NIGERIA 165 
to the timber leaseholder they would be worth at least ten times as 
much. Of course, in this calculation all sizes of trees above a girth 
of 4 feet are considered, for the sake of making the valuation as com- 
plete as possible. Naturally, the smaller girth trees would not imme- 
diately be utilized, but when we are totalling up the amount of forest 
or wood capital involved in the valuation, it is necessary to include 
them and put a value on them. If the necessity arose, even they 
could also be utilized and would at least bring in the amount of the 
lowest valuation per tree. 
The Forest Reserves stand also in a special position to the local 
people, for, after all, these Reserves formed originally part of the forest 
from which were supplied all the major wants of the native, such as 
timber, firewood, oil nuts and seeds, fibres, domestic articles and 
medicinal plants; therefore, whatever the main lines of protection 
of a good forest, the needs of the people of that locality must have the 
first consideration. After these wants have been fully supplied, then 
any surplus in the way of timber or other commercial products can 
be sold or exported elsewhere. This leads us to consider the fact that 
a Permanent Forest or Forest Reserve leads to a permanent source 
of revenue from that particular forest. Owing to the fact that there 
is the permanent yield of timber established in that area, it means 
that permanent money is being obtained from those trees and being 
brought into the Treasury as part of the permanent revenue of the 
country. If there is any increase, owing to the increased value of the 
timber trees thus gained—and the more stability there is, the better 
for the country—better arrangements can be made with regard to the 
reproduction of the forests. If there is a greater revenue being obtained 
from the forests, even more money can be justly expended by the 
Forest Department for the buying of better implements for planting 
and the Forest Station generally, for the making of permanent improve- 
ments in the forests, such as draining, road-making and fire protection. 
If these forests are not protected and unreserved, then in the course 
of time they must completely disappear, owing to the fact that man 
is so constituted that if he sees land, which may or may not be 
suitable for agriculture, covered with trees, he naturally thinks it would 
be better to cut these down and see what agricultural crop will grow 
there, regardless of the fact that there may already exist, or he may have 
cleared, fifteen times as much land as he requires for farming opera- 
tions each year. 
In addition to all the above, there are the indirect effects of forests, 
which have been considered in the section dealing with the relation 
between Agriculture and Forestry. On the whole, it is better for the 
Central Government or Federal Government to manage the Forest 
Reserves, as by that means there is greater impartiality in their manage- 
ment and more stability and continuity in the Forest policy adopted 
