302 FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 



DEPARTMENTAL STAFF. 



Members of the forest department are ineligible for any other .office, either administrative 

 or judicial ; they are prohibited from engaging in trade, or in any industry connected with wood, 

 and they must be regularly sworn in before they can enter upon the exercise of their functions. 

 They have, as regards forest offenses, the powers of police, including the right to make domi- 

 ciliary visits for purposes of investigation and to arrest suspected persons ; but these powers are 

 exercised chiefly by the members of the subordinate staff. Officers of the superior staff act as 

 public prosecutors in forest cases. 



Superior staff. — Candidates for the superior staff are, as a rule, trained at the national forest 

 school at Nancy ; but one-third of the appointments to the lowest grade ( Garde general) are 

 reserved for the promotion of deserving subordinates. A young forest officer, on leaving the 

 school, is employed for a time, usually about a year, in learning his duties under an inspector; 

 and his advancement from this probationary stage, as well as his further promotion through the 

 higher grades, depends on his own qualifications and exertions, as reported by his immediate 

 superiors. 



A promotion list is drawn out every year by the council of administration, and published 

 for general information. On it are inscribed the names of those officers of each grade who are 

 considered to be the most deserving of immediate promotion, the number of names on tlie list 

 being limited to three times the number of the anticipated vacancies. The minister of agricul- 

 ture makes all promotions up to and including the grade of inspector, but the conservators, the 

 inspectors-general, and the director of the department are nominated by the president of the 

 republic. No oflicer can, however, be selected for promotion whose name is not found on the 

 list and who has not served at least two years in the lower grade. 



The yearly pay of the various grades is as follows : 



Director of the forest department ;£Soo 



Inspectors-general, 3 classes _£48o to {fioo 



Conservators, 4 classes...: ;£3zo to ,^480 



Inspectors, 4 classes i^i6o to ,^240" 



Assistant inspectors, 3 classes iIi2o to ^^152 



Sub-assistant-inspectors, 3 classes r^ to ,^104 



Sub-assistant-nispectors on probation /go 



In addition to their salaries, the officers receive traveling allowances, usually a fixed sum 

 per annum, at various rates according to local circumstances. 



A pension, at a rate which varies according to the grade of the retiring officer, is obtaina- 

 ble after the age of 60 years ; but no inspector can become a conservator after he has passed 

 the age of 55 years. Conservators are usually pensioned at the age of 62, and inspectors-gen- 

 eral at 65. 



Subordinate Staff. — All members of the subordinate staff must have served in the army, 

 and, as a general rule, they must have attained the rank of non-commissioned officer; they 

 cannot be less than 25, or more than 35 years of age at the time of their appointment. They 

 receive their first nomination from the minister of agriculture, who promotes them from a list 

 similar to that which is annually prepared for the superior staff. The scale of annual salaries 

 is as follows, viz. : Head guard, three classes, ^36 to £,iA 5 guard, two classes, ^28 and £10, 

 with an additional £2 after fifteen years' service. 



They must live in or near the forests, whore they are provided, as far as possible, with 

 accommodations for themselves and their families in houses specially built for them ; but if 

 such houses are not available, they receive a lodging allowance. In addition to their pay, 

 they are given a fixed quantity of firewood per annum, and they are allowed to cultivate a plot 

 of ground not exceeding 2;^ acres, and to graze two cows in the forest. 



Each guard has a beat which he is bound to visit daily, the average size of such charge 

 being about 1,200 to 1,300 acres, or say two square miles. The head guard has four or five 

 guards under his orders ; he superintends their work, and communicates to them the instruo- 



