$4 HE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 
Canara, for his observations. In accounting for a growing 
scarcety of timber, Mr Blane foticed, among the most in+ 
fluential causes, the increase in the Koomaree cultivation, 
which bid fair, he then considered, to destroy the whole 
of the large virgin forests within a short time. He ex- 
pressed his opinion that it should either be placed under 
considerable check and regulation, cr entirely prohibited, 
as had been done in Mysore. Mr Blair, a former collector, 
he stated, had, in 1843, issued a proclamation directing 
that five valuable kinds of timber, viz. :—-teak, ptin, black- 
wood, jack, and sandal should be preserved in the Govern- 
ment forests; but this, Mr Blane states, had practically 
no effect, inasmuch as the timber-merchants continued to 
fell the timber wherever they found it, on the plea that 
they cut it from private jungles, and had obtained the 
permission of the owners to do so. To defeat this subter+ 
fuge, Mr Blane had directed that when jungle was claimed 
as private property, the right must be established before 
timber is cut. The clearance of the jungle, so injurious in 
many respects, had been attended with one great advantage. 
According to all reports it had diminished the prevalence 
of fever. On this account, principally, he had confined his 
recommendation to the confirmation of his prohibition of 
the felling of the five superior kinds of timber, and to the 
preservation of the jungle in spots near the rivers, or the 
sea-coast, where, from its position, the timber could be 
easily made available, and the inferior kinds of wood 
might be allowed, under proper regulations, to be cut as 
firewood for export. 
‘8, On this report being laid before Government, they, 
agreeably to the recommendation of the Board, authorised 
the Collector of Canara to restrict the cultivation of 
Koomaree to “‘such places, and to such an extent, as 
might, in his opinion, be expedient for the preservation 
of the forest, and the general welfare of the province.” 
He was also instructed to assert the right of Government 
to all forest lands to which a title cannot be clearly estab« 
lished by private individuals,’ 
