used, and some which, we are of opinion, ought never to have been purchased on Government account, lead us to the conclusion that, on the whole, it is very probable that Government is rather a loser than a gainer by importing timber on its own account.

We are further of opinion that it is impolitic on the part of Government, unless it be absolutely necessary to do so, to compete in the supply of timber with traders; and even with respect to the produce of its own forests we believe that, excepting a few choice logs, sometimes not procurable in the market, it would be better to sell by public auction all Government forest timber at times and places convenient for traders to assemble, rather than to convey it to distant points, either for sale or for Government use.

There will, of course, be exceptions to the above rule, such, for instance, as in places where the demand for timber being almost exclusively on account of Government, no open market exists, and where supplies being required by public officers residing near the forests, or near the spots where periodical sales are held, purchases should be made at the Government sales and not in the market.

If Government derived a large revenue from the Bombay Depôt, even though part of that profit were at the expense of other departments, there might be reasons for its continuance; but as we cannot satisfy ourselves that even this is the case, and, for the reasons above given, we have come to the unanimous conclusion that the Bombay timber depôt should be abolished as soon as the present stock can be disposed of."

It is of interest to draw a parallel between the position in respect of timber supplies held by the Bombay Government sixty years ago and the cost of establishment and deterioration thereby entailed, and the similar position of the British Government, although on a much larger scale, at the close of the Great War. The Committee's Report continues :

"Having arrived at the conclusion that Government ought to leave the supply of timber to merchants, and that agencies for its purchase and depôts to store it in should be abolished, the second question we have to consider is limited to the stocks now on hand.

Within the dockyard there is a considerable space for storing timber, and we deem it desirable that the Naval Department should receive from the Conservator of Forests and

store within its own premises a supply of timber equal to about three years' probable consumption.

The agent for gun-carriages, the principal commissary of ordnance, the garrison engineer and civil architect, the executive engineer at Aden and the executive engineer at Kurrachee, should also take three years' supply, or as much (within that amount) as the stocks in Bombay and Bulsar will supply.

There is doubtless in 'stock' a very large quantity of timber of some classes more than sufficient to meet the three years' supply of the several departments named, and there is timber which, though of classes required, would, under existing rules, be rejected, because it would not work up without an undue amount of wastage. Officers should be required to take timber fit for the uses of their departments, provided it could be worked up without any greater loss than 40 per cent.

The timber that may remain should then be disposed of by public auction; one-third should be sold at once, one-third on or about the 15th of October next, and the remainder in the month of February, 1863, with the exception of the crooks which might be offered to Her Majesty's Government on the same terms as the timber in Canara and Malabar.

The price charged to public departments should be the same as that realised by Government for serviceable timber of the several classes at the first public sale; but in order to prevent any inconvenience arising from Budget arrangements, one-third, or such portion in excess of that quantity as may be actually expended during the year, should be paid for during the first year, and the remainder during the two subsequent years.

We recommend that the Indian Navy Department first select its three years' supply, in which should be included all the timber now within its premises, but still in charge of the Conservator of Forests; the agent for gun-carriages should next make his selection; then officers of the Public Works Department, and last the principal commissary of ordnance."

In a Resolution on the above Report the Governor said that he was of opinion that the functions of the Conservator and his Department should be strictly confined to the conservation of the forests, including sylvicultural operations and disposing of the produce of the forests, and that the supply of timber to public departments and the care of the reserved stocks was a duty which should not have been assigned to the Conservator's Department. In the reorganisation of the Depart

ment the Governor desired that its duties should be confined to its own proper functions, and where it was necessary to maintain stocks of timber, such as in the dockyard, guncarriage, etc., each department should store and conserve its own supplies. The Committee had clearly shown in their Report that the depôts had been most expensive agencies; the cost of establishment in some cases more than doubling the price of the timber purchased through them.

The Governor-General in Council approved generally of the several suggestions made by the Committee and sanctioned the abolition of the Agencies, "the officers employed in them being provided for in the reorganisation of the Forest Department." The Governor considered, however, that "with respect to the disposal of the reserve stocks at Calicut the public departments should, if they cannot obtain sufficient timber from the Bombay and Bulsar Depôts to make up their three years' supplies, be permitted to indent on the Calicut Agency to complete these supplies. The Agent should then set aside all the timber and crooks fitted for naval purposes to be offered to the Admiralty as suggested by the Committee."

