MADRAS 287 
is a place to visit once if the tourist happens to be 
in the neighbourhood, but does not repay the long 
march that separates it from Simla unless the 
traveller has a special interest in the question of 
forest protection against man and goats. 
In July, 1907, I attained the age when officers 
appointed by the Secretary of State to Indian 
Services other than the Indian Civil Service may 
claim to retire or be ordered to do so. I then 
asked for and received an extension of fifteen 
months’ service, and as soon as the Simla season had 
passed away turned towards Madras, on an invitation 
from the Government of that Province, where, 
under the kindly guidance of the Conservators, 
Messrs. Lushington, Lodge, and Peete, a most 
interesting forest tour was made. 
Forestry in Madras presents some difficult prob- 
lems. There are about forty millions of inhabitants 
and only 20,000 square miles of forest. It appears 
that formerly this area was considerably larger, but 
that a portion was handed over to the unregulated 
use of the people in settlement of all claims on the 
remainder. The statesmen who conceived this 
arrangement were certainly signally ignorant of the 
requirements of the forest and of the attitude of the 
people towards it. For the maintenance of a forest 
requires a knowledge which was characteristic neither 
of the revenue officers nor of the people, and where 
a multitude possess a collective claim to a valuable 
property it is contrary to human nature that the 
individual should not strive for his full share. In 
these circumstances the yield of the seceded area 
was certain to rapidly fall off, and as certainly, 
