FOREST LEGISLATION 109 



The promotions and discipline of employees is based on the 

 same policy, but the committee for promotion is headed by 

 the conservator instead of by the Secretary of Agriculture. 

 Member^ of the subordinate force are only promoted to be 

 ofhcers after formal examination. Men who on the contrary 

 cannot handle a forest or district are used as office men and 

 trained as high-class administrative clerks. 



FOREST LEGISLATION 



Legislation. — The Forest Code^'* of 1827 was applied in 

 Algeria after the conquest, but was supplemented by the laws 

 of July 17, 1874, and Dec. 9, 1885, to cover more thoroughly 

 the local fire and rights problems. Owing to continued criti- 

 cism of the forest administration under these laws a commission 

 was appointed in 1892 to study the needs of the colony and to 

 suggest the modifications necessary to make the Code of 1827 

 more closely applicable to local conditions. The commission 

 found this impracticable, and, instead, recommended an en- 

 tirely new law, which was finally promulgated on Feb. 21, 

 1903. 



The New Code. — " Whatever may be its faults," Guyot 

 considers it "a remarkable monument, since private and public 

 interests had to be reconciled." It comprises the following 

 parts in the order enumerated: I. Forest Regime; II. Waters 

 and Forests Administration; III. State Forests, i, boundaries; 

 2, management; 3, auctions of bark- felling areas and sales 

 by agreement; 4, exploitation; 5, check of cutting area; 6, 

 auctions and rentals of grazing, mast, miscellaneous forest 

 products, and agricultural land; 7, wood rights in state forests; 

 8, expropriation; IV." Communal and PubKc Institution Forests; 

 V. Joint Tenancy Forests; VI. Private Forests, Reforestation 

 Areas, and Clearings; VII. PoUce and Conservation of Woods 

 and Forests, i, provisions applicable to all woods; 2, provisions 

 applicable only to forests placed under forest administration; 

 VIII. Prosecutions for Misdemeanors and Offences, i, prose- 



" Commentaire de la Loi Forestiere Algerienne, par Ch. Guyot, pp. 5-1 1. 



