30 



Utilisation. 

 The following table gives an idea of the quantities of timber and 



fuel required annually. 



TABLE III. 



{a) — Average for ten years. 



(b) — Very approximate. 



(c) — The consumption of timber an 1 fuel by the Natives is not known, and may 



be left out of account as the area of forest allocated to agriculture, etc., is 



sufficient to meet their wants. 



Ownership of the Forests. 



There are no forests belonging to the State. All land in the 

 country is owned by communities, and is known as " Communal " 

 or " Stool " lands, or by families, when it is known as " Family Land " ; 

 individual ownership is also recognised. 



A member of a community who makes a farm on Communal land 

 enjoys his right of tenure so long as he fulfils the political and social 

 duties which devolve upon him as a member of the community, and 

 even a person belonging to some other community may make a farm 

 and enjoy the same privileges as a member if he first obtains the 

 permission of the " Stool " and pays the annual tribute which native 

 cuitom demands. 



All forests are " Communal " or " Stool " property with the ex- 

 ception of farmed areas in them. The right to grant concessions for 

 mining purposes, for the taking of timber, and for agricultural and 

 arboricultural purposes, is vested in the owners of the land, and is 

 controlled by the " Concessions Ordinances." 



Notes on Timber Trees. 

 It will be useful to give a general idea of the kind of tree a forest 

 officer coming to the Gold Coast will have to deal with. Practically 

 all the big trees in the Guinea Zone are " buttressed." These but- 

 tresses appear as large triangular plank-like growths at the base of 

 the tree varying in thickness and size according to the depth of the 

 .ioil, for their purpose undoubtedly is to support the trunk in the 

 absence of a deep tap root which is not found in these forests. A 



