CHAPTER X 
THE SUTLEJ VALLEY ; THE CENTRAL PROVINCES 
AND OUDH 
THE season of 1904 was spent in Simla, as were 
those of the two following years. The question 
of the improvement of conditions of service in the 
Forest Department still occupied attention, and 
various minute calculations were carried out with 
the object of comparing the pay and prospects of 
Forest Officers with those of other Indian public 
departments recruited in England, excepting always, 
of course, the Indian Civil Service. It would be 
wearisome to attempt to follow even generally the 
course of this inquiry ; it will suffice to say that to 
the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson was due one of the 
most important changes ultimately made, that of 
substituting personal or incremental pay for the 
grade promotion hitherto in force. The acceptance of 
this system removed the inequality of remunera- 
tion caused by the varying casualty rates in each 
Province; it enabled an officer to look ahead with a 
certainty of promotion, and it did away with the 
too eager desire for the departure of colleagues that 
would result in a perhaps too long deferred rise in 
salary. 
But the work was not completed with the accept- 
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