PROCEEDINGS. 75 



2. A fee of eight annas per diem for each elephant or camel entering the 



Reserve. 



3. When the permit authoris cs a camp to he fmmed within the limits of a 

 Reserve, the pay aud allowances of a forest subordinate to be depnted to 

 attend the camp. 



F. C. Anderson, 



Offg. Secy, to the Chief Commsr., Central Provinces. 



Note. — The Deputy Commissioner is a Forest Officer for the purpose of this rule. 



Mr. Gilbert then addressed the meeting. Having prefaced his remarks by observing 

 that the rules were supplied to him directly he had applied for them, Mr. Gilbert said 

 the part of the rules to which he chiefly objected was that relating to the payment. 

 of a fee of one rupee per day for each sportsman or shikari follower entering the 

 reserve. There might boa difference of opinion as to what constituted a shikari 

 follower, but he had communicated with one or two gentlemen in the Central 

 Provinces, and they had state 1 that th.3 definition applied to a common beater. This 

 was very hard, and if the. rules were strictly construed, he thought nearly every one 

 would be unable to shoot in the Central Provinces. Of coarse, if sportsmen employed 

 elephants, then they should pay a fea, for such animals did much harm to forests ; 

 but he quite failed to see why th^y should have to pay such fees for common beaterj. 

 He found on reference to Sir William [fuater's Guzettejr of India that the area of 

 the Central Provinces was 113,279 square mile?, aud of this 17,131 square miles 

 were unreserved forest, while 2,583 miles were reserved forest. The extent of the 

 reserved forest land was constantly being added t) by Government, aud he had no 

 doubt that since Sir William Hunter's book was written, it had increased by many 

 thousands of miles. "When he (Mr. Gilbert) was at Assirgurh last Christmas, he 

 met a Forest Officer just at the edge of the jungle and was told that these rules were 

 in Eorce, bat he did not say anything about the fjes. Hi thought a great deal might 

 be said in favour of hiving no rules whatever. But if, with reference to reserved 

 forests, Government chise to have rules, he did not think sportsmen could reasonably 

 object, provided permission could be easily obtained, and provided that the necessary 

 licence was not arbitrarily witheld by those persons who had the benefit of the 

 shooting in the districts for which application for licences was made. The power 

 given to the District Officer was very great, but, so far as the Forest Officers were 

 concerned, he had invariably received great assistance from them while out shooting, 

 and he did not believe they would be unnecessarily arbitrary in dealing with the 

 applications for licences. But still there was nothing said about an appeal to 

 anybody if such licences were refused, and if a District Odicer refused permission, 

 there was no remedy whatever for the sportsman. In all the circumstances he 

 would suggest that those present should form themselves into a Committee which 

 should be authorised to draw up a petition on the subject for presentation to the 

 Viceroy, asking that some or all of the rules should be withdrawn ; further, that the 

 Chairman should be authorised to sign the petition on behalf of the members. 



Mr. W. Lee- Warner asked Mr. Gilbert if he knew for what object the rules had 

 been issued. Was it to protect the forests from fire, or for the purpose of making 

 a revenue ? 



Mr. Gilbert replied that he had not been able to ascertain the object with which 

 the rules had been framed, but should imagine that they were issued partly for the 

 proteotion of the forests and partly for the protection of game. They could not be 



