HISTORY FROM 1816. 5 



at others the idea has prevailed that it is to private enterprise that 

 the Government should look for the successful working of the 

 forests of India. jJBut so long as the' supply of timber in the 

 country was generally sufficient for the public works in hand, the 

 question of forest management did not present itself to the 

 Government as one calling for earnest consideration. Latterly, 

 however, while the supply of timber has been steadily diminishing 

 from want of proper conservation, the demand both for State and 

 private purposes has been rapidly increasing ; and the enormous 

 requirements of the different railways for sleepers has especially 

 brought the matter into very prominent notice, and has now made 

 the subject of forast conservancy an important administrative 

 question. , 



'fit is in this manner then that the connection between the 

 forests and the Public Works department has arisen. The require- 

 ments of this department for Government works in the North- 

 Western Provinces first became so difficult to meet that, as before 

 noticed, a superintendent was appointed to look after the business ; 

 he was a Public Works officer. Then the gradually increased 

 demand for sleepers, which has naturally been considered in 

 relation with the railway administration, led further to matters 

 connected with forest management being frequently brought under 

 consideration in the Public Works department, in which the 

 railway business is transacted. The tendency to shift the consi- 

 deration of forest questions into that Public Department which is 

 moat directly interested in the supply of timber, and to which all 

 complaints come regarding the failure of the supply, was inevitable. 

 In like manner the pressure thus exercised had caused the officers 

 of the Government connected with the Public Works administra- 

 tion to be more alive than others to the real importance of the 

 points at issue, and superintendents of forests or timber agents 

 were from time to time appointed to assist in providing for definite 

 or pressing wants. At length the Government of India 

 perceiving the great and increasing importance of dealing with 



