Special branch 

 of agricultural 

 department. 



Agreements 

 with Etawah 

 landowners for 

 the management 

 of their waste 

 lands. 



enterprise through taqavi loans, and Government con- 

 trol, in some form or other, was considered essential. 



(7) The suitability of ravine reclamation for famine labour was 



also explained. 



(8) The necessity for a specially trained staff before any ex- 



tension could be made was insisted on and it was suggest- 

 ed that the necessary staff should be trained locally, the 

 superior staff being deputed to Roorkee and Saharanpur 

 to study engineering and gardening respectively. 



(9) A number of blocks in Jhansi, Hamirpur and Jalaun were 



described in which it was thought operations could be 

 started, special consideration being given to 

 (i) proximity to areas already under reclamation ; 

 (ii) the necessity of increasing the existing blocks to econo- 

 mic size ; 



(iii) the suitability of the blocks for famine relief works ; 

 (iv) the accessibility of the blocks ; and 

 (v) the sentiment of the landholders concerned. 

 The scattered blocks of ravines in the Muttra district were con- 

 sidered unsuitable and the Agra district ravines were the subject 

 of a special report (appendices VIII and IX). 



The whole of the agency to be employed in reclamation work 

 was discussed by Government in their orders on this report, and 

 it was suggested that it would eventually come under the direction 

 of a special branch of the Agricultural department with assistance 

 from the Forest department ; letter no. 259-L. of the 6th August, 



1915, to the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, United Prov- 

 inces (appendix XI). Mr. Fremantle was consequently posted to 

 the Afforestatkn division as an agricultural expert in December, 



1916, and proposals were submitted showing how the work should be 

 divided up between the two branches. These proposals indicated 

 how essential forestry was for the permanent reclamation of the 

 ravines and how difficult it was to split the work up ; Mr. Fre- 

 mantle shortly afterwards resigned and the work remained under 

 the Forest department. 



Concurrent with these declarations of policy a big step 

 forward in afforestation was made in the' Etawah district as a 

 result of the Etawah Conference. Certain big landowners, not- 

 ably the Rajas of Bhareh and Partabnair, approached Govern- 

 ment under section 38 (Indian Forest Act no. VII of 1878) 

 for the management of certain ravine areas, aggregating about 

 30,000 acres, as fuel and fodder .reserves. The terms under which 

 this was undertaken were drawn up (appendix XI) and the Etawah 

 Afforestation division was formed with effect from the 1st April, 



