39 



all the personnel and stores of other departments free. Judged from the 

 point of view of correct book-keeping, the present system of requiring the 

 Forest Department to supply produce free to other departments is indefensible, 

 as it results in entirely erroneous statements of revenue and expenditure in 

 Government accounts. The financial position of the Forest Department will 

 never be correctly exhibited, and can never be fairly criticized, until full pay- 

 ment adjustable by book transfer is made for all timber and other produce 

 supplied by it to other departments. 



The acceptance of the principle that the Forest Department should be 

 run as far as possible on commercial lines does not imply that necessary 

 expenditure should be curtailed. In forest operations a judicious outlay of 

 expenditure, whether on staff or otherwise, is normally followed by an increase 

 in revenue, although some items of expenditure are more directly remunera- 

 tive than others. 



In view of the present financial stringency, care has been taken, in this 

 report, to avoid recommending any increased expenditure that is not con- 

 sidered urgently necessary. 



48. STATUS OF THE DEPARTMENT. In the Secretariat forest business is 

 dealt with by the Colonial Secretary, who represents the Forest Department 

 on the Legislative Council. This arrangement works well, and in my opinion 

 it should not be altered. If at any time a Chief Conservator of Forests is 

 appointed for all the East African territories it may be found convenient to 

 appoint him an ex officio member of the Council, but this is a question which 

 need not be discussed here. I understand that a proposal was recently brought 

 forward to bring the Forest Department into closer touch with the Agricul- 

 tural Department. I am not in possession of the details of the proposal, 

 but if it in any way involved the absorption of the former by the latter 

 Department, then any such course is to be strongly deprecated. It is true 

 that forestry and agriculture have much in common : indeed, forestry has 

 been aptly termed the handmaid of agriculture. But as technical subjects 

 the two are widely different, and the higher training institutions for forestry 

 in Europe, including British Universities, in America and in India, are 

 entirely separate from those which deal with agriculture. Certain agricul- 

 tural institutions give courses of forestry so-called, but these are of an 

 elementary nature, involving nothing more than the raising, planting and 

 tending of trees in connection with farming or estate work. In countries 

 where forestry is a very minor branch of work it has sometimes been placed 

 under the Agricultural Department as a matter of convenience and for pur- 

 poses of economy. But in Kenya Colony there is no justification for such a 

 course : its effect would be to weaken a department which is in need of 

 strengthening, and it would be contrary to all experience and recognized 

 procedure. In Great Britain, when the question of the formation of a Forest 

 Department recently came up for decision, it was decided that forestry busi- 

 ness should be entirely dissociated from the Department of Agriculture, 

 and should be administered by a Forestry Commission under its own Chair- 

 man. In India the Forest Department is entirely separate from the Agricul- 

 tural Department : in the Government of India forest business is in charge 

 of the Member of Council for Revenue and Agriculture, a non-technical 

 officer whose portfolio includes Agriculture, Forestry, Public Works, Posts 

 and Telegraphs, Surveys, Emigration, Meteorology, Veterinary Work, and 

 certain other scientific departments. 



49. FOREST DEPARTMENT CODE. At present no Forest Department 

 Code exists, but the Conservator of Forests is engaged on the preparation of 

 one, and when ready it should be a useful help in regulating the work of the 

 Department. 



