GOLD COAST REPOR1 ON FORESTS. 125 



mouth character inseparable from the conditions mentioned 

 above, in the wake of which has followed the theft of timber 

 which is so much complained of and which is practically absent 

 from Southern Nigeria. The imposition of the proposed tax will 

 help to weed out the undesirables and regulate their operations 

 on a more satisfactory basis. 



Another danger in fixing the Gold Coast timber tax at a lower 

 figure than that in force in Southern Nigeria is the probability 

 in such an event that attempts will almost certainly be made to 

 bring pressure to bear on the Government of the latter in order 

 to reduce the tax in force there. I have already explained that 

 the Southern Nigeria arrangements are working satisfactorily, 

 and that no changes are called for at present. 



As there is certain to be an outcry against the high minimum 

 felling girths of 12 feet proposed for some species in Rule 25, it is 

 advisable to mention here Ihe reasons that have necessitated the 

 adoption of that size. 



I have, when describing some of the forests of the Gold Coast 

 and Ashanti, called attention to the unsatisfactory condition of 

 the age classes, or gradations, of the more important species to be 

 found in them. 



Now in order that a forest should yield an approximately equal 

 quantity of major produce (timber) every year in the future, it is 

 necessary that it should, as near as possible, be in that condition 

 known technically as the " normal forest," in which the age 

 gradations, or what amounts to the same thing as the girth, are 

 for all practical purposes proportional to the age, the girth 

 gradations are so represented in the numbers of trees and the 

 volume they contain as to enable that annual yield of mature 

 timber to be realised. Any deficiency in the " normal " number 

 of trees that should exist in each girth class, especially those cor- 

 responding to the younger age gradations or classes, necessitates 

 an alteration in the annual yield so as to enable the surplus stock 

 in the well-represented classes to be utilised in such a manner as 

 to permit the fellings to tide over the long period necessary before 

 the forest can be converted into the normal state. Now the 

 majority of the West African forests are in the irregular condi- 

 tion in which the age or girth classes are not evenly graded, large 

 gaps occur in the gradations, and some of the latter, especially the 

 older ones, are, on the other hand, represented by a greater num- 

 ber of trees than is necessary; hence if the yield was based on this 

 last factor alone, without considering the abnormal condition of 

 the younger classes, more than the annual wood increment would 

 be removed, and the wood-producing capital would be encroached 

 upon. In fact the greater the deficiency in the younger classes 

 as compared with the older ones the longer the period required 

 to transform the forest into the normal state, and the longer the 

 period over which the surplus stock of the older classes would 

 have to be utilised in order to ensure an approximately equal 

 yield during that time. 



If S = the stock available for exploitation, or which will be- 

 come available during the N years required to transform the 



