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Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1918 



Logging by Elephants in Burma 



Forest Conservator Visits Canada to 

 Investigate Modern Woods Methods. 



The high cost of elephants has 

 so influenced the timber trade of 

 Burma that Mr. F. C. Leete, Conser- 

 vator cf Forests, has been visiting 

 Canada in an endeavor to secure 

 mechanical tractors. He visited the 

 Booth limits at Madawaska, the 

 River Quelle Pulp and Lumber Com- 

 pany's limits at St. Pacome, Quebec, 

 and other localities where log hauling 

 machinery is successfully employed. 



Burma contains the finest timber 

 in the Indian Empire. The great 

 commercial species is teak, a wood 

 of remarkable strength and durabil- 

 ity, withstanding insect and fungous 

 diseases and retaining its quality 

 even after long years of alternate 

 exposure to extreme heat and im- 

 mersion in water. 



Driving in Torrential Rains 



As the annual precipitation in Bur- 

 ma occurs within a few weeks — 

 during which the white officials 

 usually retire to Rangoon — the 

 annual driving of logs must be 

 done in the most immoderate weath- 

 er. Much as in Canada, dams are 

 constructed and waters stored so 

 as to float the logs down the small 

 streams to the Irriwady, the great 

 trunk river of Burma. Native 

 workers are almost exclusively em- 

 ployed in this task. Rafting on 

 the Irriwady is not dissimilar to 

 the Canadian process, except that 

 the rafts are smaller, and the booming 

 is under the control of British forestry 

 officers. 



In the cutting of the forests, 

 the Forest Service officers mark 

 the mature trees to be taken out. 

 They are then girdled so as to 

 facilitate barking. At one time, 

 before British occupation of the 

 country, one timber company con- 

 trolled the cutting rights over the 

 whole extent of Burma, but this 

 has been much modified and cutting 

 rights can now be secured by any 

 operator. Jobbers supply a large 



percentage of the annual teak cut, 

 and are obliged to operate under 

 strict regulations. Only the imposi-* 

 tion of diameter and other require- 

 ments has preserved the valuable 

 woods from complete destruction. 

 Under the unregulated methods of 

 former times, waste of teak was 

 enormous. For example, the native 

 dishes were usually composed of 

 teak, which were made by sawing 

 ojit a small section of a large teak 

 log and leaving the remainder where 

 it fell. This has been stopped not 

 alone by the British forestry laws 

 but by the success of German com- 

 mercial agents in inducing the people 

 to use cheap metal plates and cooking 

 utensils. As to German influence 

 in Burma during the war, the native 

 population is content to believe that 

 no power on earth can disturb the 

 "British Rajah" — and let it go at 

 that. 



British Justice With Natives 

 In its dealings with the native 

 population, many instances have 

 occurred wherein the British sense 

 of rigid justice in dealings with 

 native peoples is illustrated. For 

 example, the Forest Service some- 

 times decides to take into the re- 

 serves a piece of land adjacent 

 to a village. Six months in advance, 

 advertisements are conspicuously 

 posted in the village inviting all 

 persons claiming any rights what- 

 soever in the land to be reserved 

 to appear before the Commissioner 

 at a given date. As often as not, 

 the entire area is blanketed with 

 claims two or three times over. 

 Each claim is carefully examined 

 and, if bona fide, is generously 

 dealt with. In many instances the 

 Commissioner decides cases against 

 the Forest OfTicer and in favor of 

 the native claimant and may indeed 

 order the whole proposition aban- 

 doned if the number and character 

 of the claims promise an abnormal 



