42 



for that year " there is one Reserve in the Protectorate, situated on 

 the Alabetta river, which is exploited to feed the Government 

 saw mills at Onitsha, on the river Niger. Other areas have, 

 during the past year, been selected for reservation. In the Benin 

 district the native Chiefs and Councils have agreed to reserve tlic 

 forests for 1,000 yards along both banks of every river, and for 

 100 yards on each side of every main road. This is a very decided 

 step in the right direction, as the indiscriminate destruction of th' 

 forest for farming if allowed to continue unchecked, would resut 

 in irreparable loss." * 



Following this process of Reservation, which prepared he 

 way somewhat for the more comprehensive system of Conse na- 

 tion, the following extracts from official correspondence and fher 

 sources, mark the beginning and general progress of the prsent 

 Forestry Department of Southern Nigeria, the inceptia of 

 which may be fairly accredited to the energy and foresjht of 

 Sir Ralph Moor, when High Commissioner. The Director «-" Kew 

 (Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer), writing February 21st, 1900/ to the 

 Colonial Office on the subject of Forestry in West Afric? stated 

 that : — 



" These territories can never, properly speaking, be olonised. 

 Nor will they, in all probability, afford much scope }r British 

 planting enterprise, at least not until the higher le 3 * 8 °f the 

 interior have been made accessible by railways. . J the same 

 time peace and order have to be maintained ; a reve* 16 must be 

 obtained and trade developed in order to meet the^pense, an d 

 the moral development of the population must \ encouraged. 

 The methods of Indian administration seem to . t0rt * the only 

 parallel. 



" Those methods involve a much more energe' motion on the 

 part of the Government than is usual or perhV desirable in a 

 colony properly so-called. This is especially tl case . in regard to 

 forest conservation. The immediate effect owning U P these 

 African territories has been to rapidly exha y . e resources of 

 their accessible forests. At first I was under ie im P ression that 

 these were so considerable that the risk of e austl0n was of little 

 moment compared with the indirect benefit ™ an export trade. 

 But it is now evident that this is not so, tnat an important 

 natural asset is being rapidly used up. ° use _ tne Governor's 

 words, the ultimate result will be for tl and t0 become naked, 

 and to possess only its bare agricultural 3 U1 °es. 



" It scarcely requires argument to e ™ that such a state of 

 things is eminently undesirable, and iua . not be creditable to 

 British administration. I gather fro^Jf 7101 *? P a Pers, and from 

 conversation with Mr. Punch, that i >s , Deen *oped that it might 

 be obviated by utilising the ar' nty ot th ? na . tlve chiefs. 

 Mr. Punch, who seems to me to ™ a v f * . clear msi S h t into 

 the merits and defects of the na^ c C ^ racter ' 1S ^ mte cle ar that 

 nothing is to be expected in this 



* Reserves have how (1908) been r in the ° ban and Idah distri <^- Gk>Yt. 

 Gaz., S. Nigeria, Nos. 31 & 66, 1908. rfgy-iyoj p ]80 

 f Botanical Enterprise in W. Air ' 



