statement of its boundaries, the character and description of the forests, and the lines of export from the same. It should also be stated in this register of reserves whether Government has complete control over the forests, or whether the inhabitants enjoy the rights over wood, grazing and other forest produce.

From paragraph 14 of Colonel Ramsay's Report it is inferred that the inferior forests are left for the use of the villagers in the neighbourhood. This is satisfactory, and may, His Excellency in Council trusts, be looked upon as the commencement of an important measure, the establishment of village forests for the use of the inhabitants."

This clear pronouncement of the necessity of clearly demarcating reserved forests on the ground and the upkeep of a detailed register is not without its value for other parts of the British Empire at the present day. In some of the Dominions and Dependencies this recognition is only now being given effect to, whilst in others it is doubtful whether this essential preliminary to the conservation and preservation of a sufficient area of forests for the future requirements of an expanding population has yet received adequate recognition.

The second point, the provision of village forests, was in a more precarious position. The mistake was made in India of making over such areas to the villagers to be exploited and ruined in the old-time fashion. It was not until the serious deficiency arising from the unchecked destruction of these areas had begun to make itself felt that a sound policy in this direction was introduced. This mistake is one which, with the Indian experience before them, the younger forest services of the Empire should be able to avoid.

An interesting summary on the subject of the Canal Plantations on the Ganges and Jumna is furnished in the Section on Canal Plantations. A statement is given of the trees growing on the canal banks in separate plantations, and on rajbuhas on the Ganges and Eastern Jumna Canals. "Excluding seedlings in nurseries, the results calculated on the area of these plantations, as lately reported in a Report by the chief engineer, Irrigation Works, forwarded with your Letter, No. 9, F., dated 4th January, 1868, are as follows:

The financial results of the Canal Plantations during the year under review are as follows:

Of the divisions, Kumaun and Garwhal (Col. Ramsay) had done the best and showed most of the revenue of the year; but progress had been made in the Meerut Division. The Rohilkund and Benares Divisions were not so advanced. The financial results of the year were as follows:

In 1864 the Canal Plantations in the North-West Provinces and the Punjab had been placed under the Forest Department, although Brandis had dissented from the proposed action. In a note dated 11th October, 1869, Brandis suggested that these plantations should be retransferred to the Canal Authorities. His reasons were as follows:

'In my opinion the Canal Plantations bear the same relation to the Forest Department as the planting of groves and avenues in the Central Provinces. The charges on that account are not defrayed from the Forest Budget grant, yet the annual Report is reviewed in this Department, and the Forest Officers are expected to assist Deputy Commissioners in the matter whenever an opportunity offers.

Practically the Conservator of Forests in the Punjab has exercised no control over this work, and his advice will be listened to more readily, I believe, when he ceases to hold his present official position with regard to them.

In the North-West Provinces the duty has been given to Dr. Jameson. The Canal Plantations are spread over long distances, constantly run over by Canal Officers; but Forest Officers, in order to see them, must go out of their way at a distance from their ordinary work. They cannot, except at a great sacrifice of time, make themselves familiar with these plantations, and the result is that Canal Officers are much better at home in their plantations than Forest Officers.

The result is that any recommendations of the Conservator are regarded with mistrust. And, after all, the present generation of Forest Officers have not more experience in planting of this kind than many Canal Officers.

The question only affects the Punjab and the NorthWestern Provinces, and if orders were passed at once the Canal Plantation Division might be excluded from the Budget of 1870-1, and transferred to Irrigation."

The Government of India and the Secretary of State sanctioned this suggestion.

In the review of the 1867-8 Forest Report the LieutenantGovernor (Sir William Muir, K.C.S.I., subsequently Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh University) referred to the failure to establish a boom upon the Ganges, and continued: "These are the last Reports which will be received from the Commissioners of the Meerut and Kumaun Divisions, the Department having been now entrusted to a separate Conservator," and he offered the thanks of Government to the Commissioners for the labour and skill devoted to the management of the valuable and extensive forests of their divisions.

The Forest Report for 1868-9 gave evidence of the presence of a Conservator of Forests in the Province through the first commencement of a systematic management of the forests as a whole, and this fact was recognised by both the LieutenantGovernor and the Secretary of State.

