Railway Company, the Public Works Department and the general public rise considerably, the management of these hill forests on conservancy principles is not likely to yield a large (if any) net revenue.

(3) In favourable years there may be a surplus of receipts over working charges, cost of conservancy, and quota of establishment, but upon the whole we do not expect (without cutting more timber than conservancy principles warrant) that the receipts will exceed the total charges.

(4) A larger net revenue might, indeed, be obtained by limiting strict conservancy management to a small number of well-defined tracts, conveniently situated for the removal of timber, and well stocked with trees. The remaining forests being worked merely with a view to obtain the greatest possible amount of timber at the present time.

(5) This concentration of forest conservancy operations is a point worthy the consideration of Government. It may be urged that, under proper management, all forests, including those less advantageously situated, ought to give a good supply of timber, and consequently a surplus revenue, but this is a fallacy which must be guarded against.

(6) In the first years of forest conservancy, it is only the best tracts which yield a surplus revenue, and before the rate of timber production on a certain area has been ascertained, it may be necessary to limit the cuttings to a low figure to make sure that timber is not removed in excess of the annual rate of production.

(7) It is, indeed, possible to work the hill forests profitably for a short time in a revenue point of view, if the agency system merely be carried on over the whole extent, but this is not conservancy, and the forests would be annihilated in a few years.

(8) The conclusion at which we arrive, after a careful consideration of the data before us, is, that the hill forests are not likely to be more than self-supporting, and occasionally from physical obstructions, uncertainty of floods, etc., the outlay may exceed the proceeds. We look, therefore, to the forests in the outer hills and plains of the Punjab for the yield of a regular surplus revenue.

(9) In the intramontane forests, the trunk of the tree only is removed, the tops and branches very rarely bear the cost of transport, and thinnings below a considerable size are valueless.

(10) In the forests upon the slopes of the outer ranges this is not the case, and in the plains all loppings and thinnings are valuable, while the sale of grass yields a considerable income.

(11) Independently of the grave question of fuel supply for Railways and Steamers, a sufficient area of the best Rukhs (grass and wood preserves) should be reserved, and permanently placed under the Forest Department for the production of timber, firewood, charcoal, etc. This will yield a steady surplus revenue, which may from time to time be required to make improvements in the other forests.

(12) If the Rukhs in the Lahore, Amritsar and other districts, be capable of irrigation, they should not, on this account, be given up to cultivation, but a suitable area of compact shape, and having good soil, should be appropriated for the growth of timber trees (Dalbergia Sissoo, Acacia arabica, Acacia Lebbek, Prosopis spicigera). Sissoo, Babul, Siris and Jhand, grow well in the Punjab on lands liable to be submerged, or with a little irrigation, and other useful trees will doubtless be found to succeed.

(13) The admission of these premises does not imply the necessity of reserving all the Rukh lands. The expediency of concentrating forest conservancy to a comparatively limited area, holds good in the plains as well as in the hills. The more favourable the soil, situation and other circumstances, the larger will be the production of timber and of forest revenue on a given area. According to the measure of our success in improving the management and increasing the productiveness of the Rukhs, we will be able to follow the suggestion of Mr. Macleod, Financial Commissioner, in his memorandum of the 13th Janaury, 1863, in reducing the area of the reserved tracts.

(14) However, the selection of the Rukh tracts to be reserved should be made by the Conservator of Forests, and until that Officer has indicated the tracts which he considers necessary for the welfare of the country, and the requirements of the Forest Department, no Rukh land should be sold or otherwise disposed of. Until the selection is made, we think that the management of all the Rukh lands, whether ultimately reserved or not, should rest with the Forest Department.

(15) One source of revenue from these lands is the sale of grass or grazing dues. By resolution of Government in the Financial Department (dated 11th February, 1863), this

item of sayer was excluded from Forest Revenue. This may be regarded as an objection to the transfer of the whole of the Rukh lands to the Forest Department, but the above resolution may perhaps admit of reconsideration. We are of opinion that it would be highly inexpedient to exclude the amount realised by sale of grass on lands under the control of the Forest Department, which appears to be a legitimate item of forest revenue, and is so considered in Sindh and elsewhere.

(16) The question of the comparative advantage and disadvantage of the occupation of land by forests or by grain, is one upon which there is much difference of opinion, but it is generally admitted that an extension of the forests would tend to preserve a little moisture in the exceedingly dry climate of the Punjab. The heavier falls of dew where forests are, and the retention of moisture tend to ameliorate the climate and to fertilise the soil."

The suggestions in the above Memorandum that the rukh lands should be placed under the charge of the Forest Department was accepted by the Government of India, a paragraph in their letter, dated 7th December, 1863, reading: "Respecting the management of the Rukh lands, I am desired to say that it would appear expedient, in the first instance, to make them over to the Forest Department. The selection of the lands not to be retained can be made subsequently."

In a subsequent communication, however, dated 5th March, 1864, this order was reversed by the Government of India :

"On a reconsideration of the above papers, the GovernorGeneral in Council is of opinion that the orders given in the Public Works Department Letter of 7th December, 1863, were issued under a misapprehension, and is now pleased to direct that the management of Rukhs in the Punjab shall be entirely withdrawn from the Forest Department, and remain as heretofore in charge of the Revenue Officers.

This determination as to the executive management of the Rukhs, which should be altogether in the hands of the District Revenue Officers, need not in any way interfere with the employment of the Forest Conservator for the purpose of inspecting these tracts, and advising as to their management, should such advice be thought desirable by the Punjab Government."

And, as a matter of fact, Dr. J. L. Stewart, who had been appointed officiating Conservator of Forests in the Punjab in accordance with Cleghorn's suggestion that such a post

should be created, had, before the year was out, drawn up a full and concise Report of the fuel resources for the supply of the Punjab Railway.

One remaining source of supply, likely to become of great importance, Cleghorn thought, had not yet been dealt with, viz. the plantations on the Western Jumna, Bara Doab and Inundation Canals. Dr. Stewart proposed to visit and report upon these.

CHAPTER XXVI

FOREST OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES AND

I

OUDH, 1858-1864

"N a previous chapter the campaigns against the Gurkhas in 1814-16 were briefly alluded to. As a result of these campaigns the northern parts of the North-West Provinces, known as Kumaun and Garhwal, came under British rule. This region stretches eastward from the Sutlej, consisting of an area of territory mainly situated in the Himalaya, but including the tract of country stretching along the base of the mountains, and known as the Terai. This portion of the Himalayan region was reported to contain fine forests of conifers as well as broad-leaved trees, but at this period the region was almost unknown. The same may be said to have been the case with the inaccessible parts of the broad belt of sâl forest in the Terai lands, though the accessible areas had been treated hardly by the people.

In the absence of any attempt to introduce forest protection or forest conservancy into the forests of the North-West Provinces and Oudh the people were still carrying out, in the late 'fifties, the ruthless methods of exploitation which had been in force for centuries. Whole forests were being devastated by fire and by unregulated fellings. The forests were burnt every year either to clear the undergrowth for hunting or by the graziers to obtain a crop of young grass.

A brief review of the first attempts to mitigate these evils in the North-West Provinces and Oudh, will be given in this chapter. It may be stated at once, however, that the NorthWest Provinces were more backward in this respect than the other provinces already described.

As a first step towards introducing some amount of supervision and regulation in the management of the forests the Commissioners of Divisions were appointed ex officio Con