The Governor did not approve, and correctly so, as the evidence of the past management of the timber business had so often shown, of the suggestion that the public departments should go into the open market and compete against one another to the benefit of the traders. The measures to be adopted would depend on the decision come to on the future forest management. "Should the departmental system of cutting the forests be adopted," said the Governor, "there will be no actual loss to Government if public departments compete against one another at the periodical Government sales of timber which must take place under that system, because such competition would have its effect in preventing private parties from combining to lower prices, and what Government loses by paying highly for timber in every other department will be repaid by the additional receipts in the Forest Department. Should it, however, be found impracticable to carry out the departmental system of cutting, and the forest management be conducted on a system of licences granted for the cutting of timber, or on the present fee system, under which private individuals become the owners of the timber they fell, his Excellency in Council considers it will be found desirable to appoint a single purchasing agency for all the public departments. In the meantime public departments

should only obtain from the market what they cannot get from the stocks in the several depôts.

In the event of its being decided that each Government department is to provide itself with whatever timber it requires at the periodical sales, his Excellency in Council considers that arrangements should nevertheless be made, whereby the departments could at any time on an emergency be supplied with timber, without waiting for the auctions.

A depôt for this purpose should be formed at Sedasheghur, or other convenient place in the vicinity, under an officer who should select suitable timber brought down from the Canara forests. From this depôt, which should be placed in charge of an officer who will be appointed to Sedasheghur, and who will receive an allowance of 300 rupees per mensem for the separate duty, the public departments might, when necessary, be supplied with timber at 5 per cent over the last auction rates.

Public departments and private individuals should also be allowed, in cases of emergency, to draw on the depôts, at which timber will be collected for sale at such advance, not less than 5 per cent on the last auction rates as the Conservator of Forests may consider advisable."

Before noticing the Secretary of State's Despatch on the Bombay Government's Forest Department reorganisation schemes it will be necessary to deal briefly with the correspondence which took place at this time on the subject of the Khandeish Collectorate Forests. The correspondence affords ample evidence of how little attention had been paid to the forests by the Collectors and also that their superiors remained in ignorance of the utter neglect of all conservancy even to the point of refraining to collect revenue which was undoubtedly leviable on the timber felled in Government forests.

Mr. Ashburner, Collector of Khandeish, in a letter to the Revenue Commissioner of April, 1862, wrote as follows:

"The contractors who have engaged to supply the railway with sleepers have hitherto been allowed to cut down Government timber in the Khandeish zillah gratis; they have entirely exhausted the teak in the Satpuras, and are now rapidly using up inferior timber. I have the honour to request your sanction to levy from the contractors two annas per sleeper; the proceeds will be very large, and as I propose to collect it in the large railway stations where the sleepers are delivered, the cost of collection will be very trifling, and

there will be none of that vexatious interference with traffic that invariably attends the collection of fees at nakas (toll stations) on the high roads. This way of collecting the tax will also avoid interference with the Bheels, who earn a precarious livelihood by cutting timber in the Satpuras and selling it to the contractors.

The contractor who cuts timber in the disputed Nowapoor jungle pays Government four annas per log, and I am aware of no reason why other contractors should enjoy the right of cutting Government timber on more favourable terms. The railway company pays the contractors four rupees per sleeper of teak, and Rs.3.12 for jungle wood, delivered at the railway; and as the sleeper can be delivered for about half that sum, the contractors can afford to pay the small sum of two annas for the timber.

As the timber carts form the chief traffic on the roads, I request that I may be allowed to expend the proceeds of the tax on the repair of roads."

In his reply the Revenue Commissioner pointed out that proposals for a general revision of forest arrangements had just been submitted to Government, and that the substitution of a system of departmental cutting in lieu of the fee system had been recommended. He continued: "If the taxation of the wood to which your letter refers could be carried out by employing Bheels to cut it and then selling it by auction, the scheme would be more in accordance with that which has been proposed for general adoption, and I should be glad if you will communicate direct with the Conservator to arrange the details of such a plan.

There is certainly no good reason that I am aware of for exempting from taxation the wood taken by contractors from Government forests, and I am surprised to learn that they have hitherto been allowed to cut teak in Khandeish without restriction. I presume that in proposing a fee of two annas per sleeper you did not intend to restrict the import to railway contractors, for this would be equivalent to a tax on the railway. Logs cut for other purposes should also be taxed, but if the mode of taxation suggested by you be adopted, the objections which have been generally urged to the fee system elsewhere would, it seems, be applicable to this levy.

It is clear that some check should be put on the destruction of teak in the Government forests, and therefore one system or the other should be brought into force after the monsoon,