78 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 
much attention to the subject; and after consultation 
with revenue officers, coffee-planters, &c., I annex the 
opinions of Mr T. L. Blane, Collector of Canara ; Mr G. S. 
Forbes, Sub-Collector of Canara; Mr Thomas Cannan, 
coffee-planter; and Mr T. Beaumont, of Beypur, which 
serve to illustrate the general views of the collectors of 
revenue, coffee-planters, and the energetic agent of the 
Beypur Iron Works. 
‘*It is not possible, nor is it desirable, to suppress the 
Koomaree cultivation altogether, as the growth of the 
various millets is necessary to the aliment of certain 
classes of people; but I think it most important that 
it should be greatly limited, as suggested by Mr Blane, 
and not permitted on the banks of navigable rivers or the 
sea-shore, close to trunk roads, or in any locality where 
superior timber exists.@UThe revenue arising from one 
rupee per acre is trivial compared with the value of the 
wood lost to the State, and it is well known that in the 
much frequented valleys of the Ghats much Koomaree 
takes place without the knowledge of the revenue officers, 
European or native. 
‘In every case I think an application for a specified 
amount of Koomaree land should be made; and where 
Koomaree takes place without sanction, the cultivator 
should be severely fined. In this way the destruction 
of virgin forests has been brought under, both in the 
Mysore and in the Mahratta country. I do not here 
allude to the private lands of Mahratta, with which I 
have nothing to do.’ 
The statements of Mr Blane and Mr Forbes have been 
given. The following is the opinion of Mr Thomas Cannan, 
coffee-planter, which is cited :— 
‘With regard to Koomaree cultivation, the Government, 
in my opinion, is the greater loser, there being very seldom 
more than one crop of rag? taken from one patch, which, 
if cultivated with coffee, would have yielded something 
every year for half a century, in the way of rent or tax. 
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