( 79A ) 



the officer in charge of the Etawah division would have as much as 

 he could conveniently manage in the Etawah district, and I did not 

 realize how close to Etawah the Bhadawar estate was. Since 

 Mr. Liddiard has demarcated out the ravine tracts which are to be 

 handed over to the management of the Forest department in the 

 Etawah district, however, it appears that the total area to be 

 managed in that district, including the Fisher Forest, is only 

 about 20,000 acres instead of 30,000 acres as was first estimated. 

 Moreover, I find that Chitra Hat or Naugawan, either of which 

 would make a convenient centre for a new range if formed, are ac- 

 tually closer to Etawah than either Chakarnagar or Bhareh, which 

 are likely to be the headquarters of two of the three Etawah ranges. 

 Therefore, so long as work in the Agra district is confined to the 

 Bhadawar estate, and until more land comes under the manage- 

 ment of the Etawah division in the Etawah district, I think that 

 there is no reason why the officer in charge of that division should 

 not supervise work in the Bhadawar estate. But it must be 

 recognized that, as this work of reclamation extends, as it must 

 extend in both districts, it is quite certain that eventually another 

 division will have to be formed whether the land managed belongs 

 to the zamindars or to Government. 



10. Having dealt with that aspect of the case I now turn to 

 a matter which is of more immediate importance to the estate 

 itself, more especially as I understand that the Court of Wards, on 

 behalf of the owner, would probably be willing to undertake the 

 work without financial assistance from Government, namely, the 

 question of the probability of the scheme proving remunerative. 

 This work of reclaiming ravines by means of bandhs and afforesta- 

 tion is a new work and it is not possible, therefore, to point to any 

 block of reclaimed ravines, on which plantations have been estab- 

 lished, as a proof that the revenue directly resulting from the work 

 done represents a fair return on the expenditure incurred. More- 

 over, I do not think that this is quite a fair way to examine the 

 project, for it must be remembered that not only will the reclama- 

 tion result in direct revenue from the land reclaimed, but it also 

 prevents loss of revenue from the land now under cultivation 

 which would inevitably be destroyed by the encroachment of 

 the ravines. Moreover, families who on account of the destruction 

 of their fields would emigrate to other estates in less precarious 

 localities will find employment in the plantations or in breeding 

 cattle on the improved pastures. 



11. I think that a fair comparison may be drawn between the 

 reclamation of these ravine tracts and reclamation of the sand 

 dunes in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux Les Landes in France. 



