TBE HILL FORESTS OF WESTERN INDIA. 667 



entrust to officers trained in India itself. The class of E'orest Rangers 

 has been described as the " back-bone " of the Department. Candi- 

 dates for this branch of the service are trained at the Imperial School 

 at Dehra-Dun, which is attended by students from all parts of India. A 

 certain number of Forest appointments has also been guaranteed annu- 

 ally by the Government to the students of the College of Science at 

 Poona. A Protective Service of Forest Guards is also employed for the 

 purpose of patrolling forests and ensuring compliance with Forest regu- 

 lations. The members of this branch of the Service receive no profes- 

 sional training. 



The Indian Forest Service, thus organized, has been^able not only to 

 meet the demands of India but to help other countries also. Ceylon, 

 New South Wales, New Zealand, the Cape, Mauritius, Jamaica and 

 Cyprus, as General Michael in his paper on Forestry tells us with just 

 pride, have all borrowed officers from India to put them in tbe way of 

 organizing conservancy and working their forests economically. The 

 Head of the Forest Department at the Cape and the Conservator in 

 Ceylon are both Indian Forest Officers. The United States of America 

 have also recognized the value of the work in India by lately de- 

 puting an expert to study the methods there in force. 



The forests to which the Indian Forest Act of 1878 is applicable 

 include " Reserved Forests", which are State property or over which 

 the State has certain rights ; " Village Forest " assigned or yet to be 

 assigned by the Government to Village communities from Reserved 

 Forest areas ; " Protected Forests ", which, as regards the proprietary 

 rights of the State, are on the same footing as ''Reserved Forests", but 

 are subject to less stringent supervision, — only certain kinds of timber 

 being protected and all private rights of cultivation, pasturage and 

 wood-cutting within the protected area being respected ; and lastly, 

 " Private Forests ", which are controlled only to such an extent as 

 is necessary for their regulation or protection for certain special 

 purposes. The Forest Department has also the control of State 

 plantations of timber trees. 



The area of British India, exclusive of the Native States, is about 

 960,000 square miles, and of this area more than 79,000 square miles 

 had been constituted as Reserved Forests before the end of the year 

 1896-97. About 9,000 square miles were "Protected" and nearly 26,000 



