Forestry in India 639 



Before discussing the work, the financial poUcy of the Indian 

 Governments, which make the work possible, must be noted. 

 Twenty-five years ago the annual revenue from Indian forests 

 was $5,101,000 and the government sanctioned the expenditure 

 for forest purposes of $2,430,000 or 47 per cent of the total revenue. 

 Under wise administration and an absolute veto of methods of 

 spoliation, revenue has constantly risen. It was $11,100,000 in 

 1914 and the actual expenditiu-e for that year was $5,252,000 or 

 48 per cent of the total. Indian governments differ in two respects 

 from Canadian governments in their attitude towards forest 

 finance, they do not push their yearly financial demands upon 

 the forest beyond the true forest yield, and they devote practically 

 half of each year's revenue to the improvement of the forest. 

 Further, half the forest revenue under non-political administra- 

 tion in India and on a wage scale of 15 to 30 cents per day for labor 

 goes much further than it would in Canada in forest protection 

 and improvement. Nevertheless the economic outlook would be 

 different in Canada today if one-half the forest revenue had been 

 expended on the important forest areas during the last half 

 century, as has been the case in India. 



The development of a reserved forest area in India proceeds 

 uninterruptedly through the stages of settlement of rights, survey, 

 boundary demarcation, roads, trails and buildings, protection and 

 working plans. So far as these phases of administration go, the 

 reserved forests only need be considered, the other forests, while 

 stirveyed, are only to a limited extent provided with buildings 

 and communications and defined boundaries. Fire protection is 

 not usually extended reserved forests and practically no working 

 plans exist outside reserved forests. 



The settlement of rights acquired by neighboring villagers over 

 public forest land was the price paid by the Indian Forest Service 

 for the acquisition of the land. The settlement of these rights, 

 usually accomplished by cash payments, or, as in France, by grants 

 of lands upon which holders of rights are concentrated, is con- 

 fined chiefly to reserved forests. The general policy is to under- 

 take only the extinction of rights interfering with the working of 

 the forest. The area upon which such rights are settled now aver- 

 ages about 800 square miles per year, and the average cost has 

 been diu-ing five years $4.13 per square mile. 



Forest surveys have not presented the same difficulties in India 



