Canadian Forestry Journal, December, 19J7 



1457 



Forest Reserves in Burma 



(Dealing with the question of laying 

 down and putting through a strong 

 policy for future reservation with the 

 object of taking in all areas capable 

 of procuring marketable timber that 

 are unsuitable for permanent cultiva- 

 tion and checking the inroads of the 

 taungya-cutter) . 



A glance at the map of most forest 

 divisions in Burma shows a number 

 of forest reserves of various sizes, 

 and that these reserves are for the 

 most part more or less remote from 

 the more populous parts. 



The chief reason for the former 

 appears to have lain in the suspicious 

 attitude of the authorities to reserva- 

 tion, and, for the latter, to the boun- 

 daries being thrown back in deference 

 to the wishes of the villagers. 



Moreover, owing to the value of 

 teak overshadowing that of all other 

 species, it is only in recent years that 

 reservation in the interests of the 

 latter has received serious considera- 

 tion. 



In throwing back the boundaries 

 of the reserves in deference to the 

 wishes of the villagers, we certainly 

 have not considered the best interests 

 of the community. 



In accessible areas the throwing 

 back of the boundary has resulted, 

 so far as the excluded area was con- 

 cerned, in the removal of all market- 

 able timber by the trader and the 

 serious depletion of the immature 

 stock by the wasteful use of the vil- 

 lager. Superimpose a trade demand 

 for firewood and areas that were at 



one time capable of producing mar- 

 ketable timber are in a couple of 

 decades reduced to wastes that are 

 only reclaimable at an enormous out- 

 lay. 



What the result of excluding forests 

 in deference to the wishes of the vil- 

 lagers has been is emphasized by the 

 fact that it is now necessary to ser- 

 iously consider the question of form- 

 ing village forests, that is, within a 

 generation the villagers and traders 

 have squandered the resources of the 

 accessible areas. 



Reserving by Patches. 



The Forest Officer in the past was 

 to a great extent compelled to take 

 too narrow a view, but this view is 

 broadening and the same process of 

 evolution has lessened the suspicions 

 with which the civilian authorities 

 formerly regarded our operations. 

 In the past we were compelled to re- 

 serve in patches and to exclude much 

 of the accessible areas. 



Should we continue in the future 

 to allow without protest what re- 

 mains of the unclassed forests to be 

 turned into irreclaimable waste we 

 shall justly lay ourselves open to the 

 reproach of future generations. 



As a result of our past policy the 

 less accessible areas are reserved to 

 a great extent and the more accessible 

 steadily deteriorating, though bur- 

 dened with troublesome regulations, 

 made in a vain effort to stay their 

 ruin and impossible to enforce ef- 

 ficiently. 



The only remedy for this state of 

 affairs appears to lie in the reservation 



BOVRIL 



Saves Kitchen Waste 



There will be no more throwing away of good food if you keep a bottle 

 of Bovril in the kitchen. Bovril helps you to make delicious dishes out of 

 cold food. Better soup, better stews — less expense. 



