[-2 PRACTICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



"Your circular, cautioning the Local tJovermnents to be 

 careful that forests are not treated as waste lands under the 

 new arrangement, has received my approval in Despatch 

 no. 23 of the 17th December last. I quite agree with your 

 Excellency that it is very important that, in order at once 

 to remove the forests from the category of waste lands, their 

 boundaries should be established and set apart in some strict and 

 formal manner ; but I would suggest to you whether a legislative 

 enactment will be necessary for this object. It occurs to me 

 that inconvenience may arise from such a step, inasmuch as you 

 admit that it may be found desirable to give up land to cultivation 

 which may have been set apart for forests, and vice versa ; and it 

 seems to me that such questions would be best resolved by your 

 Excellency in Council, acting on the recommendation of the chief 

 officer of the Forest department, and in concert with the revenue 

 officers of the district in which the land is situated. 



" With reference to other clauses in your letter, Her Majesty's 

 Government think that the control of the financial operations, as 

 well as the provision of proper means of conveyance to connect the 

 forests with the great lines of traffic through the country, should 

 be wholly vested in the Forest department. 



" While alluding to financial considerations, I will observe 

 that, although it is of course to be hoped, and although I firmly 

 believe that a considerable profit will be derived from the forests, 

 when permanently placed under experienced and careful manage- 

 ment, still profit is not the only object to be kept in view, and in 

 the state in which many of the forests now are it may not be 

 possible at once to obtain a revenue from them. An outlay even 

 may now be necessary in many instances, and, when necessary, 

 should, I think, be incurred. And it is another advantage of a 

 permanent administration that it will look forward with certainty 

 to the repayment of such an outlay in future years. I may add, 

 too, that the superintendents should be supplied with a sufficient 



