff has been too much occupied with forest settlements, and as regards working plans a commencement has but lately been made. At the end of 1897-8 plans existed for only 201 square miles, but were under preparation for another IIOI square miles, and may now be expected to increase rapidly. Similar progress has been made in the character of our Indian working plans. Some of our earlier plans were over-elaborated, the principle of the weakest link in the chain had frequently been overlooked, and enumeration of the young stock and sometimes of inferior kinds of trees had made them too costly in time and money in comparison with their final prescriptions. The plans, however, which have been prepared during the last eight years are well balanced and practical in every respect. In the Bombay Southern Circle, however, a tendency seems still to exist to carry out the preliminary work in too great detail.

Experience has proved the wisdom of centralising the control of existing working plans in the provinces under the Government of India. At the beginning, especially when a change of officers had taken place, deviations from the provisions of such plans were the order of the day, and were more frequently, than not, carried out without the sanction of the Local Government or even of the Conservator, who under the Forest Department Code is permitted to sanction certain changes. Often such deviations were not even reported, but they were necessarily found out by the Assistant Inspector-General in charge of the Working Plans Branch in the Inspector-General's office, and were promptly brought to the notice of the Conservator of the Local Government; explanations were called for and the authority required for any deviation that might have taken place. By a strict adherence to this policy on the part of the Inspector-General of Forests, the necessity of the due observance of the provisions of regularly sanctioned working plans was gradually recognised, and there is now little to find fault with in this respect. Though, however, the control is now much easier than it was at the outset, the increase in the number of working plans much more than counterbalances this, and the examination of the annual control forms throws a great burden on the Office of the Inspector-General of Forests which year by year becomes a

heavier one. It may at some future time become advisable to decentralise the control or to appoint another gazetted officer to assist the Inspector-General and to materially increase his office establishment.

The possibility of deviation which circumstances may render necessary or advisable has been fully recognised, and ample powers have been conferred on local Conservators to meet it. The rules on the subject stand at present as follows:

'As regards deviations from an approved working plan, not amounting to a revision of the general scheme of management, exploitation in deficit (either as regards material or area) may be permitted on the order of the Conservator, who will, however, subsequently report results to the Local Government, and, in cases where the deviation from the provisions of the working plan is considerable or continuous, obtain the sanction of the Local Government thereto. The previous sanction of the Local Government should, in every case, be obtained when it is proposed to exploit in excess (either as regards material or area)-provided such excess is not caused by the accumulation of balances due to deficit exploitation in previous years or when it is contemplated to change in any way the character of the exploitation. Conservators may act in anticipation of the Local Government's sanction in the case of fire or other serious accident, or in case of exceptional seed-years, necessitating a sudden change in the plan. Copies of the orders of the Local Government sanctioning such modifications should be forthwith forwarded to the Inspector-General of Forests.'

The Inspector-General is assisted in the work of control by the Superintendent of Working Plans, who is also Assistant Inspector-General of Forests, who is, for special qualifications and merit, drafted from time to time from the various Provincial Lists. The following officers have served in this position :

Mr. J. W. Oliver (Burma List), subsequently Conservator of the School Forest Circle and Director of the Imperial Forest School in 1900.

Mr. R. H. C. Whittall, died as Conservator of the Punjab.

Mr. E. P. Dansey (North-Western Provinces List), subsequently Conservator, Central Circle, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, in 1900.

Mr. E. E. Fernandez (Assam List), subsequently Officiating Conservator, Central Provinces, Northern Circle, in 1900.

Mr. W. E. D'Arcy (Punjab List)-author of a valuable treatise on Working Plans-died as Conservator of the Central Circle, North-Western Provinces and Oudh.

Mr. J. L. Pigott (Assam List), subsequently Conservator of Forests to the Mysore Government in 1900.

Mr. C. G. D. Fordyce (Bengal List), officiated during a three months' vacancy.

Mr. F. Beadon Bryant (North-Western Provinces List), for 3 years.

Mr. G. S. Hart (Punjab List), officiated during a three months'

vacancy.

Mr. J. H. Lace (Punjab List), from 22nd February, 1900."

As in other forest services on the continent of Europe, the preparation of working plans requires from the officers entrusted with the work skilled professional knowledge combined with a wide outlook, a grasp of detail and a capacity to appreciate the position and requirements, the susceptibilities and possible opposition of the local and other population to provisions they may wish to incorporate into their plans. Something more than the mere ordinary professional knowledge and training is required to produce the good working plans officer, even when a certain period of service has given him the essential experience and knowledge of the inhabitants of the countryalways a first necessity in India.

