THE FOREST AUTHORITY, 109 



been possible to attach to it a strong Forestry Branch, the head 

 of which would deal direct with the Minister of Agriculture, but 

 there are three such departments, each independently responsible 

 to Parhament through a different Minister ; all these have 

 been responsible for forestry in the past. The results have been 

 altogether disappointing ; their primary duty and chief interest 

 lay in other directions, and the matter might be aggravated in the 

 future under the new development of agricultural policy. If the 

 scheme of afforestation is to be successful, there must be a central 

 authority, working out a consistent policy for the whole of the 

 country, and allotting the areas to be afforested to those parts of 

 it where the conditions are most favourable for success. In this 

 respect, the widely varying systems of land tenure prevailing in 

 the different parts of the country are of great importance. The 

 comparatively modest cost of a new branch of the public service, 

 the Sub-Committee felt sure, will be saved several times over in 

 the long run. Further, the establishment of a separate adminis- 

 tration will make the afforestation policy of the State as Httle as 

 possible liable to be disturbed by poHtical changes, although it 

 must, of course, be subject to Parliamentary control. In the 

 case of a single central authority, however, it will be most desirable 

 that, in the actual execution of the work, it should closely 

 co-operate with the Departments of Agriculture in the different 

 parts of the country. The executive work should be, as far as 

 possible, decentrahsed, and an organisation should be set up in 

 each part of the kingdom, which will avail itself of local know- 

 ledge and experience. 



18. Summary of Proposals. 



Based on the above considerations, the Sub-Committee 

 proposed the following scheme : — 



(1) There should be setup a Forestry Commission consisting of 

 six members, three of whom being whole-time salaried 

 officials and the others unpaid, one of the latter being a 

 M.P. to represent the Department in Parliament. The 

 Forestry Commissioners should be given complete respon- 

 sibility for carrying out the task which the Government 

 may assign to them. A hope is expressed that three 

 unpaid Commissioners will be found who are willing to 



