400 
tl6l»TbAL AOmeULTUttlSt. [December i, i8qi. 
That there has been a consitoble me in levenue 
niTaex all Bud^-et heads, the rise under I. being due 
r the pavment of large outstandmgB due by the 
Hap ?alf Railway Extension, to outstandings due for 
sleeners to the Western Province, to the sale of 2b6 
torn ebonv in the Central depot to increased Railway 
fnei supply, and to a large increase m the sale from 
S nts n all Provinces, this increase being most 
marked in the North-Western Provmce and m Uva. 
A^afnst R510,044 revenue, the expenditure of the 
derar^T^^ent in 1890 was . r< 
-Rm51Tl% of which E809,502-65 was for Conser- 
vancy and Works and R112,014'47 for Bstabhshnient. 
To^ obtain the large revenue for timber a larg-e 
outlay was also required, and this as well ^as out- 
s andhi^s due by the Department, chiefly on account 
tiT^^Kpr sunn ied to the Haputale Railway Bxten- 
Sora'c^ount'C the incre/ed expenditure under 
headin- 1. "Produce sold from depots The eX;- 
tension%f areas under plantations m the Central 
ProvSce! North-Western Province, and liojmce oi 
Uva necksitated an increase ,rtn*^'lorest Nettie' 
marcations and Improvement," while Foi est Settle- 
ments chiefly in Sabaragamuwa, also caused an 
h™e of expenditure under the same head 
in dealing with the details of estabhshment, Mr. 
Broun statps to draw attention 
to my"rlirS\' tle^'CdSf '^Protection and 
to my -vsru^t the Department wants is a good 
So7XientR™B assis'ted by Forest Watchers, 
^ho wotJd be under their immediate supervision 
histead of headmen who are in no way ^-esponsible 
to them and who can plead vai.ious excuses for not 
Itte dSk to forest work. The object to be aimed at 
L not to fill up the next vacancies m the superior 
staff but to devote the sums to the increase of the 
subordinate staff and to the improvement of the pros- 
pects of a crop of officers who ]^p-^^f'^°^Jt 
4-it-bmit at present any prospect ot getting a rise in 
Their meagre salaries.^ On the money at present ex- 
',*» r rw%'." .f»~. 
fnv«pt d.pP.rtmpnt that regr.taMe friction- ex.sts. 
The Buhornin^tion of the for.st_ ofiioers to the 
Gov.rnn,.nt Menla and their A^eistanis naturally 
eroneh le-cls to trouble whc-re one or both of the 
officers brought into contact P^^^.^^"^„^ *° 
Bflcrlfioe oer^onfll feeling and official dignity to the 
Tod of the service and the interest cf Government. 
IMS to be hoped that the relatioos of the respective 
officers, in the Northern Province «re more amicable 
[if/n they s-m to have been in 1890, judging from 
^';brs'°y:lr%hr t has been worked on 
sX^-^°Lurfa^r^:l 
^Hnces, hut there is no doubt that the system to 
work well must depend on the good will of the Go- 
vrinmrnt Agent towards the Department, and that 
U he does not support the Assistant Conservator, or 
Iocs norallow him to give orders to his sixbordmates 
f "rect the work will »)eoome disorganised and will 
pvf.ntual Iv come to a standstill. This has been the 
case notab^y^n the Northern Province, where the 
^ant of co-opern,tion between the Government Agent 
ami the AssHl.nl ( 'o.iKorvatoi- has hrought the work- 
• ; . f tl,P Dt irn '„u-nl. practically t" a standstill. A 
T)L: tm nu '(;:de which will set forth the rekrtions 
between the Department and the Revenue Officers, 
Wr^n'ote^ho concluding paragraphs of this 
inlerrsling and Fuprpestivn report:— 
Voimr. Stkam Saw Mu.n.-This saw mill, which 
had bctn ordered from Mcsprs. Ramsomo & Sims 
hwugh the Crown Agents, did not reach us during 
the year. The money therefore which had been kept 
to defray its cost lapsed at the end of the year, and a 
sum which it was intended to devote this year to the 
formation of an eleihant establishment will have to 
cover the expenditure on the steam saw. 
