GOLD COAST REPORT ON FORESTS. 141 



up for that purpose. Meanwhile, unless ;i certain amount of pro- 

 tection is afforded to the forests ill general, there is risk of their 

 being destroyed or severely damaged before the choice of areas 

 that it is considered desirable to reserve has been completed. 

 As a measure suited to the uncertainty that must exist for very 

 many years whether permanent forests will be required in some 

 areas, or whether it will not be better to give up such areas to cul- 

 tivation and agriculture in general, this type of limited protection 

 is invaluable. 



When the reservation of the quantity of wooded land considered 

 necessary for meeting all the demands for forest produce likely 

 to be made in the future has been completed, and when the per- 

 manent existence of a sufficient extent of forest has been ensured 

 with a view to protecting and improving the climatic factors of 

 the country, then and then only will it be advisable to remove 

 all restrictions from the unreserved areas. It is difficult to esti- 

 mate what percentage of the forest lands should be reserved, 

 because future requirements cannot be accurately allowed for. 

 In India about 39 per cent, of the area of forest lands has been 

 reserved and the area brouglit under this treatment is still increas- 

 ing in extent almost every year. 



Rules relating to Forest Reserves. 



We now come to the consideration of the orders and rules 

 necessary for the regulation and management of forest reserves, 

 which expression includes the tint ire forest reserves provided for 

 in the Southern Nigerian Ordinance as amended by me for the 

 purposes of the Gold Coast. 



The Southern Nigeria Rules relating to forest reserves consist 

 of: 



A. Prohibitions. 



B. Rules and regulations, and 



An appendix containing licence forms for use in reserved 

 forests. 



The corresponding reserved forest rules for the Gold Coast 

 should be identical with those enacted for Southern Nigeria, and 

 they will, in that form, be found to meet all the requirements of 

 the case. 



As mentioned before, reserves should he looked upon as estates 

 that are to be protected and managed solely with a view to supply- 

 ing forest produce both for local use and, if necessary, for export, 

 as well as for the purpose of ensuring that beneficial action on 

 the climatic factors associated with the presence of large masses 

 of forest vegetation. 



The necessity for placing such areas on a proper legal footing, 

 by defining their boundaries fas pieces of property) and the rights 

 to be exercised in them, &c., has already been explained, and it is 

 only necessary now to remark that unless this legal protection 

 has been properly secured it is useless to anticipate any good 

 results from a system of forest conservancy in which an essential 

 guarantee of that sort is wanting. It is not worth while going 

 to the expense of introducing measures for the treatment and 



