FRENCH WEST INDIES 189 



value. At present the home government is giving active attention to 

 these resources in her colonies and through the home department is 

 investigating them and administering them. 



Former German Colonies in Africa 



Previous to the war Germany had African colonies with forest 

 areas aggregating about 46,000,000 acres of forest. Cameroon, the 

 richest in forests, is now under joint British and French mandate. 

 German East Africa is under joint mandate to Great Britain and 

 Belgium, while German Southwest Africa, with some million acres 

 of forest, is a part of the Union of South Africa. Great Britain and 

 France hold mandate over Togoland, which has no forest value. 



French Guiana 



Between eighteen and twenty million acres constitute the forest 

 area of this French possession. The annual cut is small in proportion 

 and there is virtually no import. No system of administration has 

 been installed, although the French, as a part of their colonial policy 

 have recently studied the high potential value of this possession. 



Indo-China, France 



In France there has been, particularly since the war, an increasing 

 interest in the forest possibilities of colonial possessions. In French 

 Indo-China there are some 60,000,000 forest acres, in some sections 

 heavily forested and in others deforested by the natives. The colonial 

 branch of the Department of Waters and Forests is now active in 

 administration and reforestation, controlling practically all of the 

 forest area in Cochin-China, Annam, Cambodia and Tongking. The 

 forests are classified for the types of wood they contain and exploited 

 accordingly under close jurisdiction. 



French West Indies 



About 80,000 acres divided evenly between Guadeloupe and 

 Martinique are the forest areas of the French West Indies. Most 

 construction material is brought in. In Martinique there is an activity 

 of forest owners to prevent devastation and to encourage reforestation. 



