ABUSES CONNECTED WITH EXPLOITATION. 127 



was reported to me, of -which the following is the outline : 

 Wood was being felled by a contractor for the work, acting 

 on a permit which had been properly attested, and was 

 otherwise in order. But a great deal more had been felled 

 than was covered by the permit, and an official went to 

 him saying, ' Ivan, Ivanowitch (John, the son of John) 

 what is this ? Look here ' There's something wrong ; 

 the permit is for 300 cubic feet : you have felled trees 

 enough to measure 1000. You had no right to do so ; all 

 this must be confiscated.' And confiscated it was ; and the 

 Government mark was put upon it ; after which, to dispose 

 of it, would make whoever did so liable to banishment to 

 Siberia. But the official by whom this was done went to 

 the proprietor of the zavod, on whose permit it was being 

 felled, and said to him, ' I find the contractor has far 

 exceeded the quantity mentioned in the permit, and of 

 the excess 700 fathoms have been confiscated. According 

 to the law this must be sold by public auction, but I will 

 sell it to you for the amount of Government dues which 

 must be paid upon it, the amount of which is 100 roubles.' 

 On these terms the wood was purchased ; the owner of the 

 zavod got 700 fathoms of wood for 100 roubles (£10), but 

 the contractor got nothing for the work he had done ; and 

 it is supposed that in such a case the Government would 

 never see a kopec of the payment made. Things were 

 thus made pleasant to all, excepting to the contractor, who 

 had to grin and bear the loss, hoping that things would go 

 better with him next time. 



A case was reported to me of a contractor for felling 

 wood who, either by way of making up a loss sustained in 

 some such way, or more likely in the ordinary execution 

 of his work, having delivered the quantity of wood speci- 

 fied in the permit — or it may be some larger quantity which 

 this was made to cover — and having received payment for 

 this according to agreement, he altered the date of the 

 permit, and proceeded to fell more wood, with this as 

 his sanction, the following year. All went on without 



