642 Forestry Quarterly 



involving the untangling of the marvellous trail of the expert 

 Indian witness, come before 200 odd forest officers, a discouraging 

 proportion of their time must be spent in contemplation of files. 



Fire protection, on the other hand, is a simpler matter than in 

 America. The area for which fire protection was provided has 

 never been great in India, as areas go either in Canada or the 

 United States. At the most, protection extends over about 

 50,000 square miles, all or nearly all reserved forest. Except in 

 grass areas, which so far as possible are burned in a safe season 

 by forest officers as a measure of protection, Indian forests do not 

 burn readily. Large fires are rare, record fires being those of 

 Madras, covering 16,000 and 7,000 acres each respectively. Such 

 fires as occur in Canada, would if in India, call for special in- 

 vestigation by a Committee of the British House of Commons. 

 The measures of fire protection are chiefly wide fire lines both 

 around and through the forests. These fire lines are regiilarly 

 swept. Patrols are also maintained at a cost each of about 10 

 cents per day. Villages near the forest are in a measure made re- 

 sponsible for the fire protection of the forest in their neighborhood 

 by being made to fight fire without pay or by threats of with- 

 drawal of their rights if destructive fires occur. 



The causes of fires in India were in 1913 to 1914: 



Area 

 Square 

 Number Miles 



Unknown 2,038 724 



Originating outside forest 431 426 



Malice 690 359 



Carelessness of outsiders 1,278 333 



Department fire protection measures (back firing) 319 148 



Total 4,756 1,990 



The organization of telephone systems and lookouts, if adopted 

 in India as now developed in the Pacific Northwest, should reduce 

 the average area per fire. The small areas under protection and 

 the low labor costs in India wotild render such improvement 

 feasible. Perhaps, however, a telephone with a native at the 

 far end of it would prove no convenience. 



The loss by fire each year is 3.5 to 5.7 per cent of the area pro- 

 tected. Considering the small area under protection this propor- 

 tion is high. It is explained by the dense population and the 

 subordinate staff. The cost of fire protection, in spite of the low 



