45 



tors ; but it is his business to see that the general provisions of the sanctioned 

 working schemes and yearly budget of his division are properly carried out, and 

 to audit and pass the accounts of the sub-divisional officers. 



(3) Conservators. A Conservator has general control of several divisions, 

 collectively called a c.ircle, comprising all the forests of the State, or, if they are 

 very extensive, of a Province only. He is the immediate adviser of government 

 in all forest matters concerning his circle ; holds in fact, in this respect, much the 

 same position as an under-secretary of State, and usually has his headquarters 

 at the seat of Government. 



(4) Inspectors-General. An Inspector-General stands in the same relation 

 to a supreme government as a conservator to its local government, and exercises 

 a general supervision over the whole system of a country. 



It will be observed that by this system the administration is divided into an 

 executive and a controlling branch, the former consisting of Assistant-Conserva- 

 tors and their subordinates, and the latter of Deputy-Conservators and officers of 

 superior rank. 



Members of the inferior establishment do not, as a rule, rise higher in the 

 service. A much lower standard of technical and general education is demanded 

 from them than from the members of the superior branch, and they are, therefore, 

 generally unfitted for the higher appointments. 



The size of ranges, sub-divisions, divisions, or circles, depends on local circum- 

 stances, such as the degree of intensiveness of the working, compactness of the 

 forest area, mode of treatment and means of communication. It is, for instance, 

 evident that, other things being equal, a Deputy-Conservator could manage a 

 larger division where there was railway communication than where there 

 was none. It is equally obvious that a ranger could manage a much larger forest 

 worked by the method of equal areas, and solely with the view to producing 

 firewood coppice, than a seedling forest worked by the combined method with a 

 view to the production of large timber and naturally regenerated. 



CHOICE OF AN OKGANIZER. 



Should the sub-divisional officer who has been in immediate charge of the 

 forest, perhaps for many years, be intrusted with a preparation of a plan, or 

 should a special branch of the executive be employed, whose sole business is (o 

 prepare plans of management ? 



In regard to this question, opinions are divided. Of course it is one which 

 can only arise in regard to large tracts of forest belonging to one proprietor 

 the State for example. A small proprietor would not be able to keep a special 

 staff fully employed. 



It has been urged in favor of the local officials conducting the organization 

 and revision of a forest, that he must know the special conditions far better than 

 other people, and that he would take much more interest in the carrying out of 

 his own programme than that of another. ^ 



On the other hand, it has been maintained that the special practical knowl- 

 edge and skill necessary to organize a forest successfully cannot be acquired in 

 the ordinary routine of an executive officer, who would probably not be called 

 upon to carry out a work of this kind more than a few times during his whole 

 career ; that by constant practice a special branch would attain the necessary 

 proficiency ; that if the work is done by a small body of men, it is more likely to 



