6oo 



NATURE 



[April i8, 1901 



rights were strictly defined in regard to area, the number and 

 description of cattle admitted to graze, and the amount of timber 

 to be cut. In many instances the settlement officers have gone 

 far beyond the requirements of the law ; they have often been 

 disposed to place heavy burdens upon the Government forests, 

 in order to make matters as comfortable as possible to the 

 people in the vicinity. Especially in regard to pasture, the 

 tendency of most Governments in India has been to insist on 

 cattle being admitted to graze in the forests far in excess of 

 what was prescribed by the forest settlement. Young forest 

 growth cannot come up under heavy grazing. In seasons of 

 drought, as a matter of course, the forests must be, and are, 

 always thrown open. But if this is done in ordinary seasons, 

 the forests cannot improve, and cannot provide what is wanted 

 in times of scarcity. 



In these circumstances agitation against forest adminis- 

 tration is of frequent occurrence. In his delightful and most 

 important work, " Forty-one Years in India," vol. i. pp. 441, 442, 

 Lord Roberts states: "Amongst the causes which have pro- 

 duced discontent of late years I would mention our forest laws 

 and sanitary regulations, our legislative and fiscal systems — 

 measures so necessary that no one interested in' the prosperity 

 of India could cavil at their introduction, but which are so 

 absolutely foreign to native ideas that it is essential they should 



be applied with the utmost gentleness and circumspection 



The proceedings and regulations of the Forest Department, desir- 

 able as they may be from a financial and agricultural point of 

 view, have provoked very great irritation in many parts of 

 India. People who have been accustomed from time imme- 

 morial to pick up sticks and graze their cattle on forest lands 

 cannot understand why they should now be forbidden to do so, 

 nor can they realise the necessity for preserving the trees from 

 the chance of being destroyed by fire, a risk to which they were 

 frequently exposed from the native custom of making use of 

 their shelter while cooking, and of burning the undergrowth to 

 enrich the grazing." 



In these words Field-Marshal Lord Roberts faithfully ex- 

 presses the views of many leading public men in India. And 

 yet the development of the British Indian Empire, through 

 railways and telegraphs, through extended irrigation, the steadily 

 growing wealth of its inhabitants, necessitates the maintenance 

 and improvement of its forests, while the persistent growth of 

 the population, in spite of famines, cholera and plague, demands 

 that the large areas of waste lands should produce more cattle- 

 fodder and mfire firewood. These are demands which cannot 

 be resisted. 



A detailed account is given of the Dehra Dun Forest School, 

 which was established in 1878 for the professional training of 

 native forest officers. Of the first director of that institution, 

 Captain (now Colonel) F. Bailey, R.E., the aitthor justly states 

 that it was entirely owing to his exceptional powers of organisa- 

 tion, energy and ability that the new institution took healthy 

 root from the outset. It has been explained at the outset of this 

 article that in 1866 two young forest officers from Germany, 

 Dr. Schlich and Mr. Ribbentrop, were engaged for the Indian 

 forest service. In the same year arrangements were made for 

 the professional training of young Englishmen in the State 

 forests of France and Germany. The first selection was made 

 in 1867, and the first men trained under this system joined their 

 province in 1869. Since then a varying number has been sent 

 out annually. In 1887, after the arrangements in France and 

 Germany had come to an end, the first men arrived, who had 

 been trained under existing arrangements at Coopers Hill. Alto- 

 gether, until 1899, 207 professionally trained men have gone out, 

 of whom in that year 152 were still in the Indian Forest Service. 

 This number obviously is wholly insufficient to provide for the 

 management of 84,000 square miles of reserved forests. More- 

 over, the small surplus revenue yielded by these forests would 

 make it out of the question to employ English officers for their 

 management. In the State forests of the kingdom of Saxony, 

 the mean area of a forest range or executive charge is 4000 acres. 

 The executive officer, here styled Oberforster, receives the same 

 professional training, and has the same social standing, as the 

 higher forest officers to whom he is subordinate. Every member 

 of the superior Forest Service begins his career as assistant to 

 the Oberforster, and his first appointment to a responsible post 

 is that of executive officer. This organisation ensures efficiency, 

 because the Oberforster has a reasonabi j chance, by distinguished 

 service, of rising to the highest appointments in the depart- 

 ment. 