Elephant Establishment. — One young elephant 
was purchased in the Eastern Province. It was 
intended to buy three more during 1891, but for the 
reasons stated 'above this has had to be put off. 
Desteuction or Game. — No stop has as yet been 
put to the indiscriminate destruction of game. The 
Assistant Conservator. Uva, records a case where 
several deer were slain solely for their hides, and 
the carcases left to rot by the roadside. The chief 
offenders are Moormen traders, who go into Provinces 
where they can have possibly no right of hunting, 
and kill game and cause it ' to be killed in large 
quantities 'by villagers. They are not affected by 
close seasons, and it is sometimes very difficult to 
obtain convictions, for certain Magistrates will not 
take skins, however fresh, as pvidence agpinst the 
offenders. Strict rules are required to protect ele- 
phants against so-called " sportsmen," who go into a 
herd and do not satisfy themselves with the bulls, 
but shoot cows and calves. None but rogues should 
be shot at, and there should be kept in each Kach- 
cheri a list giving particulars of the beat of any rogue 
elephant in the district, and it should be made penal 
to fire at any other elephant except in self-defence, 
on a public road, or when it destroys crops or other 
property. 
Hehbajrium OB Forest Trees and Collection of 
■ Ceylon Timbers. — Thir has been largely added to 
during the yea.r both Ijy Colonel Clirke and myself, 
and I have to thank Messrs. Alexander and Armitage 
for considerable contributions. The collection of 
Ceylon timbers has also been much increased, the 
Assistant Conservators of the Central Province and of 
the North-Western Province, and the Superintendent 
of tlie Railway Fuel Supply being the chief contribu- 
tors. Duplicate spe'-imens have been sent to the 
Director of Public Works and to certain firms in 
Colombo. 
Girdling oe Palu Trees Previous to Felling. 
— Onlv one report on the subject has been received. 
Mr. Fyers reports that towards the end of the year 
he had felled twenty palu trees out of forty which 
he had girdled in 1889. and that the results are most 
satisfactory, the logs having hardly cracked at all. 
As cracking has hitherto been the great obstacle against 
a more universal use of this va.hiable timber, it is to 
be hoped that in future all pfJu trees will be girdled 
at least one year before felling. This will probably 
do with away the objection which the Railway Depart- 
ment has of using pahi sleepers. 
CoLnECTION OF FrUIT AND HoNEY BY VILLAGERS, 
^c. — Some action is nrgently required to moderate the 
damage done by villager-, and others in the collection 
of certain kinds of fruits and honey. The most strik- 
ing instance which I have come across was the col- 
lection of palai fruit in the Northern Province. The 
trees of this most valuable species, a-re so hacked to 
pieces or torn and broken that the broken a.nd cut 
branches form, in many places, real hedges along the 
fides of the roads. The result i? that an enormous pro- 
portion of the palai trees in the Northern Province have 
been unsound from their infancy. Thei-e is no reason 
why, if the collection of the fruit must be allowed, 
this persistent vandalism be for ever winked .at. 
There is no difficulty in collecting the fruit with- 
out injuring the trpos. and there Is no necessitv 
why people not usually i-esifling in tlie island should 
be 'allowed to do all'tbis daniase. T have noticed 
similar damage in Bereliva forest of tbe iVfatara District, 
where the villagers collect the fruit of tbe bereliya 
dun. As regards the collection of honey, it is no rare 
thing to see" a tree felled merely lor the honeycomb 
which it lioars. T liuow that, at present, until a proper 
establishment is kc( iiji, it is difficult to check pJlthis 
damage, but the ( lovomineut Agents can do a great deal 
towards stopping'! thy using their influence and warning 
villagers that reckless waste will be severely dealt with. 
Mr, Broun will see that Government in the Ordi- 
nance just passed has provided remedies against 
the wantcn shooting of elephants and the reokleea 
