( 14A ) 



cultivation ; it oame under management in 1879-80. In the twelve 

 years succeeding its reservation, the total expenditure on the forest 

 amounted to Rs. 26,750 and profits to Rs. 26,900 a ratio of over 

 100 per cent, expenditure. In the ten years from 1891 to 1901 the 

 gross income of the forest was Rs. 1,22,600, the gross expenditure 

 Rs. 68,000, and profits Rs. 54,600, or about 80 per cent, on the 

 expenditure. The average yearly profits were Rs. 4,360. Since 

 then profits have risen substantially, reaching in the year 1902 the 

 large figure of Rs. 17,260, while working expenses have averaged 

 about Rs. 4,000. The produce of the forest is almost entirely fuel 

 and grass, the former being bought in considerable quantities by 

 the railway. In 1902, at the time of settlement, the Government 

 received information that the ravages of wild animals and cattle 

 harboured in the Tikri forest had effected a material detrioration in 

 surrounding cultivation, and the local authorities were asked to 

 consider the desirability of disforestation. The settlement officer 

 urged that, while it was a fact that deterioration had occurred from 

 this cause and from the effects of the forest oh drinking water, the 

 value of the forest as a grazing reserve and fuel producer was so 

 great as to render its abandonment a step of doubtful wisdom. He 

 pointed out that wood for fuel, implements and house-building was 

 25 per cent, cheaper in Gonda than in the trans-Gogra districts, 

 and that this price could not be maintained if wood had to be 

 brought from submontane tracts ; he suggested that deterioration 

 could be largely arrested by the organized destruction of wild 

 animals, and urged that forests standing in a highly cultivated area 

 required different treatment in this respect to forest surrounded by 

 wild tracts. He admitted that some direct ad vantage to the revenue 

 would result from the forest being brought under cultivation, esti- 

 mating that in twenty-five years the revenue assessed would amount 

 to Rs. 10,620. Systematic action was taken to reduce the wild 

 cattle and other animals harboured, the deterioration in surrounding 

 cultivation complained of seems to have disappeared, and the idea 

 of disforestation has been abandoned. A further examination of the 

 financial aspect of the matter produced a forecast from the divi- 

 sional forest officer which would show that in twenty-five years the 

 revenue accruing from the forest will amount to over Rs. 20,000, a 

 sum about double that anticipated from assessment to land revenue. 



An extension of agricultural forestry on these lines might go far 

 to remove the distrust of the department which has prevailed 

 among the cultivating population by the addition of a visible policy 

 of giving to the inevitable policy of taking away. 



12. Such a development has, the Lieutenaut-Governor recog- 

 nizes, been hitherto impracticable, owing to the inadequacy of the 



