REPOKT OF FORESTRY BUREAU, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 47 



2. If the product is timber, and whether subject to payment or not, the delinquent 

 shall pay the value of the same and damage, and also a fine of 1 cent for each 10 cubic 

 decimeters for the first offense, 2 cents per 10 cubic decimeters for the second offense, 

 and for the third offense 2 cents per cubic decimeter, with confiscation and loss of 

 said timber. 



ART. 74. Unauthorized clearing of public lands, especially by fire, is absolutely 

 prohibited. Offenders shall be punished by a fine of $20 per hectare for the ground 

 so burnt over, and in case of insolvency shall serve a term in prison to correspond to 

 the time required to liquidate said fine at the rate of $2.50 per day; said term of 

 imprisonment shall not exceed sixty days. The land unlawfully occupied must be 

 immediately abandoned, this for the first offense; for the second offense $30 per hec- 

 tare and the immediate abandonment of the property, and in case of insolvency 

 imprisonment as above described for a term not to exceed ninety days. For the third 

 offense, $50 per hectare and immediate abandonment of the property. In case of 

 insolvency imprisonment as above described not to exceed one hundred and eighty 

 days. This penalty shall not be increased for subsequent offenses, but if it should be 

 proven that the burning was done through malice the offender shall be punished 

 according to the penal code. 



ART. 75. 1. Persons owning lands containing trees suitable for lumber, firewood, 

 or other forest products shall immediately present certified copies of their title deeds 

 at this office for registration. 



2. Forest products taken from private lands whose owners have not complied with 

 these requirements shall be considered unlawfully taken. 



ART. 76. In order that forestry officials may exercise an intelligent supervision 

 over the utilization of forest products, all said products of land owned by towns 

 or by private individuals, and which leave the jurisdiction where said lands are situ- 

 ated, shall be accompanied by a statement, signed by the owner or administrator 

 of the estate and by the president or alcalde of the town, in which statement shall 

 be described the number, class, and amount of forest product and the place where 

 cut or gathered, and shall also show a receipt from the forestry bureau of registra- 

 tion of title to said land. 



Failure to present this statement will render the owner of said forest product liable 

 to the penalties incurred by parties fraudulently taking forest products from the for- 

 ests of the state. 



ART. 77. The officer in charge of the forestry bureau is charged with the duty of 

 preparing the blank forms necessary for the enforcement of the foregoing regulations 

 and distributing the same as the necessities of the service may require. 



By command of Major-General MacArthur: 



E. H. CROWDER, 

 Lieutenant- Colonel Thirty-ninth Infantry, U. S. V., Secretary. 



FORESTS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



The Philippine Islands lie between 4 45' and 21 north latitude and 

 between 116 and 127 east longitude, with an area of 119,542 square 

 miles. The islands are all mountainous, some of the high peaks having 

 an altitude close to 9,000 feet above the sea. In many of the islands 

 the steep mountain slopes begin close to the seacoast, and to the casual 

 observer the entire area is woodland. It has been estimated that of the 

 73,000,000 acres in the islands more than 6,000,000 are under cultiva- 

 tion. (Jordana, 1890.) 



We find various estimates for the forest area by former officials. 



The official geographic statistics of 1876 fix the forest area at 51,537,243 

 acres. 



Fernando Castro estimated the forest area in 1890 at 48,112,920 acres. 

 This includes all woodland, private as well as public land. 



As one travels over the islands he is constantly struck with the large 

 population to the square mile and the scarcity of timber close to the 

 main traveled routes and centers of population. As one leaves the 

 main traveled routes vast virgin forests are met with, rich in valuable 

 hard woods, dyewoods, gums, and other products, waiting for the skill 

 and enterprise of the American capitalist. On the island of Cebu,. 



