invite candidates acquainted with the French language. I shall therefore accept six candidates for Germany, should so many be found competent. In the event of the state of France being sufficiently settled to enable the authorities to resume the training of British subjects, I shall not object to selecting three additional men to be sent to France for that purpose.'

"

In his Memorandum on the subject of arranging for the above training of the probationers under his own supervision, Cleghorn mentions by name Mr. McCorquodale and Mr. Grant Thomson (two well-known Scots Foresters of their day), as they had been employed in this capacity before; but he adds: "Another excellent instructor in plantation work is Mr. McGregor, of Dunkeld, Wood Manager to the Duke of Atholl." He also was a well-known authority of the time.

It is of interest in this connection to note how fifty years ago the Scots Foresters were as eminent for their excellence in nursery work and in the formation of plantations as is the case to-day; and that it was to the north that the probationers were sent to undertake practical courses in these matters.

The Government of India agreed to the above arrangements. In January, 1871, six probationers were selected who were all to be sent to Germany to be trained, and the Secretary of State stated that owing to the disappointment felt at none being selected for France, he proposed to select three others in the following March who would be sent to France if the courses there had been reopened.

The correspondence on the subject of the training of probationers for the period here considered closes with the proposal of the Governor-General that as nine probationers were selected in 1871 four only should be selected for 1872, and of these three should be sent to France and one only to Germany.

Cleghorn also submitted a Report detailing the progress of the training of the probationers with him. Monsieur Nanquette, on behalf of the French Government, had offered, pending the reopening of the Nancy Forest School, to take four of the senior probationers and complete their training under his own supervision, an offer which was greatly appreciated and accepted by the Secretary of State.

The question of employing natives of India in the Forestry Department received serious consideration towards the end of the period dealt with in this part. In a Despatch (Rev. For., No. 8, dated 3rd August, 1869) the Government of India

forwarded to the Secretary of State a Memorandum by Brandis on this subject. This Memorandum is of peculiar interest at the present day, since it gives evidence of the views which were already held at this early stage in the life of the new Department. That it was not possible to give full effect to them was not due to the Department, to the Government of India, or the Secretary of State. The cause, at this period, lay in the rooted dislike of the Native of India to forest work-a dislike which it has taken many years to overcome.

The question of employing Indians in the administration of the Service had been animadverted on by previous Secretaries of State and, in connection with the reorganisation of the superior branch of the Department which had recently taken place, was being taken up by the Government of India with a view to placing the recruitment of Indians on a more definite basis. The Department, it was considered, offered peculiar advantages for the employment of natives, and it was deemed desirable to encourage their promotion to the higher appointments. The Government of India had therefore directed" that all appointments in the Department, including the highest, should be open equally to all, whether Europeans or Natives of India, who may possess the needful qualifications, and who may have earned their promotion by faithful and efficient service, and that in the promotion of officers, as well as in their first appointment to the Department, the same rules will apply to Natives of this country as to Europeans. We have desired that practical effect should at once be given to these resolutions, and that whenever an opportunity offers the names of deserving native subordinate officers should be submitted for promotion to the rank of Assistant Conservators. We have also suggested for consideration whether, in special cases, native gentlemen of practical experience, who are otherwise qualified, may not be appointed Assistant Conservators at once without any previous training in the lower grades of the Department."

In the meantime meantime Brandis' Memorandum was being circulated to all Local Governments for opinion. In his Memorandum Brandis referred to the steps already taken for training young men in Europe and to the acknowledgment which had been made that the forests, "if managed according to a well-considered system would, 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 appeared almost inevitable."

At that time Brandis however held the view that the training in Europe was "of a preliminary and temporary nature, and that the ultimate object to be kept steadily in view was to provide in this country the means of training the men required for all branches of the Forest Department." History shows how it became necessary to modify these views. Brandis was correct, however, in stating " that eventually forestry must become a profession in this country (India) as it is elsewhere, and that the practice of rational forest management must ultimately be as generally understood by the natives of India as the practice of agriculture and the breeding of cattle."

