August 26, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



349 



increased, and during the four years from 1860-1 to 1863-4 the 

 average annual yield amounted to 29,000 tons. Ten years 

 later, during the five years ending 1873-4, the mean yield had 

 increased to 45,000, and twenty years later, during the five 

 years ending 1893-4, to 68,000 tons a year. Altogether, under 

 this system, one and a half million tons of Teak timber were 

 extracted from the forests of British Burma during the thirty- 

 eight years from 1856-7 to 1893-4. This result had been accom- 

 plished by girdling during the same period 660,000 trees. The 

 whole of these 660,000 trees, and many more, were mature 

 when operations were commenced by us. 



FORESTS ORDERED TO BE THROWN OPEN TO PRIVATE 

 ENTERPRISE. 



Under the system which to this day regulates the opera- 

 tions of lumbermen in the United States, the whole of the 

 mature trees which were standing in 1856 would have been 

 girdled at once. Large quantities of timber would thus have 

 been brought to market within a short period, instead of being 

 spread over a long series of years. It has already been men- 

 tioned that Rangoon in (hose days had derived its importance 

 mainly from the export of Teak timber and the shipbuilding 

 trade carried on by means of the Teak timber brought from 

 the forests. Teak at that time was the chief article upon which 

 the prosperity of that town depended, for the export of rice, 

 which since has given it a much greater importance, had at 

 that time hardly begun. The merchants of Rangoon naturally 

 desired to see their business increase rapidly, and as soon as 

 they realized that the system introduced by me in 1856 would 

 limit the quantity of Teak brought to market they commenced 

 a vigorous opposition against it. Personally I made a point of 

 keeping on good terms with them, and they tried hard to 

 induce me to allow them to enter the forests and to cut the 

 whole of the marketable trees. With much show of reason 

 they contended that ships built of teak would soon be a thing 

 of the past, that iron would, in shipbuilding as well as for all 

 other purposes, replace the use of wood. Within a few years 

 the demand for teak would diminish, prices would fall, and 

 in the end teak would be a drug in the market and the Teak 

 forests would be valueless. 



At that time the Sepoy mutiny of 1857 had saddled the Gov- 

 ernment of India with an enormous debt, and the disturbed 

 state of the country had considerably diminished the public 

 revenue. Under these circumstances the merchants ot Ran- 

 goon urged, as the only proper course, to take advantage of 

 the high market rates for teak then ruling, and, by the sale to 

 them of all mature timber standing in the forest, to realize 

 large sums and thus immediately to produce a large revenue 

 from the forests. More than this, they urged that a business 

 transacted on so large a scale would give a great impulse to 

 the prosperity of Rangoon. These considerations, they main- 

 tained, imperatively demanded the acceptance of their propo- 

 sals. They appealed to my sense of duty toward the Govern- 

 ment which I was serving, to my ambition and to my common 

 sense, and they pictured in the darkest colors the disastrous 

 consequences ot a refusal to back their proposals. And with 

 justice they added that they, the merchants, stood not alone in 

 their views, but that these views were shared by the majority 

 of the public officers and European residents of the province. 



When my friends found that I remained firm, and that Major 

 Phayre, the commissioner, refused to yield to their representa- 

 tions, they went to Calcutta, and backed by the influence of 

 the large and powerful mercantile firms of Calcutta they suc- 

 ceeded in inducing the Government of India to order the com- 

 missioner to throw open the Pegu forests to private enter- 

 prise. The orders were sent to Rangoon in February, 1861. 

 These orders had to be carried out, but, fortunately, we were 

 not required to throw open the whole of the forests at once. 

 By that time incessant hard work in examining the forests by 

 means of linear valuation surveys and by constant height 

 measurements, especially of the younger classes, had taught 

 me which districts were valuable and which were less so. 

 Those districts, therefore, in which the growing stock of teak 

 timber in regard to height, quantity and distribution of age 

 classes was most promising, were for a time retained under 

 control of the Forest Department, while the rest were thrown 

 open to private enterprise in accordance with the orders 

 received. A large portion of these, the whole of the forests 

 west of the Irawaddi River and others in Martaban, were let 

 upon twelve years' leases, with the permission to girdle. In other 

 districts permits in some cases for three, in others for six years 

 were granted, under which the permit-holder, on payment of 

 certain rates, became the proprietor of the timber extracted by 

 him, being, however, limited in his operations to the timber 

 girdled by the forest officers. 



CHANGE OF FOREST POLICY OF GOVERNMENT. 



