222 France. 



The supervision of the communal forests which 

 had, indeed, existed since the 16th century was by 

 no means an easy task. The opposition to it which 

 had always existed and was, in earlier times, justified 

 by the incompetence and graft of the officials, continued 

 even after this justification of it had ceased. Thanks 

 to the tact and efficiency of the officials of the modern 

 period, the opposition has been largely overcome, 

 and, thanks to the progress made in enforcing these 

 rigorous laws, their necessity has almost vanished, 

 and, at present, relatively few infractions need to be 

 investigated and punished. Moreover, the rigor of the 

 original law was somewhat abated by the law of 1859. 



There are, however, voices which proclaim that the 

 supervision by the government is not as thorough 

 as it should be, and that the conditions of the com- 

 munal property have deteriorated. 



While the supervision of the management of com- 

 munal property is mainly based on fiscal considera- 

 tions, the Code jorestier also authorizes the ad- 

 ministration to interfere in the management of forests 

 whose influence on the public welfare can be demon- 

 strated. 



In order to assure the possibility of such interfer- 

 ence, every private owner who desires to clear land 

 is required to advise the government of his purpose, 

 when the administration can prevent such clearing, 

 if deemed necessary to prevent landslides, erosion 

 and torrential action, to protect watersources, sand 

 dunes, for defensive purposes at the frontier (!), and 

 for public health. Otherwise, the management of 

 private forest is unhampered. 