This proposition remains as true to-day, both in India, in Britain and throughout our Empire, as it was half a century ago; but we are far from having yet assimilated it. After dealing with the probationers under training in Europe and the scale upon which it was intended to recruit them, Brandis stated that these men would not be sufficient to fill all the vacancies which would arise in the forest Services: "For if the Department is to do justice to the work it has undertaken, it must necessarily expand considerably for some time to come. . . . Nor is it intended to continue the instruction of officers who have received their training in the forests of Europe beyond a limited number of years. Eventually the Department ought to stand on its own feet, and be independent of men who have received their training in other countries." In making this remark at this early date in the history of the Department, Brandis was not as yet fully aware of the great destruction to which the forests of the country as a whole had been subjected, and of the fact that practical illustrations of what may be termed normal areas of the different species, which would be necessary to provide adequate instruction to forestry students, were not in existence. The following extracts from the Memorandum will illustrate the InspectorGeneral's point of view and suggestions:

Arrangements ought therefore to be made for securing a supply of competent men in this country for those appointments in the superior ranks of the Department that cannot be filled by men sent out from home. Some of the vacancies that may from time to time occur it may be found desirable to fill by the appointment of military officers, and of such young Englishmen

in this country as may be considered to possess special qualifications for the work; but the majority must eventually be filled by the appointment of natives of this country. But from whatever source they are drawn, it is certain that the candidates ought to be specially qualified for the work.

The arrangements for selecting and training young men, natives of this country, will require careful consideration; and before entering into detailed proposals on this subject it may be useful briefly to review the present organisation of the Department under the Government of India, and to indicate the direction in which this organisation will probably develop in future. I should mention that none of the proposals and suggestions in this Report refer to the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay.

At present there are in each Province under the Conservator a number of divisional and sub-divisional officers, each in executive charge of a division or sub-division of the forests.

The forest ranges in charge of these officers are so extensive that, in most provinces, the necessity has been felt to subdivide them, and to establish under each Divisional Officer a number of executive charges of manageable size. In those State Forest Departments of Europe which are organised in the most efficient manner, the average area of executive forest charges varies from 5,000 to 20,000 acres, or, say, from 8 to 30 square miles. Forests of this size can be thoroughly kept in hand by an Executive Officer who is resident on the spot, and has the requisite number of subordinates under him for the watching and protection of the forests. But the yield of the forests in India must first increase considerably before the area of executive charges can be reduced to this extent.

In Sind, where the Government forests are more compact than in almost any Province of India, I found, on my late tour of inspection, that on a total area of 317,245 acres the annual yield per acre amounted to about 5 cubic feet, and the gross revenue fron 12 to 13 annas per acre. Some of the richer forest tracts, however, yielded as much as from 7 to 14 cubic feet, and from Rs.1 to Rs.2 per acre.

And although there are some exceptionally rich and compact forests in other provinces which, under systematic management, ought eventually to yield a much larger out-turn, such as the deodar forests of Jaunnsar-Bawar, and Bhagaruttee Valley, some of the sâl forests in Oudh, Kumaun and the Mundla District of the Central Provinces, the bamboo jungles

in the Punjab and the fuel plantations now under formation in the plains of that Province, still, speaking in a general way, we cannot at present expect a much larger gross revenue from the majority of the Government forests than, say, from Rs.100 to Rs.200 per square mile of 640 acres. This is necessarily a somewhat vague guess, as the Government forests in a few provinces only have been demarcated and their area determined. In Oudh the area of the State forests is 700 square miles, and the gross revenue may at present be said to fluctuate between Rs.70,000 and Rs.1,50,000.

These figures will make it clear that we can only afford a moderate outlay per square mile on the protection and management of the forests. Plantations and particularly rich forests excepted, the average extent of executive forest charges therefore will probably, in most cases, not be much below 100 square miles.

Again, assuming that an area of 100 square miles may yield an annual gross revenue of Rs.10,000, it is clear that at the outside not more than from Rs.2,000 to Rs.3,000 ought to be spent on the establishment entertained for the protection and management of such a forest.

On a rough calculation it seems probable that the pay of these Executive Officers will eventually range from Rs.50 to Rs.200 per mensem, or Rs.600 to Rs.2,400 per annum. Under them will be the subordinate officers of the protective establishment, and over them will be the officers of the inspecting and controlling branches of the Service.

The formation of this class of Executive Officers or Forest Rangers, as they may perhaps most suitably be called, has been commenced in a few provinces; eventually, as the revenue from the forests increases, their numbers will increase also, and, as a matter of course, they will generally be natives of the Province in which they are employed."

Brandis then contrasted his proposals with the French Forest Department and stated, "the strength of the controlling establishments is proportionately larger in India than in France (where it is believed that the revenue would increase if the extent of the executive charges were reduced), but the revenue in India will grow and the large extent of the forests requires a larger number of officers. And it should not be forgotten that a considerable proportion of the Deputy and Assistant Conservators are still charged with the executive