Subsequently a different view of the question was taken by the 

 Government ; the arrangements which had been made could 

 not, however, be canceled. The mischief had been done, but, 

 fortunately, it had been limited to the less valuable districts. 

 The really valuable forests, which in 1S61 had been retained in 

 the hands of the Government, had been saved, and this made 

 it possible to maintain a good system of management. As 

 regards those forests for which leases or permits had 

 been granted, they were resumed when the term expired, and 

 some of the permits had to be canceled sooner, because it 

 was discovered that the agents of the permit-holder had illicitly 

 girdled Teak en a very large scale. 



The experience thus gained served to demonstrate the fal- 

 lacy of the popular opinion which had been long maintained, 

 and which had been defended with eloquent enthusiasm, that 

 the management of the Burma forests could be safely left to 

 private enterprise. 



It will be remembered that the third of the great aims which 

 I had proposed to myself in 1856 was as soon as possible to 

 produce an annual surplus revenue. This, however, was more 

 easily said than done. During the first two years the outlay 

 necessarily greatly exceeded the income, and it was only in 

 1858-9 that the sales at the Rangoon timber depot yielded a 

 large surplus, which, however, was barely sufficient to cover 

 the deficit of the first two years. This result had been accom- 

 plished entirely by the sale of the old timber found in the 

 forests when operations were commenced. As the fresh- 

 girdled timber came in, after i860, the surplus rose steadily. 

 During the eleven years from 1868-9 to 1878-9 it amounte'd 

 to 543.000 rupees a year on an average, while during the ten 

 years from 1879 80 to 1888 9 it came on an average to 945,000 

 rupees a year, and during the five years ending with 1893-4 to 

 1,870,000 rupees. 



Up to 1879-80 the whole of this surplus revenue was derived 

 from Teak timber, the increase being due partly to the larger 

 quantity and the better quality of the timber brought to mar- 

 ket, partly to the gradual and, in spite of occasional fluctua- 

 tions, fairly steady rise of prices. In 1856 the declared value 

 of Teak timber exported from Rangoon was forty rupees a ton 

 of fifty cubic feet, and during the five years ending in 1893-4 

 it fluctuated between seventy-two and eighty-two, being on an 

 average seventy-five rupees. 



OBSTRUCTIONS IN RIVERS CLEARED. 



One important fact must here be noted, which has greatly 

 aided the realization of a steadily increasing revenue. When 

 I commenced work in 1856 I found that all Teak-producing 

 tracts on the outskirts ot the forests, and those in the hills 

 which were near good floating streams, had been completely 

 cleared out, the stumps alone of Teak-trees remaining with 

 the half-burnt tops and branches of the trees. Large areas of 

 Teak-producing forest, however, had, fortunately, been closed 

 against the extraction of timber by obstructions in the rivers. 

 These obstructions were of two classes. Some were caused by 

 the silting up of mountain streams coming down from the hills 

 with great velocity, carrying with them masses of sand silt and 

 rubbish, which they deposited on entering the level country of 

 the main valley. Some streams were more liable to silt up 

 than others, and some of the richest Teak localities near the 

 open country had been protected by such obstructions. In 

 the majority of cases it was sufficient to clear the silt away, 

 but in some it was necessary to dig canals in order to regulate 

 the course of the river, and thus to open it for the floating of 

 timber. The other class of obstructions was caused by bowl- 

 ders and barriers of rock in the bed of the hill streams. A 

 large extent of the most valuable Teak-producing tracts in the 

 hills had on that account never been worked. Early on my 

 first tour in 1856 I had discovered and examined some of the 

 most formidable of these rocky obstructions in two large 

 tributaries of the Sitang River and had explored the forests on 

 the hills drained by these streams. I then had formed my 

 plans for the removal of these obstructions, but at that time 

 my position was not sufficiently secure to take action. Begin- 

 ning with 1858, however, blasting parties were employed for 

 the removal of these obstructions. Men trained to that kind 

 of work not being available in Burma, parties of Coringa work- 

 men were brought across the Bay of Bengal from the Coro- 

 mandel coast to start the work. The undertaking was not an 

 easy one. The places where the rocks had to be blasted were 

 in the midst of the forest, far away from any village, difficult 

 of access, in deep unhealthy valleys. Hence, after tlie Coringa 

 men had done a few years' excellent work, the fever of the 

 Burma jungles had decimated their ranks, and it became diffi- 

 cult to replace them by men from their own country. This 



