110 EAST INDIA. 



appears again over an extensive area south of the Ganges in 

 Chutia Nagpur, the eastern part of the Central Provinces, 

 Orissa and the northern part of Madras. 



Deodar appears in the north-western Himalayas from the 

 Niti Pass into Afghanistan at an elevation of 4,000 to 

 11,000 feet. 



To enable the Forest Department to cope with its duties 

 it was necessary to provide proper protection to the forests. 

 Hence, a forest law was passed in 1865. This law empowered 

 the several local Governments to declare certain areas " State 

 forests " without in any way interfering with the rights of 

 the people. The claims for the latter were, however, on such 

 an excessive scale that real forest conservancy became 

 practically impossible ; moreover, they produced a great 

 deal of friction between the civil and forest officers. The 

 result was a new Forest Act, passed in 1878, the main 

 provisions of which were as follows : — 



(1.) Power to declare Government lands to be reserved 

 State forests. 



(2.) Power to demarcate these, to enquire into, record and 

 settle rights over them, once for all ; to commute such rights 

 whenever they prevented the conservation of the areas as 

 forests ; and to prevent the springing up of new rights except 

 by Government grant. 



(3.) Power to provide for the protection and management 

 of the reserved State forests, of protected and as yet unclassed 

 Government forests. 



(4.) Power to protect forest produce in transit. 



(5.) Power to provide suitable punishment for the breaking 

 of the forest law. 



This Forest Act is permissive throughout, that is to say, it 

 rests with the local Governments to apply it to any particular 

 part of the country, or not. 



Subsequently, further acts and regulations on similar lines 

 were passed for Burma, Madras and other parts of the 

 country. 



