( 60A ) 



August, 1912, it would appear that the landholders spent only a 

 comparatively small sum of money in afforestation or reclamation 

 and it must be assumed that the greater part of the forest growth 

 was either present on the ground before the area was reserved or 

 sprung up naturally as a result of preservation. Such natural 

 growth is practically useless from a commercial point of view. To 

 reclaim and afforest the Fisher forest, as it is now proposed 

 to do, will cost about Es. 6,000 annually. In the same resolution 

 it has been shown that the zamindars after a very few years of 

 management were able to lease the forests to Messrs. Cooper, Allen 

 and Company at Ee. I per acre per annum. Messrs. Cooper, Allen 

 and Company having extracted all the babul trees which they could 

 find on the ground, during the first ten years of their lease, were 

 only too anxious to be released from their contract, as they found 

 that it was impossible for them to manage such a small area 

 economically, and it is quite certain that the firm would not again 

 enter into such an undertaking. 



18. The result of Mr. Fremantle's and Mr. Courthope's en- 

 quiries from the zamindars and the Collectors in the Jhansi,Hamir- 

 pur, Jalaun, Agra and Muttra districts is exactly the same as 

 that reported in 1913 by Mr. Courthope, namely, that there is no 

 hope of zamindars doing anything towards reclaiming and afforest- 

 ing their lands of their own free will, at their own initiative and at 

 their own expense at the present juncture. All Collectors agree in 

 stating that if anything is to be done, Government must first show 

 the way by establishing profitable plantations profitable, that is, 

 from either a financial or protective point of view in each district. 



Reclamation by Government, who might either acquire or lease 

 the land and manage it through the agency of one of its depart- 

 ments, either as a protective measure in the interests of the general 

 community or as a profitable investment. As recognized in reso- 

 lution no. 348, dated the 26th August, 1912, a time has been 

 reached in the economic development of these provinces when 

 something must be done to utilize the vast area of waste land 

 from which neither Government nor the zamindars derive any 

 revenue. If Government is satisfied that, for this reason, and 

 with the object of preventing the further waste of good cultivated 

 land and consequent decrease in revenue, it is essential that the 

 ravines should be reclaimed, and, if it can be done in no other 

 way, Government can only have recourse to one or other of these 

 measures. There is no doubt that, looked at from a strictly com- 

 mercial point of view, acquisition of the land would be the most 

 profitable course for Government to adopt, find, where it is possible 



