328 India. 



a primitive way, commonly hewn in the woods and 

 shipped — usually floated — as timber, round or hewn, 

 and rarely sawn to size. 



In 1903-4, the cut in the State forest area was 

 290,000,000 cubic feet, timber and fuel, of which 20 

 percent was given to grantees or those holding rights 

 of user free of charge, and less than 2 percent was 

 exported. In addition, over 200 million bamboos 

 and nearly two million dollars worth of by-products, 

 such as lac, caoutchuc, cutch, gambler, myrobalans, 

 were secured. 



2. Property Conditions. 



Prior to the British occupation, the native rulers, or 

 rajas, laid claim to a certain proportion of the prod- 

 uce from all cultivators of the soil. They also reserved 

 absolute right to the forests, and to all unseated or 

 waste lands, although usually the people were allowed 

 to supply their needs. The English government, by 

 right of conquest, fell heir to these rights as well as to 

 the properties, but, without care in asserting its rights, 

 the unimpeded use of unguarded forest property led 

 to the assertion of rights of user by the people, which 

 were also sometimes granted. "Joint village" com- 

 munities in some parts, i. e. settlements which occupy 

 contiguous areas, claimed and occupied large areas 

 of forest and waste as commons, and in general the 

 original property rights of the government became un- 

 certain. 



The necessity of bringing order into this question led 

 to various so-called settlements, by which the rights 