NO. 1642, VOL. 63] 



An organisation as simple and effective as this is impossible 

 in India. The revenue of the forests is too small. Further, the 

 officers must necessarily belong to two classes, expensive 

 Englishmen for the higher appointments, and natives at lower 

 rates of pay for the executive charges, and these two classes 

 cannot be amalgamated. Four thousand acres in Saxony yield a 

 net revenue of 4,000/. at 2.0s. an acre ; the area required to 

 produce a similar revenue in India would be so large as to be quite 

 unmanageable for one executive officer. Thirty square miles, or 

 19,200 acres, would be a large but still manageable area in 

 India. From 1888 to 1899 the surplus has doubled, and it is not 

 unreasonable to expect that in 1910 it will amount to dd. an 

 acre. At that rate 30 square miles would yield an annual surplus 

 of 480/. By that time there ought, therefore, to be 2800 pro- 

 fessionally trained forest jofficers for the executive charge of 

 these forest ranges. The actual number of forest rangers in the 

 different provinces at present (July i, 1900) is 425. The organi- 

 sation, therefore, of executive charges is far from complete. To 

 a great extent the executive management of these estates is at 

 present in the hands of the superior controlling and directing 

 officers, who do the work through the agency of forest guards and 

 other protective officers, men who have received no professional 

 training. 



The chief difficulty at present is, that the men who enter the 

 Dehra Dun Forest School belong to a lower social stratum than 

 is desirable. And this will continue until means are found to 

 give forest rangers reasonable prospects of promotion. Some- 

 thing in this direction has been done by establishing a provincial 

 branch of the superior Forest Service, so that from«time to time 

 a few really distinguished forest rangers may be promoted. And 

 when the' advantage of relying mainly upon native agency in 

 forest business has been fully recognised, means doubtless will be 

 found to improve the prospects of advancement for native forest 

 rangers. No possible political difficulty can arise through 

 employing natives of India in the higher branches of the forest 

 service, and hence it seems right to use this department to 

 make the experiment. 



Sir Thomas Munro, one of the most distinguished Indian 

 statesmen in the early part of last century, while Governor of 

 the Madras Presidency, wrote as follows on December 31, 

 1824: " All offices that can beheld by natives without danger 

 to our power might with advantage be left to them," and 

 further on follow remarks to the following effect : "To improve 

 the character of the natives we must open the road to wealth 

 and honour and public employment." Since 1824 the British 

 Indian Empire has not only increased enormously in extent and 

 population, but good government, the security of persons and 

 property, the impartial administration of justice, the growth 

 of commerce and manufactures, irrigation works, roads, tele- 

 graphs, railways, and by no means least, schools and colleges, 

 all this has brought about a tide of progress which cannot now 

 be stemmed. But the blessings of progress will be valued more 

 by the people if they are not all dispensed by the hand of the 

 foreigner, if natives themselves are the agents, to a greater 

 extent than is the case at present, in the undertakings which 

 contribute to their well-being. 



Mr. Ribbentrop is not an advocate of these plans, yet on 

 several occasions he bears testimony to the excellent work done 

 by natives of India, provided they have received a good profes- 

 sional training in surveying or forestry. A weighty objection is 

 raised by parents in this country that plans like these will take 

 the bread out of their sons' mouths. Latterly from six to eight 

 men, who had received their professional training at Coopers 

 Hill have been sent out annually. It may be regarded as certain 

 that, if all goes well, the number required will increase largely, 

 not only because the management is gradually becoming more 

 intensive, improving the yield capacity of the forests and augment- 

 ing the revenue, but also because a constantly increasing number 

 of Indian forest officers are required in native States and other 

 countries, such as Slam, and in the British Colonies. Even 

 should a few more appointments be filled up by the promotion 

 of native forest rangers, the number of men required from 

 Coopers Hill will not diminish but will increase. And surely 

 it is better that a policy should be followed which will tend to 

 place British rule in India upon a safe foundation than that a 

 few more appointments should be available for young men at 

 home. The beneficial effects of forestry will not be fully 

 realised until it ceases to be an exotic plant. The educated • 

 natives of India must feel that they are the allies of the British 

 Government, and this can only be brought about by giving them 



