ON FOREST SCHOOLS. 227 



not be introduced now, but the magnitude of this may be other- 

 wise indicated. 



In India, as in France and in Germany, it was found that the 

 forests were being destroyed, that the destruction of these was 

 entailing piivations and sufferings upon the people, and that more 

 disastrous consequences were looming in the distance. After 

 careful deliberation, it was determined that a body of forest 

 officials, educated at schools of forestry on the Continent of 

 Europe, should be procured. The arrangements made are de- 

 tailed in the letter to which I have refei-red. 



The expense was considerable, and it may be considered that 

 this was a bold measure, but the results have justified the steps 

 taken. By progressive amelioration of their condition, forests 

 have risen greatly in value and have been vastly extended, and the 

 revenue from forests has been increased by hundreds of thousands 

 of pounds. According to Resolution of Government of India, 

 Financial Department, No. 2012, dated 11th March 1871, the 

 latest to which I happen to have access, the estimated charges for 

 the following year 1871-72, as settled in the Public Works De- 

 partment, and as modified in the Financial Department, were 

 45,11,000 rupees (£451,100), and the receipts, 57,32,200 rupees 

 (£573,220), showing a surplus of revenue over expenditure of 

 12,21,200 rupees (£122,120). I learn that in the year 1873-74 

 the forest revenue was £700,000, and the expenditure £414,000 

 odds, leaving a surplus of £285,000, both revenue and expenditure 

 being about double what they were in 1864-65, ten years pre- 

 viously. It may facilitate recollection if I state that the expendi- 

 ture one year was reported vaguely as £200,000, and the returns, 

 £400,000. All which had been accomplished not by an im- 

 poverishing of the forests, but by a progressive amelioration of 

 these and an increase of their pecuniary value in something like 

 a corresponding ratio. 



In illustration of this latter allegation, I cite the following 

 statement, made by Captain Campbell -Walker in a paper on 

 "State Forestry: its Aim and Object," read before the Otago 

 Institute, Dunedin, 21st December 1876 : 



"The Chunga Munga plantation, in the Punjab, has an area of 

 7000 acres, commenced in 1865, contains chiefly Indian black- 

 wood (Dalbergia sissoo). The expenditure up to end of 1873 had 

 been £26,000, including £5000 spent during the first five years 

 in unsuccessful experiments ; £5000 had been received from petty 



