THE PROPOSED SCHOOL OF FORESTRY. 71 



Buddhists from Burma, and native Christians. Only a com- 

 paratively small number of the highest appointments are filled by 

 men sent out annually by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for 

 India, The number of these appointments is, I am informed, 

 now about 170, and it is not intended considei'ably to increase it. 

 Although these ofiicers sent out from home are, on arrival in 

 India, in the first instance employed in subordinate positions, yet 

 when they have become familiar with the language and the peculiar 

 work in India, they are destined to fill the highest appointments. 

 Hence a most important part of their work consists in directing a 

 lai'ge staff of subordinate officers. From among them are selected 

 the chief forest ofiicers in the difierent provinces, the officers 

 charged with the preparation of working plans, and the professors 

 of the forest school. With them rests, and must generally rest, 

 the initiative in professional matters, and any mistakes made by 

 them may have a far reaching and very mischievous effect. You 

 will readily understand that they ought to be picked men, 

 thoroughly familiar with the science and practice of forest 

 management in Europe, and with the experience gained in forest 

 administration in those countries, where it is best understood, and 

 where it exists on a large scale analogous to what we find in 

 India. 



Now I will direct your attention to the manner in which 

 forest business is managed on the Continent of Europe. In the 

 kingdom of Prussia, for instance, the area of the State forests 

 alone amounts to 6,600,000 acres. More than twice this area is 

 in the hands of towns, villages, public corporations, and private 

 individuals. The whole of the large forest area of Prussia, — up- 

 wards of 22,000,000 acres, — is managed on a regular system, with 

 the object of maintaining a uniform annual yield in wood, timber, 

 and other forest produce, the amount of which over a large portion 

 of the area is slowly increasing every year, as the I'esult of the 

 steady improvement which takes place in the condition, and, con- 

 sequently, in the productive powers of the forests. The number 

 of the superior officei's entrusted with the management of the 

 Prussian State Forests is 807. As regards their duties, they 

 correspond in India to the superior Native staff, who receive their 

 professional education at Dehi-a Dun, and the staff recruited by 

 the officers whom the Secretary of State for India sends out. The 

 professional education of the superior Prussian forest officers is 

 organized thus : After passing the closing examination at one of 



