FIREWOOD OF NILGIRI HILLS. 



161 



time, such forests, sholas, &c, as I think should not be felled. 

 I would suggest that these should be marked on the station- 

 maps as reserved, and some distinguishing mark should be placed 

 round them for general information, — a measure which would 

 cost little. 



16. Any person cutting timber in such tracts should, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, be prosecuted at once in a suit for trespass 

 and damage, or treated as a case of petty theft of Government 

 property, to be dealt with by the magistrate. Unless such pro- 

 ceedings are checked by speedy punishment, as a matter of course 

 they will recur and render my exertions futile. 



17. Similar means should be adopted to check Kurumbar clear- 

 ings, charcoal burning, &c, which at present are unrestricted, 

 except that, by order of the collector, they must not take place 

 within three miles of the top of the Kunur Ghat. 



18. I have above stated (par. 5), that the demand for fuel at 

 "Wellington is about 5000 lbs. daily. This is supplied on contract 

 made without any reference to the collector, or to me, and the 

 contractors cut in Government forests without seeking permission. 

 The Badagas, again, take under contracts, as reported by the 

 tahsildar. The Kallia and all the jungles near Kunur have thus 

 suffered much. I would propose that I should first be consulted 

 as to the place where so large a quantity may be cut ; and that 

 this right of cutting, in authorised places only, should be let 

 to the highest bidder. I should in such cases select proper 

 places, and restrain the contractor from cutting trees below a 

 certain size, and trees of value for timber or fruit, as teak, black- 

 wood, &c. 



19. When large quantities of fuel are required for public pur- 

 poses, as for instance the new jail being erected at Utakamand, 

 every effort should be made to economise the supply available. 

 With this view, I have arranged with Mr Eohde, that the fuel 

 for brick-burning shall be obtained by felling trees overhanging 

 the trace of the proposed road to Karkur, which sooner or later, 

 I presume, is sure to be widened. In like manner, much wood 

 may be available for the Wellington Barracks, when the new ghat 

 is opened out from Kunur to the railway station. 



20. I would also very strongly recommend economy in the use 



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