REORGANIZATION OF THE PHILIP- 

 PINE BUREAU OF FORESTRY 



BY 

 W. J. HUTCHINSON 



Forester, Zamboanga, Mindanao, P. I. 



""THE "Reorganization Act," which 

 * provides for the consolidation of 

 the various government bureaus and 

 a reduction of a million dollars in the 

 cost of running the same, was passed 

 by the Philippine Commission, and ap- 

 proved by the governor general of the 

 islands, October 26, 1905. 



Under the provisions of this act the 

 Bureau of Forestry will not lose its 

 identity, although several important 

 changes, which take effect December 

 I, 1905, have been made in its or- 

 ganization. A brief outline of the 

 most important of these changes fol- 

 lows: 



1. The chief of the Bureau of For- 

 estry will hereafter be known as the 

 director of forestry. 



2. The position of assistant chief is 

 abolished. 



3. The Division of Forest Inspec- 

 tion, which has charge of the work of 

 the various forest stations, and whose 

 officials classify, appraise, and order 

 payment on all forest products taken 

 from public lands, is abolished, and its 

 work transferred to the Bureau of In- 

 ternal Revenue. 



As a result of this transfer, the for- 

 esters of the different districts will be 

 able to devote their entire time to the 

 silvicultural study of the forests, the 

 location of areas best suited for com- 

 mercial exploitation of timber and 

 minor forest products, and the inspec- 

 tion of logging operations of various 

 licensees. 



The islands are at present divided 

 into ten forest districts with fifty-six 

 forest stations. As all manifests and 

 orders of payment will now be issued 

 by officers of the Bureau of Internal 

 Revenue, it will only be necessary to 

 retain the most important stations as 

 headquarters for the foresters, and a 

 number of the best rangers to assist 



in the work of inspection, etc. 



4. The Division of Disbursements 

 is abolished, and hereafter all accounts 

 etc., will be rendered to the Division 

 of Disbursements, Bureau of the 

 Treasury. 



5. The experiment station located 

 on the Lamao Forest Reserve is to be 

 transferred to the Department of Agri- 

 culture, but the bureau will still con- 

 tinue work on the various type-areas 

 in which botanical and silvical studies 

 have been carried on since the estab- 

 lishment of the reserve in 1903. 



6. Postal, telephone, and telegraph 

 service on government business will be 

 paid for at the regular rate established 

 for similar services to private persons, 

 out of a fund appropriated for the 

 purpose. 



Another item of interest apart from 

 the "Reorganization Act," is the gen- 

 eral order issued by the Bureau of 

 Forestry, and approved by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, October 2, which 

 will do much toward alleviating the 

 hard times at present prevailing among 

 the inhabitants of the islands. 



This order provides that for a peri- 

 od of five years the residents of the 

 islands will be allowed to utilize free 

 of charge, and without license, forest 

 products, earth and stone, for personal 

 use, cutting of trees of the first group 

 excepted. 



Timber cut for sale or export will 

 continue to pay the regular govern- 

 ment tax, but the new ruling will do 

 away with the "red tape" heretofore 

 necessary in order to obtain permis- 

 sion to cut a few cubic feet of wood 

 for personal use. 



At the present time there are eight 

 American-trained foresters and assist 

 ant foresters in the islands, and a num- 

 ber of new men are expected to arrive 

 from the United States early in 1906. 



