08 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



of the evergreen forests on which the water-supply of the Colony 

 and Ashanti depends. If it is immaterial whether the whole of 

 the evergreen forest region becomes eventually converted into the 

 open type of forest characteristic of the so-called '"' dry zone " 

 01 not, then the problem need not be attacked ; but in this 

 eventuality the country must be prepared to face the diminished 

 water-supply, the drying up of what are at present important 

 perennial streams, and the limitations as to the variety of agri- 

 cultural crops that such a climate can support. 



If, on the other hand, it is decided to preserve the water-supply 

 and the moist climate on which such a large number of agricul- 

 tural crops depend, and there is no question as to which is the 

 wiser choice, then immediate action is necessary. Already such 

 damage has been done as will take years and the expenditure of 

 large sums of money to repair, and there is no time to lose. 



The problem should be attacked on scientific lines and such 

 steps taken as will ensure the protection of the forests concerned. 

 On the one hand there is the agricultural system of the natives, 

 which is one of the most wasteful known and which entails 

 larger areas being taken up for crops than any other method 

 demands, to contend against: on the other side the possible 

 inclusion, on the advice of over-zealous advocates of reservation, 

 of larger tracts of forests within the reserved area than is actually 

 necessary to meet the wants of the situation. A just balance 

 should be drawn between the conflicting interests. 



In this connection I may remark that the accumulated effect 

 of timber exploitation on the climate of the country is a mere 

 bagatelle compared with that resulting from the wholesale 

 destruction of the forest for farming purposes. If every 

 mahogany and cedar tree in these forests were exterminated, it 

 would have but little influence one way or another on the rainfall, 

 because the forest vegetation as a whole would practically remain 

 intact, whereas the clearings for farms remove at one fell swoop 

 every stick of the vegetation clothing the areas selected for culti- 

 vation. 



The preservation of the water-supply and the climatic factors of 

 the country must always claim first attention in any rational 

 scheme of forest administration, and compared with it the regula- 

 tion and control of timber exploitation is of secondary import- 

 ance, unless indeed the exploitation is so extensive as to threaten 

 the existence of the forests themselves, a contingency not likely 

 to arise out here, where only comparatively few of the species 

 composing the forest vegetation are of any economic value. 



Indeed, the extraction of major forest produce (timber) on the 

 Gold Coast wants regulating not so much on account of any 

 danger threatening the forest vegetation as a whole, but with a 

 view to ensuring a continuous and sustained yield of the produce. 



I strongly advise that a commission, composed of a trained 

 agriculturist, a trained forester (both of whom should have 

 experience of the tropics), and a Travelling Commissioner, be 

 disputed to visit the districts of Kwahu, Eastern and Western 

 Akyem, and Aburi, where farming is being carried out on a large 



