168 MTJDUMALAI FOKEST. 



ment purposes. This officer is well qualified for the work, and^ 

 after many attacks of fever, is in a measure acclimatised. 



(2.) That to assist in defraying the working expenses, the in- 

 ferior logs and fragments be sold as opportunities offer. 



(3.) That in anticipation of the continued demand for teak on 

 the Nilgiris for Government purposes even after the barracks are 

 finished, a new ghat be kept in view. At present, the carriage 

 up to Utakamand adds 50 per cent, to the value of the wood 

 below. Indeed, additional carriage is not available, none but 

 practised bullocks come up the ghat. 



(4.) There being no public officer so much interested in the 

 state of the ghat and road from the Mysore boundary to Well- 

 ington, and no one who sees so much of the traffic and its 

 requirements, I venture to suggest that this line of road be placed 

 under Capt. Morgan, and this would give him full employment. 



(5.) In order to lighten the carriage as much as possible, I 

 would advise that, after the elephants have dragged the logs to 

 the depot below, the end pieces with the dragholes be sawn off. 

 This seems a trivial matter, but when many hundred logs are 

 being carried, the removal of 8 or 10 inches (useless) would be of 

 some importance. There is much old wood lying on the side of 

 the ghat, belonging to Edalji and Husain Bava, the former con- 

 tractors of the Sigur forests. As this tends to cause confusion, 

 and to facilitate pilfering, I warned these timber merchants that 

 they must remove to one place whatever they could prove to be 

 their property in course of a fortnight. 



(6.) In reference to the method of keeping the accounts, Capt. 

 Farewell, special executive engineer, informs me that he has in- 

 structed Capt. Morgan to adhere strictly to the rules of the 

 D. P. W. 



(7.) If any other large public building is likely to be erected 

 on the hills, requiring much timber, early intimation should be 

 given, as the collecting of sawyers and kurumbars is a matter of 

 difficulty, and attended with considerable expense. 



H. Cleghorn, M.D., 

 Conservator of Forests. 



