" SARTAGE " IN INDIA. 85 



The following are copies of the order of the Government 

 issued in regard to the extract of minutes, and of the 

 report of the Conservator of Forests given in reply : 



' Order of Madras Government, June 1859. 



' 1. Before passing a final order on this paper, the 

 Governor in Council resolves to transmit a copy to the 

 Conservator of Forests for his opinion as to the sufficiency, 

 as regards the Conservancy Department, of the means 

 proposed by the Board (in pars. 43 to 47) for checking the 

 practice of Koomaree cultivation. 



' 2. The chief mischief of this practice is found in its 

 destruction of timber; but the Governor in Council wishes 

 to have Dr Cleghorn's opinion whether, in the existing 

 state of the forests of Canara, it is important to stop it on 

 that account in localities where valuable timber, such as 

 teak and blackwood is not met with. In Bekal taluk it is 

 stated (par. 44) that there is no valuable timber ; but in 

 Supah and Yellapur, which contain a large quantity, it 

 might be expedient to make the prohibition even more 

 absolute than the Board advise (par. 47). 



' 3. Par 43. With regard to considerations apart from 

 the Conservancy, the Governor in Council is not prepared 

 fully to adopt the reasons advanced against the prohibition 

 of the practice. It is urged that this sort of tillage affords 

 a livelihood to wild races who can only gradually be 

 brought to regular habits of agricultural industry. The 

 Government have strong doubts whether the way to teach 

 industrious habits to such classes is thus to tolerate and 

 even encourage the continuance of contrary habits. It 

 appears, too, that there must be something very profitable 

 or otherwise very attractive in Koomaree cultivation, as a 

 very large number of ordinary ryots appear to be engaged 

 in it nearly 26,000 in the single taluk of Bekal (par. 5). 



' 4. Again it is stated that the grain thus obtained is 

 necessary to the subsistence of the population. It may be 

 granted that the grain is necessary, but it does not follow 

 that this mode of raising it should be so; and the 



