will be given in this chapter, fuller details being subsequently furnished under the Presidencies concerned.

With the defeat of Lally in Madras the French power in India came to an end in 1760.

As a result of the first defeat of Tippoo Sahib by the British in 1792, Malabar and Coorg were ceded to the British, who already held Canara. Tippoo's final defeat and death at the capture of Serangapatam (1799) put an end to the struggle for supremacy in Madras, and the civil administration of the Madrasz Presidency by the British thereafter proceeded on comparatively peaceful lines. The growing demand for teak timber? was one of the matters which received early attention.

Teak

R

If we omit the first efforts at bringing some method into the operations of extracting teak in Malabar (Madras) and Tenasserim (Burma), to be alluded to later, the initial step towards forest protection taken by Government was an order issued by the Bengal-Bombay Joint Commission, appointed about 1800, to enquire into the internal circumstances of Malabar and to make regulations prohibiting the felling of teak below 21 inches in girth. No further action was taken up to 1805, when a despatch was received from the Court of Directors enquiring to what extent the King's Navy might, in view of the growing deficiency of oak in England, depend on a permanent supply of teak timber from Malabar. This enquiry resulted in the immediate nomination of a forest committee charged with a comprehensive programme of enquiry both into the capacity of the forests themselves and, as important, into the status of the proprietary rights in them. Thus the first real interest aroused in the Forests of India and the resulting study of those accessible at the time originated from home, and the cause was the same which had kept Forestry in the forefront in England through a period of three centuries-the safety of the empire, which depended upon its " wooden walls." The planting of oak owing to the supineness of successive Governments had fallen into abeyance for nearly a century, Cou and the country was faced with a shortage in timber supplies which, in view of the bid of the French for sea supremacy, might well spell the doom of England.

The reason for the Court of Directors' enquiry relative to teak does not appear to be on record. They were probably aware that the Arabs imported teak from Bombay for building their fleet. The timber had long been prized. But it is curious that Bontius first described the teak under the name

..

of Quercus Indicus, although save in the strength of its timber the tree has no affinity to the oak.

Rhode has given an accurate representation of Tectona grandis and refers to the teak forests of Malabar in these terms (Hort. Malab., iv, t. 27): “Crescit ubique in Malabar, at præsertim in provincia Calicolan (Calicut) ubi integræ sylvæ ingentium harum arborum reperiuntur. . . . Lignum vero hujus arboris quercino ligno haud absimile operi fabrili accommodum, atque naupegis ad navium fabricam in usu est: sed in aquis (præsertim dulcibus) teredini facile obnoxium."

The reports submitted by the Forest Committee were by y no means reassuring. They brought into evidence that the capacity of the forests in mature teak timber had been overestimated; that the more accessible forests had been almost cut out, and that to tap the more distant ones would necessitate the construction of costly roads. At the same time the Committee pointed out that if protection were afforded the forests a valuable property would be gradually built up. Thus, as had been the case in other countries on the initiation of a forest policy, next to the utilisation of the forests, the oldest branch of the science of forestry, protection proved the next necessity if the forests were to be saved from total ruin and disappearance.

The immediate result of the Committee's report was a general proclamation declaring that the royalty right in teak trees claimed by the former Government in the south of the continent was vested in the Company and all further unauthorised fellings of this tree were prohibited. Under further pressure from the Home Government, and with regard to the maintenance of the future strength of the King's Navy, the decision was taken to appoint a special officer to superintend the forest work, who should have a knowledge of the language and habits of the people in addition to a knowledge of the forests. His duties were to preserve and improve the production of teak and other timber suitable for shipbuilding. Captain Watson of the Police was the officer selected, and he was appointed the first Conservator of Forests in India on 10th November, 1806. Under the proclamation of April, 1807, he wielded great powers, which unfortunately were somewhat vague in both scope and in the amount of interference he was to undertake in the established order.

The Conservator soon established a timber monopoly throughout Malabar and Travancore and furnished Govern

COUNTRY CART LOADED WITH A SQUARED TEAK BEAM OF 20 CUBIC FEET. MADRAS From Cleghorn's "Forests and Gardens of South India'

ment, as did his immediate successors, with a plentiful supply of cheap timber. But the methods by which this was done were intolerable and gradually gave rise to seething discontent amongst both proprietors and timber merchants. The feeling rose to such a pitch that the Conservatorship was abolished in 1823 and a great reaction set in to the detriment of the forests.

It was not till 1831 that the Indian Navy Board recommended the re-establishment of the Conservatorship. They consulted the Madras Board of Revenue. The Revenue Board took no action. In 1838, when submitting various reports from Collectors containing more or less practical proposals, they merely suggested that interference, if at all necessary for the conservation of the teak forests, should be under the Revenue Officer; that the latter might be authorised to take steps to prevent the felling of small timber and undersized trees. But they were not in favour of appointing an independent authority.

In 1842 the Court of Directors were of opinion that something might be done to improve the forests by the formation of teak plantations) Although little was attempted on a large scale, under orders of the Madras Government in this direction on the initiation of the Collector of Malabar, Mr. Conolly, the first beginnings of the Nilumbur teak plantations were inaugurated, plantations which have since become famous. Though it was being constantly urged that scientific advice in the management of the forests was becoming an urgent necessity, no step was taken in this direction until the Bombay Government in 1847 appointed Dr. Gibson Conservator of" Forests in the Presidency, he having filled the post as interim Conservator for some years previously in addition to his duties) in connection with the Botanical Gardens.

In Burma the exploitment of the teak forests dated back long before the advent of the British, the teak having been a "royal" tree in Tenasserim and, in fact, in the whole of Burma, long before the British occupation of any part of the Kingdom. The interest of the Home Government was early awakened on the subject of the importance of the Burmese teak timber owing to the decreasing supplies from Malabar and Western India. The Tenasserim Provinces were ceded to the British in 1826 under the Treaty of Yandaboo, and in 1827 Dr. Wallich was deputed to examine the forest resources of the country. He reported that they were unrivalled in comparison with those of any other of the territories in occupation by the East