54 



MARKING OF TIMBER. The stamping of timber should be made compulsory in th e 

 neighbourhood of demarkated forest. In each district, the Government marks used for 

 felled and other timber would be registered by the Conservator, at the Magistrate's Office ; 

 ;and the marks used by owners or occupiers of any forest situated withia five miles of a 

 demarkated forest, registered by them. Forest or police officers should be entitled to seize 

 or detain, pending enquiry, any unstamped timber in course of conveyance within five 

 miles of a demarkated forest, when satisfactory proof of ownership cannot be given. 

 Firewood and other small timber which cannot be stamped, would be removed from the 

 Crown Forests under a permit, and from private forests within the five miles limit, under 

 a pass. Compulsory stamping would not interfere seriously with private owners, the 

 majority of which use stamps for their own advantage. 



SPECIAL CLAUSES. The provisions of the following clauses in the Cape Forest Act 

 .may be found useful to adopt here : 



28. No forest officer shall, as principal or agent, trade in timber or forest produce, or 

 be or become interested in any lease or mortgage of any forest, or in any contract for 

 working any timber or produce, whether in demarkated or undemarkated or private 

 forest. 



32. In case of the fraudulent removal of trees, timber, or other forest produce, the 

 restitution of the property so removed, or its value, to be fixed by the Court, shall be 

 ordered in addition to the fines and damages adjudged. 



In case of unauthorised establishments, buildings, enclosures, huts, kraals, or standing 

 -crops within forest limits, the Court shall fix the period within which such buildings, huts, 

 kraals, or crops shall be removed, and the places put into their former condition. 



In case such removal shall not have been effected within the prescribed period, all 

 buildings, huts, kraals, or crops found in the forest shall become the property of the 

 Crown, and the Forest Department shall dispose of them as may be most beneficial to 

 the forest. 



35. When in any proceedings taken under this Act, a question arises as to whether 

 any timber or forest produce is the property of the Crown, such timber or forest produce 

 shall be presumed to be the property of the Crown until the contrary is proved. 



REWARDS FOR DETECTION OF FOREST OFFENCES. A share of the fines imposed 

 for any forest offence should be awarded to the informer, other than a forest officer, who 

 may have supplied such information as to lead to the conviction of an offender. As an 

 administrative measure, some forest officers should be empowered to also offer rewards for 

 the detection of offenders under the Forest Law. Rewards may seldom have the desired 

 effect of bringing offenders to justice, but they are very useful in deterring others, and 

 by allowing a small sum for this purpose much destruction may be avoided. 



