WORK OF THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL 211 
many other foresters, possessed some definite opinions. 
Now the whole outlook was altered. I should be in 
position to direct that Director ; I should return to 
India, and be afforded an opportunity to travel 
throughout its vast forests ; I should be able to look 
back on the time spent in Burma as affording a 
pleasurable addition to knowledge that would aid in 
future work. And so I handed over charge of the 
Pegu Circle with joy, and on February 3, 1903, 
arrived at Calcutta, took over charge of my new 
office the next day, and proceeded to my initiation 
into its workings. 
To comprehend the administration of the State 
Forests of India, it will be necessary to give a short 
sketch of the machinery of the Indian Government. 
The Empire is ruled by a permanent Executive 
Council, aided by a more numerous body of nomi- 
nated Councillors, the whole under the presidency of 
the Viceroy and Governor-General, who holds the 
portfolio of Foreign Affairs. The other Executive 
Councillors are the Commander-in-Chief and the 
Ministers for the Home, Finance, Legislative, In- 
dustry and Commerce, and Revenue and Agricul- 
ture Departments. Finance and Legislation are 
administered by officers appointed alternately from 
England and from amongst the members of the 
Indian Civil Service; while the heads of the other 
departments are as a rule recruited from that Service. 
In each department are Secretaries, Deputy-Secre- 
taries, and Under-Secretaries, who also, with a very 
few exceptions, derive their origin from the Indian 
Civil Service. Each department is divided into 
branches, and these, in cases where special expert 
