2B8 
Indian Torest Record*. 
only six, these results can hardly be taken to prove very much, but as far 
as they go they give no indication that the cutch is adulterated by the 
Eangoon brokers before shipment ; on the other hand, the inferiority of 
the sample from Prome indicates that in that particular instance 
adulteration had taken place during manufacture. There is undoubtedly 
room for improvement in the manufacture of cutch, whereby the propor- 
tion of soft cutch may be reduced to a minimum. 
Rffect of the new cutch rules . — Prior to the 1st October, 1904', 
Government revenue on cutch was collected by the issue of licenses at 
fixed rates per cauldron of given capacity used in the boiling of cutch. 
Such licenses were applicable only to cutch trees growing on public land, 
no licenses being required and no duty being leviable in the case of trees 
cut on tenanted land. As this system was productive of much abuse on 
the part of cutch boilers, who habitually stole trees on public land in 
order to remove and convert them on their own holdings, it was resolved 
to levy an export duty, at the port of shipment, on all cutch manufactured 
in Burma and exported by sea. The new system was introduced on the 
1st October, 1904, the export duty being fixed at il4 per 100 viss, which 
is equivalent to 365 lbs. avoirdupois. Licenses for boiling cutch are still 
issued, but no payment is required for these licenses when issued in areas 
outside reserved forests. The chief object of issuing these free licenses 
is to prevent the extermination of ciitch trees on lands which are likely to 
be constituted reserved forests. The direct elfect of the new cutch rules 
will be the rapid extinction of cutch trees on lands not included in 
reserved forests and on lands the reservation of which is not contemplated. 
Even under the old system of prepaid licenses the extinction of cutch 
trees on such lands would have been merely a matter of time, as the large 
areas to be patrolled and the numerical weakness of the forest staff would 
have militated against any systematic protection of cutch trees, while at 
the same time Government would have been deprived of a large proportion 
of its legitimate revenue. From the foregoing remarks it will be seen 
that at the present time cutch trees outside reserved forests ai'e under- 
going the process of rapid extinction ; this is inevitable, and it would 
have been inevitable under the old rules also. In some localities cutch 
boiling is an extinct industry, and in others it will soon be so. Against 
this, however, is to be weighed the fact that there are large stocks of 
natural cutch trees within reserved forests ; these hav^e in many reserves 
