58 



F..P i Art <>f I,s7>\ followed liy special Acts for Burma, Madras, and one or two 

 other 1'ioviiices. ( )i' these, the Burma Act is the best. Generally speaking, the 

 ennctments give power to I. In- < iovrrnment : 



(1 To declare any area belonging to the State, or over which the State has 

 righK to be a State forest. 



(~2) 'I'n demarcate such area, and to enquire into and settle, once for all, the 

 right- claimed l>y third persons in or over such area ; to commute such rights 

 it' thej .-eriously inte.rfere with the maintenance of such forests; and to prevent 

 the springing up of new rights except by a ( io\ ."rnment grant. 



(Mi To piovide for the proper protection and management of the State 

 fore 



(4) To provide for the protection and management of Government forests 

 not included in the reserved State forests. 



(">) To provide for the preservation of private forests, which are of special 

 importance to the community as a whole. 



law. 



(6) To provide for the protection of forest produce in transit. 



(7) To provide for the adequate punishment of persons breaking the forest 



Passing over many other provisions. I shall only add that the Act is through- 

 out permissive, that is to say, the Government may bring its provisions into 

 operation or not, as may be required from time to time. 



Under these laws an area of about 55,000,000 acres, which is just under 10 

 per cent, of the British territory, has been brought under the control of the Indian 

 Forest Department ; thirty-three million acres are so-called reserved State 

 forests, that is to say, areas which have been set aside and are managed as per- 

 manent forest estates ; while the remaining twenty-two million acres are as yet 

 so-called protected or unclassed State forests, enjoying a limited extent of pro- 

 tection until it has been finally decided whether they are to be incorporated with 

 the permanent State forests or not. Some fifteen million acres of additional 

 forest lands are at the disposal of Government, which have not as yet been 

 brought under the control of the Department. 



It will be noticed that the area of State forests falls considerably short of 20 

 per cent, of the total area, the proportion which is believed to be that required to 

 meet the demands of the country. There are however, as yet extensive forest 

 lands in the hands of private persons, and although their extent and yield 

 capacity is decreasing every year, a considerable portion is so situated, or of such 

 a description, that it is not fit for permanent cultivation, and may be expected to 

 yield always a certain amount of produce. Interference with these private forests 

 will only be possible in cases of absolute necessity. 



The bulk of the required produce must come from the State forests, and if 

 they are to \ ield that, they must be managed in a careful and systematic manner. 



Hence Sir Dietrich Brandis recognized at an early stage the paramount impor- 

 tance of providing a competent staff of officers. He obtained, as early as 1866, 

 the sanction of Government to a scheme, under which every year a number 

 of young Englishmen are selected, and trained in forest science and practice 

 before they proceed to India to take their places as officers of the Forest Depart- 