The arrangements which were being made in the Punjab to meet the heavy demands for sleepers for the new railways under construction have been already alluded to in the previous chapter; they had their counterpart in the North-West Provinces. In their letter, No. 1026, R., dated 30th July, 1869, the Government of India, P.W. Department, addressed the Inspector-General of Forests on the subject of the supplies of sleepers which would be required from the forests of the NorthWest Provinces for the line of railway between Delhi and

Rewaree, the survey of which was then in hand. Being aware, said the communication, that the Punjab Forest Department would be taxed to the utmost to supply timber for sleepers for the Punjab Northern (State) Railway, the Government of India desired Brandis to communicate with the Conservator of Forests in the North-West Provinces with reference to the supply of sleepers, required for the Delhi-Rewaree Railway, which would have to be supplied at Delhi, commencing from the cold season of 1870.

"It will be desirable to ascertain the probable yearly supplies and to caution the Forest Department of the North-West Provinces against entering into contracts or accepting indents for the supply of timber which could be used for sleepers, etc., from the more westerly forests. Major Pearson should be asked to advise generally as to the best sources for obtaining sleepers for railways in the North-West Provinces or to the south from Delhi to Agra."

A considerable correspondence took place upon this subject, but much of it was written in the absence of any complete knowledge of the supplies available in the Himalayan hill forests and plains (sâl) forests of the North-West Provinces.

This information was supplied subsequently in a series of remarkable Reports written by Pearson after detailed visits to these areas. It is due to the demand for timber which thus suddenly arose owing to the rapid extension of railways that we are indebted for a concise record of these forests at the period, and to a considerable expansion of the Department. The Government of India were prepared to sanction the scale of staff deemed necessary for the work in the forests and at the timber depots, and also to allocate sums necessary for the requisite communications to open the forests.

The details of the proposed schemes and the amounts of timber required during the five years 1870-4 are explained by Brandis in notes written at the time.

"The stock of timber that can be floated down the Jumna and Ganges rivers, and that can thus be made available for the Delhi-Rewaree line, is believed to be larger than the stock of growing timber in the hill forests under the Punjab Forest Department. But much less is known regarding the quantity available in the different forests than in the Punjab, and up to the time of Major Pearson's appointment operations in the Meerut Division were carried on in a most irregular and

unbusiness-like manner, so that the Conservator must be allowed some time to organise efficient establishments, and to arrange a regular system of operations. It would not be prudent rapidly to extend operations before that portion of the forest establishment of the North-West Provinces has been placed upon a satisfactory footing; very great damage would be done to the future prospects of the forests if careless and irregular cutting were allowed."

To Pearson, Brandis wrote as follows:

"From the information before me it appears probable that, commencing with January, 1870, sleepers for about 50 miles annually will be required. At the rate of 2200 sleepers per mile, including sidings, this would amount to 110,000 sleepers per annum. The sleepers will probably be 10 feet by 10 inches by 5 inches, or 3 cubic feet each. Unless you should deem it expedient to cut sleepers in the forest, the timber would be taken over by the railway officers in the rough state as it comes from the forest. Except to facilitate land carriage you will not probably find it profitable to cut sleepers. It is true there is risk that railway officers may cut up your timber in a wasteful manner, and thus defeat one of the aims of Forest Conservancy, the economy of material. But, on the other hand, the attempt to cut sleepers at depots on behalf of the Forest Department will require an undue increase of establishment employed outside the forests. But you should arrange to have a sufficient number of logs cut into sleeper lengths, allowing a sufficient excess in length.

The timber will at first be wanted at Delhi, but the railway officers will be prepared to take charge of it at your depots in the Dhoon, which I suppose would be the most convenient arrangement for your Department. I doubt whether you will be able to deliver the whole quantity on the Jumna, and suppose that a portion must be taken on the Ganges, provided the railway officers can manage without undue expense to float the timber down the Ganges Canal to Meerut.

The delivery of the above quantity would require a supply of 770,000 cubic feet annually, on the supposition that onehalf of the timber will be wasted in cutting up into sleepers. At 50 cubic feet per tree, this would require the felling of 15,400 trees annually, and the first question is whether the Jaunsar-Bawar and Bhagaruttee Forests can stand this drain. For the Northern State Railway in the Punjab I have