114 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



countries, is to be adopted or not. It is true that some good can 

 be and has been done by the district commissioners and political 

 officers in getting the chiefs to make some attempt at preserving 

 the forests, but this is an uncertain method by which much is left 

 to chance and the personal influence exercised by a few officials, 

 and in any case is a slow process ; meanwhile the forests are being 

 rapidly destroyed. It may be confidently asserted that no real 

 progress has or ever will be made in forest conservancy unless the 

 supreme Government reserves to itself the right to direct and regu- 

 late its application. The measures necessary for the realisation 

 of sound forest administration are difficult enough, as it is, to put 

 into practice when undertaken directly by Government itself ; the 

 results likely to follow from leaving such measures to the caprice 

 of the native councils can be imagined. 



In none of the ordinary affairs of life is that continuity of policy 

 and action required for the realisation of sound administration of 

 such vital importance as it is in forestry. It is the very life and 

 essence of its successful application. 



Forest crops often require centuries before they mature and can 

 be reaped. The majority and best of the various approved 

 methods of treatment and arrangement cannot be realised before 

 generations have lapsed, and in most cases not within the lifetime 

 of the persons initiating them. The longer the interval between 

 the sowing and reaping of the crop the greater the opportunity 

 and temptation to interfere with its growth, and the greater the 

 chances against its ever maturing under any particular method of 

 treatment. Again, the temptation for private individuals, com- 

 munes and such bodies to reap prematurely the crop at the expense 

 of the generations to come is very great. For all these reasons it 

 is recognised in civilised States that the supreme power is the only 

 agency suitable for directing and carrying out a sound forest 

 policy. 



In short, nothing but that grim tenacity of purpose and action 

 that can alone be exercised by the paramount Government can ever 

 safely carry the forests through the dangers and vicissitudes to 

 which they are exposed during the long years that must elapse 

 before they can be reaped and brought into an organised condition 

 capable of ensuring a sustained and increasing yield of produce in 

 the future. 



p. Forest laws suitable for the Gold Coast and its two 

 dependencies, Ashanti and the Northern Territories. 



For our West African Colonies and Protectorates I think the 

 most suitable kind of forest legislation is that embodied in the 

 Forest Laws contained in pages 1312 to 1344 of Volume II. of- 

 "Laws of the Colony of Southern Nigeria," edited, by 

 authority, by E.' A. Speed, M.A., LL.B., Attorney- 

 General of the Colony of Southern Nigeria, and J. E. 

 Green, Solicitor-General of the Colony, 1908; published 

 by Stevens & Sons, 119 and 120, Chancery Lane. 

 The laws are based on those of the Indian Forest Acts, and 

 have been modified to suit local requirements. They have been 