Such being the requirements, it is not surprising that with a recognition on the part of the Local Governments of the very great importance of this work, officers were picked to act as Working Plans Officers in charge of the preparation of plans for certain forest areas, and when necessary, junior trained officers from the Imperial Branch were selected to serve as their Assistants. Further, owing to the arduous nature of the work and its importance, staff pay was awarded to the officers engaged upon it. By the end of the period here dealt with selection as Working Plans Officer became regarded as the blue riband of the various local forest services in the provinces, the only possibility open at this period to the Forest Officer below the rank of Conservator of getting away for a time from ordinary divisional routine. To the smart junior, selection as Assistant on working plans, provided he fulfilled the promise of his selection, meant early distinction amongst his fellows.

For at this time research and the Research Institute and the Staff appointments which were to come in their train had scarcely reached the stage of academic discussion; whilst the Dehra Forest School appointments as Instructors did not, many Forest Officers felt, lead in the direction they wished to follow.

CHAPTER XX

INDIAN FOREST LITERATURE AND RESEARCH, 1850-1900

T

HE century which had elapsed since the British first began to institute enquiries into the value (from a timber-producing point of view) of the southern forests of the country was extraordinarily meagre in the production of a forest literature dealing with the Indian forests. Numerous official reports connected with the forests of the country were drawn up, but these were not available to the public nor generally to the officers of the Department after its formation. Those in authority saw and read them, and they then followed the usual fate of such documents and were filed and pigeon-holed. The only book dealing with the early days of Forest Conservancy which apparently became available to the public was Cleghorn's Forests and Gardens of Southern India, published in 1861. This book to a certain extent dealt with forestry matters and problems, for it was a description of the author's tours in the forests of the Madras Presidency, and forms a valuable record of the period (1856 to 1859) for which it was written.

A book of great interest and value to the Forester on the eastern side of India is Hooker's Himalayan Journal, published at much the same time.

With these exceptions the early books at all relating to the forests were botanical in nature, such as Balfour's Timber Trees, Timber and Fancy Woods of India, Colonel Beddome's Flora Sylvatica of Southern India and Ceylon, and Sulpiz Kurz's Forest Flora of Lower Burma.

Later, Brandis published his Forest Flora of North-West and Central India. Then came Gamble's List of Trees, Shrubs and Large Climbers found in the Darjiling District, Bengal, Talbot's Systematic List of the Trees, Shrubs and Woody Climbers of the Bombay Presidency, and Gamble's Bambusea of British India, and one of the most useful and practical books of all for general use by the Forest Officers throughout India, Gamble's

Manual of Indian Timbers. Last of all appeared Babu Upendra Nath Kanjilal's Forest Flora of the School Circle, North-West Provinces.

These books on the forest flora were indispensable and an inestimable boon to Forest Officers. For until they appeared it was impossible to refer to the various species with accuracy; for native terms for the species could not be relied upon and often varied in different parts of the same province or range of mountains, as e.g. in the Western Himalaya, for the same species of tree. Thus to enable the Forest Officer to write and report upon the species of his forests an authoritative botanical nomenclature was a sine qua non.

Outside the botany of the forest a handful of books dealing with purely Indian forestry subjects was all that appeared. This handful is represented by the following:

Ribbentrop's Hints on Arboriculture in the Punjab: intended for the use of District and Forest Officers.

B. H. Baden-Powell's Forest Law, a standard work of great usefulness to the Forest Officer.

Fernandez's Manual of Indian Sylviculture, and the same author's Notes on Forest Utilisation, both useful books at the time of their appearance. D'Arcy's Preparation of Forest Working Plans in India, a book of great merit and value to the Forest Officer, which ran into a second edition and is still in use in a revised form.

W. R. Fisher's Manual of Indian Forest Botany; Clifford's Notes on Forest Zoology; Heinig's Glossary of Botanical Terms; and Stebbing's Injurious Insects of Indian Forests.

A few elementary manuals and lecture notes were written and published for the use of the students at the Dehra Dun Forest School.

One of the most valuable literary departures made during the period was the inauguration of a monthly Departmental Magazine in 1875 to which the title of Indian Forester was given. This magazine was started by Schlich, the first Honorary Editor, who was at the time Conservator of Forests in Bengal with head-quarters at Darjiling. Twenty-four volumes of this valuable periodical made their appearance during the period under the Honorary Editorship of the following Conservators of Forest Sir W. Schlich, J. Sykes Gamble, W. R. Fisher, E. E. Fernandez and J. Sykes Gamble to the close of the century.

The Indian Forester was first edited at the head-quarters

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