( 56 ) 



owing to unnecessary obstructions which had been put in the way of the khairwas by the 

 forest officials and to no systematic action whatever having been taken to encourage their 

 operations which induced me to advocate the policy of the open door, at all events for the 

 present, and to recommend that the khairwas should be allowed to settle where they pleased 

 and carry on their work with the one and only restriction of having to coppice all trees cut 

 by them. 



4. As laid down in your letter under reply the one necessity is that " each Divisional 

 Officer should prepare a map of his Division showing all the areas suitable for such operations 

 and the sites at which the khairwas may establish their camps, " but, speaking with refer- 

 ence to my own case, I could only prepare such a map at the present moment from very 

 doubtful data received from Range Officers which would be certainly incomplete and 

 probably also inaccurate. Previously little if any katha-boiling appears to have been carried 

 out in this Division and this year I have got khairwas to work in three Sub-ranges only, 

 from which it will be seen that at present it is impossible for me to draw up a correct 

 list of sites for khairwa-camps. 



o. I therefore, with due deference, beg to propose that work should be allowed for, 

 say, two or three years at least in this Division on the terms originally proposed by me, 

 i.e., that khairwas shall be allowed to work where they like on the condition that they 

 carefully coppice all trees cut by them. At the end of each season a full report on the 

 year's work would be submitted to you showing the sites of the camps where work was 

 carried on during the year, with the number of bhattis and handis at work in each camp 

 and a careful estimate, from an inspection of the neighbouring forests, of the area actually 

 worked over during the year and the period for which the existing stock of khair trees may 

 be expected to give employment to the number of khairwas at each camp. The absence 

 of unnecessary restrictions will give every possible encouragement to the khairwas to settle 

 in all suitable places and if the annual reports on the work are carefully made, an accurate 

 estimate can be framed regarding the resources of the Division in respect of katha. If this 

 plan is adopted in other Divisions also it would, I feel confident, be possible in a very few 

 years to draw up a thoroughly practical plan of operations by which the industry will be not 

 only greatly extended, but also given a permanent footing which it has never had before. 



6. In conclusion I should like to remark that I visited yesterday (22-4-1900) a 

 khairwa-camp I have had established this year at Birholi near Block 17 in the Murwara 

 Eange. Four bhattis or furnaces are at work with 60 handis and from a casual inspection 

 of the forest, I should say that the same number can be worked here for two or three years 

 more at least. I saw no tree which had been cut less than 12" in girth at the base and all 

 stools had been most carefully dressed * 



Letter No. inG,datedJubbu!pore, the 2nd May 1900, from E. E. FERNANDEZ, Esq., Officiating 

 Conservator of Forests, Northern Circle, Central Provinces. 



Referring to your letter No. C-76, dated 26th April 1900,1 have the honour to say 

 that as you have now made it clear that your proposals regarding katha-boiling are purely 

 experimental in their objective and are intended to furnish accurate data for the framing 

 of a katha-boiling Working Plan, I have no objection to their present adoption and continu- 

 ance for two or three years. 



