( 69A ) 



singly or in co-operation with each other. From the point of view 

 of Government this would be the most satisfactory arrangement. 

 That is to say, if landholders could be found in one district or even 

 two adjoining districts, whose ravine tracts aggregated about 30,000 

 to 50,000 acres, and if this area is made up of large blocks of ravines 

 of from 8,000 to 10,000 acres each, and if these landholders can 

 find between them a sum of from 00,000 to 1,00,000 rupees annually, 

 and can afford to wait 10 to 20 years before getting a return on 

 their money, then a separate division could be formed and the 

 whole expenditure would be borne by the zamiwlars themselves. 

 This is an ideal arrangement which it is at present useless to 

 contemplate. In the Agra district there is the case of the Bhadawar 

 estate, at present under the management of the Court of Wards, 

 which could afford to spend about Rs. 15,000 -per annum on 

 reclamatien. Adjoining this estate there is a small estate of per- 

 haps 3,000 acres of ravines, the owner of which has tentatively 

 suggested that he might be able to afford Rs. 1,000 annually, if he 

 were satisfied that the money would be well invested. At some 

 distance from these two estates there is another landholder who has 

 expressed his willingness to have a small area afforested as an 

 experiment. These three estates together are not enough to form a 

 division, though it may be possible to form them into a sub-division 

 of the proposed Etawah division. The other landholders of the Bah 

 tahsil, in which there is a large enough tract of ravines to form a 

 division, are not in a position to find the necessary money even if 

 they were willing to co-operate in the scheme. In Bundelkhand 

 Mr. Fremantle finds that the larger landholders are not in a financial 

 position to enable them to contemplate the possibility of reclaiming 

 their ravines at their own expense and that, although certain smaller 

 landholders are willing to spend a small amount each year on 

 reclamation, the estates of these small zamindars are so scattered 

 as to preclude the possibility of co-operation. 



17. In resolution no. 971 it is stated that, with the example 

 of the Fisher forest before him, His Honour the Lieutenant- 

 Governor is not satisfied that landholders will not afforest their 

 ravine tracts at their own expense. In the writer's opinion the 

 example of the Fisher forest is not a fair one. The area is a very 

 small one, and in itself is not enough to form a division or even a 

 sub-division, and it would be quite impossible for any officer to 

 supervise properly works of afforestation being carried out in a 

 number of such blocks situated a great distance from each other 

 even if the landholders had sufficient technical knowledge to enable 

 them to carry out the works recommended. From the short history 

 of the Fisher forest given in resolution no. 348, dated the 26th 



