December 2, 1920] 



NATURE 



439 



officials, with which Prof. Troup and 1 agree, would 

 appear to be unanimous in condemning the possibility 

 ot training the forest probationers in India owing to 

 the fact that the Indian forests are, as yet, very far 

 from having reached the standard necessary to pro- 

 vide students with the full practical object-lessons 

 which are to be seen only in forest areas which have 

 been under scientific management through one or two 

 rotations of the crops. 



The alternative suggestion is to revert to the one 

 centre at home, which was given up when the 

 forestry branch at Coopers Hill was closed down in 

 1905. This question of one centre was considered 

 at the Empire Forestry Conference held in July last in 

 London. The Forestry Commissioners suggested that 

 a new centre should be created apart from the uni- 

 versities, and that both Indian forest probationers and 

 the Colonial and Dominion probationers required for 

 the Empire should be trained at the centre. It was 

 ^Ufigestcd that the probationers should be selected 

 from graduates in natural or pure science at the 

 universities, and that these probationers should then 

 !»• sent to the centre to undertake a two vears' course 

 ill forestry and the applied science subjects. The con- 

 fi'rence voted in favour of this proposal. The situation 

 of the centre, whether at one university or apart from 

 the universities, was left in abeyance. The Indian 

 (lovernment representatives wished the centre to be 

 at one university at which a forestry college should 

 be erected for the probationers, the latter otherwise 

 taking advantage of the university courses, labora- 

 tories, and so forth. 



.^t the present moment the three Universities of 

 Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh are recognised by 

 the India and Colonial Offices as qualified to train 

 their forest probationers. The suggestion to confine 

 the training in the future to one universitv would be, 

 therefore, subsidising one university as against the 

 other two, thus involving the waste of the capital 

 sunk by these universities in placing their forestry 

 schools in an efficient position. To carry out the one 

 university centre idea it would be necess'arv to obtain 

 ronsiderahle grants of money from the Indian and 

 Colonial Governments, and it is doubtful whether one 

 university could be thus subsidised by the Govern- 

 ment at the expense of the others. The suggested 

 alternative is the one centre apart from the uni- 

 versities. 



.At the end of September last the Forestry Com- 

 misfiioners railed a meeting of the heads of the schools 

 giving forestry training in this country. 



In the discussion on the one centre proposal the 

 heads of the forestry schools of Oxford, Cambridge, 

 .ind Edinburgh were unanimous in condemning the 

 'ine centre awav from the university, considering that 

 it would introduce a rigid tvpe of teaching which 

 would give rise to a forest officer with a narrow out- 

 look. It would also be difficult to get first-class 

 teachers to take ui> appointments in an isolated 

 centre. The cost of the new building* and their equip- 

 ment and the outlav on salaries would also be a very 

 heavy rharpe. The period of three years for the 

 science decree and two years for the later training 

 in forestry was also deemed too long. Involving the 

 probationers joining the 5»ervlres at an unneressarily 

 advanced age. They were also of opinion that the 

 ' omplaints of the Indian Governinent as to the in- 

 iflequacv of the training of some of their forest 

 nificers were due to the present method of selection. 

 ni.iiiv probationers beintf selected before thev had anv 

 'raining in forestry or knew nnvthing of the life of a 

 forester. It is common knowledge at th" university 

 i>ntres trainincr for forestry that men. finding thev 

 !i;ive no la>it" for the forestry subjects, change over to 

 N'O. 2666, VOL. 106] 



another side of the university at the end of their first 

 year and while there is still time to do so. The 

 selected forest probationer with a Government tiain- 

 ing grant is not often in a financial position to enable 

 him to throw up his grant. Yet the proposal for 

 the single centre away from the university is based 

 on the continuance of this selection system. The 

 heads of the university departments were also 

 strongly in favour of the higher forestry education 

 being given at the university, as the men, European 

 and Indian alike, profited greatly by mixing with 

 others training in other branches. ' 



It became apparent at the Empire Forestry Con- 

 ference that many of the delegates had only a super- 

 ficial acquaintance with the latter-day developments 

 in forestry education at the three Universities, which, 

 to a great extent, have been the result of the work 

 of the last decade. 



With the view of providing for the India Office 

 requirements that esprit de corps should be engen- 

 dered amongst its probationers by living together, and 

 also the practical needs of the future forest officer, 

 which are now greater than they were, I made the 

 following suggestion : — That the forestry probationers 

 for India and the Home and Colonial Services should 

 be selected from the men who had obtained a degree 

 or diploma in forestry at the universities, and that 

 these selected probationers should then be sent 

 for a period of six months or a year to the 

 new Empire Research Institute, which the Em- 

 pire Forestry Conference delegates suggested should 

 be inaugurated in this country. The probationers 

 could be given such specialised courses as were 

 required .nt this centre with a very small extra 

 expense. The Indian probationers would thus live 

 together during part of their training, and that esprit 

 de corps required by the Indian Government would 

 be engendered. 



In the Memorandum of the Education Committee 

 of the Conference (White Paper. Cmd. 865. p. i<;) it 

 was stated that my proposal in re extra specialised 

 courses was "a tacit admission that existing courses 

 were capable of extension with advantage." I have 

 shown that time will not permit of an extension of 

 the curriculum during the three years required for 

 the forestry degree. The question of extending the 

 dejjree course to four years has been under con- 

 sideration at Edinburgh. The Indian Government 

 delegates have stated that the forest officers of the 

 future would be the corps d't'lite of the Indian 

 Forest Service. I fiillv afree with this view. To 

 train the men to this standard will require extra 

 snecialised or advanced courses, and these can be 

 Civen either at the universities or. as in my suggestion 

 to meet the views of the Indian Government, at the 

 Emnire Research Institute. 



.Apart from India, the suggestion of the one centre 

 is made on the ground that it will prove cheaper 

 owing to the large demand for grants in aid of 

 forestry education which have been made to the 

 Forestry Commissioners j but in this matter of the 

 higher training for the forest officer only three 

 universities in this country are at present in 

 question. 



It should be possible to find out what additional 

 funds the three universities require to maintain their 

 schools in the highest possible efficiency, and this 

 ammmt, combined with the additional sum required 

 for the extra training of the probationetsat the Empire 

 Research Institute, would be likely to be far below 

 the amount, to which India and the Colonial Oflice 

 would have largely to contribute, which would be 

 required to create a new isolated imiIk- apart from 

 the universities. 



