CHAPTER XXI AN APPRECIATION OF THREE INSPECTORS-GENERAL OF FORESTS, Τ' 1863-1900 HIS volume may perhaps be fitly concluded by quoting the Government of India's farewell Notifications to the three Inspectors-General of Forest, Brandis, Schlich and Ribbentrop, who had introduced, and placed on a firm basis, Forest Conservancy in India between 1863 and 1900. The valedictory address to Brandis is as follows: No. 407 F. "FORESTS 1st May, 1883. His Excellency the Governor-General in Council desires to place upon public record his recognition of the eminent services rendered to the State by Mr. D. Brandis, Ph.D., C.I.E., Inspector-General of Forests to the Government of India, who has left India with the intention of retiring from the service of Government. Mr. Brandis has served in the Forest Department since January, 1856, and has for the last nineteen years been Inspector-General of Forests to the Government of India. During this long period he has laboured incessantly and successfully to perfect the organisation and working of the Department in all parts of the country, and under his able administration the forest revenues have risen from 35 to 95 lacs of rupees. The directions and instructions embodied in his numerous Inspection Reports and Reviews will for many years to come form the standard manuals for the practical guidance of Forest Officers. It is hoped that after his retirement Mr. Brandis will supplement the services he has rendered to the cause of forest education in this country by assisting the Government at home to place the training of candidates for the superior staff of the Department upon a sound and permanent basis. The warmest thanks of the Government of India are due, and are hereby tendered, to Mr. Brandis.” The farewell address to Schlich, No. 130 F, is dated Calcutta, 7th February, 1889, and is in the following terms: "In notifying Dr. W. Schlich's retirement from the Forest Department, the Governor-General in Council desires to place on record an acknowledgment of Dr. Schlich's valuable and distinguished services both in organising the Forest Administration in Sind and Bengal and in developing the Imperial Department as Inspector-General of Forests. Dr. Schlich's labours to perfect the technical education of the Forest Staff deserve special notice. To him is to a great extent due the credit of having established on a satisfactory and practical basis the School at Dehra for the instruction of the Executive Forest Staff, and to a still greater extent that of having organised the Forest Branch of the College at Cooper's Hill for the education of the Controlling Staff. It is a satisfaction to the Government of India to know that Dr. Schlich's retirement does not sever all connection between him and this country, and that, as Principal Professor of Forestry in Cooper's Hill College he will still continue to exercise a useful influence over the Forest Departments of India." To the four years of Schlich's Inspector-Generalship the Department owe several important measures : (1) The reorganisation of the Controlling Staff to relieve the serious block in promotion which had prevailed. (2) The formation of the Imperial Working Plans Branch. (3) A revised edition (3rd) of the Indian Forest Code. (4) The imperialisation and reorganisation of the Dehra Dun Forest School. The valedictory address to Ribbentrop reads as follows: "No. 3655-224. Mr. B. Ribbentrop, C.I.E., Inspector-General of Forests, is permitted to retire from the service of Government with effect from the 1st November, 1900. In notifying the retirement of Mr. B. Ribbentrop, C.I.E., from the Forest Department, the Governor-General in Council desires to place upon record his recognition of the eminent service rendered to the State by that officer over a period of nearly thirty-four years. During the last fifteen years of them the Government of India have had the benefit of Mr. Ribbentrop's services as their Inspector-General, during which time he has with great skill and judgment, and with indefatigable industry, guided and superintended extensive and far-reaching changes in the organisation of the Forest Department, carrying on the work of his predecessors in building up a Provincial Forest Service, recruited and trained in the country, and in enlarging the scope and usefulness of the School of Forestry at Dehra. He has laboured to bring the forests under closer and more methodical treatment, and to that end he has done much to improve the system of working plans, both in their preparation and also in their subsequent operation. His frequent tours of inspection in all parts of India, and the wise professional advice which has invariably accompanied them, have been instrumental in a high degree to the progress of scientific forestry and to the growth of the forest revenues. During his term of office the gross revenues of the forests have risen from 102 lacs of rupees in 1884-5 to 190 lacs in 1898-9, and the net surplus from 31 lacs to 90 lacs of rupees. He hands over to his successor a great forest estate, valuable in the present and likely to be still more valuable in the not far distant future, which his labours have done much to place in its present secure position. Mr. Ribbentrop retires, having earned the sincere thanks of the Government of India for his long and meritorious service." in a high degree to the progress of scientific forestry and to the growth of the forest revenues. During his term of office the gross revenues of the forests have risen from 102 lacs of rupees in 1884-5 to 190 lacs in 1898-9, and the net surplus from 31 lacs to 90 lacs of rupees. He hands over to his successor a great forest estate, valuable in the present and likely to be still more valuable in the not far distant future, which his labours have done much to place in its present secure position. Mr. Ribbentrop retires, having earned the sincere thanks of the Government of India for his long and meritorious service." |