48 



" It appears to me that, sooner or later, the Secretary of State 

 will have to adopt the Indian system of Forest Conservation. 

 Experience has shown that this system not merely preserves 

 the resources of the forests, but also yields a very important 

 revenue. 



u This system involves the expropriation by the Government of 

 the land of reserved forests. Mr. Punch pointed out to me that this 

 might meet with some protest from thci natives. He appeared, 

 however, to think that the difficulty was rather theoretical than 

 real. In any case it has been overcome in India, the people of 

 which have cheerfully acquiesced in the result. 



" The work which Mr. Punch is carrying on, under the direction 

 of Sir William MacGregor, appears to me in every respect excellent, 

 but it is clear he is dealing with practically exhausted forest, and 

 the process is necessarily somewhat expensive. The fundamental 

 principle of efficient forest management is to draw from a forest 

 an annual crop which represents its natural increment, and never 

 diminishes its capital value. Experience in India shows that this 

 can be done, but the appropriate methods vary in different cases, 

 and it requires a skilled expert to work them out locally. 



" 1 am of opinion, therefore, that the time has come when the 

 vast territories under British rule in West Africa require the 

 services of two or three experienced forest officers, who should be 

 drawn from the Indian Forest Service. Probably the time is not 

 ripe for the creation of a regular trained forest service, though 1 

 cannot doubt that that will eventually be necessary. What I at 

 present suggest is the employment of a few skilled inspectors who 

 would travel about, select the forests which it is desirable to 

 preserve, work out schemes for their economical but efficient 

 management, and generally advise the local Governments. I must 

 point out that such advice as Kew can afford to the Secretary of 

 State on papers submitted to it can only be of a vague and general 

 kind. A man of trained experience, brought face to face with the 

 problem on the spot, is in a very different and more effective 

 position. 



"The first point which these inspectors would attack, and it 

 cannot be too soon undertaken, is, to use the words of a dis- 

 tinguished Indian forest officer which I have already quoted in 

 another communication, k to take stock of the forest lantls still at 

 the disposal of the Government, select the most suitable, demarcate 

 off with well-marked boundaries, ascertain if any rights exist, 

 and settle them, and then, after careful examination, draw up a 

 scheme of working suitable to each.' 



" I have entered into these considerations because they appear 

 to me to be the only ones upon which any satisfactory results can 

 be based in dealing with the forest question in our tropical 

 possessions in West Africa." 



Subsequent to this a considerable amount of correspondence and 

 discussion took place on the proposed Forestry Department, and 

 on the advisability of amalgamating the Botanical Departments 



already in existence, both in the Lagos Colony and Southern 

 Nigeria, with the Forestry Department. It may perhaps be 



