Feb. 1, 1904.] THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
515 
THE TRAINING OP FOREST 
OFFICERS. 
IF COOPER'S HILL IS ABOLISHED. 
BY COL. QBOEGE F. PE.iR30N, 
hormerly Inspector- General of Forest in India. 
The appointmeut of a Committee by the Secretary 
of St;^,t6 foi- India to report on the desirability of cou- 
tinuing Cooper's Hill as a OoUege for trailing 
Engineora aud Foresters for the Indian Service raieoa 
the question ot wh<t should be done if the Foreak 
Service is deprived of its present Alma Mater. 
It msy be safely said that no branch of the Indien 
Administration, not even the Civil Service itself, jieeds 
more urgently the services of educated gentlemen 
than daes the Forest Service, controlling as it does 
208,000 tqaare niilea of forest lands, or more than one- 
fifth of the area ot our Indian Empire, and admiuister- 
ioK a revenue of nearly two crores of rupees, with a 
Btafi of upwards of 15,000 men to do its work. 
Sir Dietr^cli Brandis, to whose self-sacrificing zeal 
and wise foresight the Indian Forest Service owes 
80 much, fron the very first clearly recognised ths 
importance of employing specially trained men as 
Forest Officers, and in 1866 instituted the system of 
training young Euglishmen in the Forest schools of 
Franco aud Germany as officers for the Indian Forest 
Service. In 1869 the first batch of seven of these men 
were sent out to India. Under this system the English 
finpils were trained with, and attended the same 
eotures as the other pupils in the schools to which 
they were attached, and thus benefited by the instruc- 
tion of the very best Professors of Forestry on the 
Continent, and further had the unrivalled advantage 
of continually, during their training, seeing the practi- 
cal working of large forest areas, administered in the 
best possible manner. This system was continued till 
1866, and was highly successful. The Forest Officers 
who were tmined under it snd sent out to India, proved 
themselves to bo excellent practical Foresters as well 
•as thorough gentlemen and men of the world ; and I 
believe I am right in saying that there is not a single 
instance of one of them having been dismissed the 
Service ';n any ground whatsoever. It is specially to 
be remarked that this system was not abolished on 
account either of the stamp of men seat out to India, 
or of their training In Europe, but on grounds of a 
totally different nature. Since 18S7 inclusive, the 
Forest Officers who have gone out to India have been 
trained at Cooper's Hill, and it is due to Dr. Schlich 
and hia fellow workers there that the same high 
standard of efficiency as had been reached by our 
pupils in the Continental Forest schools was main- 
tained there ; the difficulty aa to the want of regularly 
organised forests in Great Britain for the practical 
instruction of the pupils having been met by sending 
them for the third year of the ttaining to reside in the 
forests with Forest Officers in Germany, 
THE THREE COURSES OPEN. 
It is to be regretted then thit when we have a 
Byatem of education that gives satisfactory results, wa 
should, if Cooper's Hill is abolished, be brought face to 
face with another change, and have to devise another 
new scheme for educating our Forest Otlicers ; but ss 
the retention or otherwise ot Cooper's Hill will no 
doubt chiefly depend on what is determined upon for 
meating the requirements of the V. VV. E. in respect 
to Kugiueera. it ia well to consider carefully what 
courses are open to us to meet the necessities of the 
Forest Department in case the change is forced upon 
08, and in this contingency three courses eeem to be 
open : — 1st. To revert to the system of Continental 
ttaining. 2ud. To substitute one of the Universities 
for Cooper's Hill, and to send the pupils for their in- 
Btrnolion in practical work to pass a third year, as at 
present, in the forests of Germany or France. 3rd, 
2!o utilise the Dehra Dun Forest School to traia the 
65 
upper as well as the subordinate staff of Forest Offioera, 
I will deal with the last proposal first as, though 
plausible, it aeema to mo fraught with danger to the 
efficiency of the Forest Service. But as it has been 
put forward by responsible people, the many disad- 
vantages which would attend it should be clearly set 
out. 
First on general educational grounds, for to eend the 
pupils to the School at Dehra Dun for training, 
instead of giving them a European education, would 
be equivalent to sending boys to Bishop Cotton'a 
School in the hills in India instead of to a Pablio 
School at Home. In short, they would lose the 
broadening of mind and general development of 
character which are indispensable to those who have 
to administer our Indian Empire. Secondly, it would 
entirely fail in what we most want, namely, to imbue 
the minds of our young officers with the principles oa 
which large areas of forest can be managed on regular 
economic principle?, as illustrated in the great forests 
of tha Continent of Europe, Thirdly, it would be 
unadvisable to train the upper and lower staff of Forest 
Officers together, aa they have different functions to 
perform and require a totally different standard of 
education. Moreover, the educational Staff for such 
a school would be very expensive to maintain in India, 
and would draw too heavily on the resources of tin 
already overv;orked and undermanned Department. 
It cannot be too strongly insisted upon in educating 
the upper stoff of the Forest Service that brop«d prin- 
ciples, which are of universal application, are far more 
essential than local technicalities, which an educated' 
mind speedily acquires oa the spot. It is earnestly to 
be trusted that any scheme of training Forest Offioera 
ef the Imperial branch in India will never for a 
moment be entertained. 
THE OLD SYSTEM OF CONTINENTAL TEAINING. 
It Cooper's Hill is to be •bolished I frankly confess 
that, failing any better plan, I should be entirely 
satisfied to revert to the old system. It has supolied 
the Forest Service in the past with a body of able men, 
who h*ive proved themselves in every way fitted to 
carry on the work of large foreata— men who as a body 
have worked in sympathy with tha native population 
of the forests, while they have safeguarded the in- 
terests of the State, — and in times of famine have 
rendered valuable services in alleviating the distress 
of the starving people. I do not know where better 
all-round men can bo found than those who now 
administer the Forest Department in its upper 
branches, all of whom were trained either in Germany 
or France. I am well aware however that any such 
plan would be strongly opposed by many persons who 
consider that men who are to hold important positions 
in India or our colonies should be educated at Home 
and who think, wrongly, in my opinion that a Conti- 
nental training may deteriorate their character. It 
would also be opposed by a numerous and growing 
class of people, both in England and in Scotland, who 
are really interested in forestry, and who fear that if 
onr Indian Forest pupils are trained abroad, all hope 
of establishing a Home Forest School would disappear 
and with it the rp-afforestation of the waste lauds in 
our own Islands. With this feeling I fully sympathise, 
but I am only treating here with what I think beat for 
the Indian Forest Service. 
THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM— EDINBURGH RECOMliENDED. 
Coming then to the other proposnls, i.e., of attaching 
our Forest pupils to oue of the Universities for two 
years, supplemented by one year's practical work in 
the Forests of Germany and France, I have hardly 
sufficient knowledge myself to say which University 
would be best suited for this purpose, but my inclin- 
•ition would be to send them to Edinburgh, where the 
bulk ot the students are hard and conscientious 
workers, and where there is already a class for Forest 
students. In any case tha teaching of forestry would 
have to be carried out, as at Cooper's Hill, under 
special Professors, who should have disciplinary 
