48 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. IV. 
a mid-girth of 8" to 9" and cutting into lengths of 30 to 40 feet. It is 
thin-walled, with small nodes from 18" to 29" apart and is by no means 
difficult to extract. Both the above-mentioned species are softer and 
lighter bamboos than the prevailing species of the West Coast 
(Bambusa arundinacea) and being unarmed are therefore more easy 
to fell and extract. (For average size and weight of these species see 
Appendix I.) 
(5) Possible factory site . 
There are two possible ways of dealing wjth this scheme. The 
first is to locate the pulp-mill on the Okkan river, near to the point 
where the river cuts the Rangoon-Prome Railway, that is, 2 or 3 miles 
north of Okkan Railway Station and 13 miles from the outer boundary 
of the Okkan Reserve. The alternative proposal is to have a mill below 
the junction of the Okkan and Hlaing, otherwise known as the 
Myitmaka river, or in the event of no suitable site being found there 
owing to danger from floods, further down the stream at or near 
Insein, which is 10 miles above Rangoon. If the first site were adopted 
the supply of raw material would be confined to the Okkan and Hlaing 
Yoma Reserves, which are themselves capable of supplying sufficient 
bamboos to work a large paper-pulp mill. On the other hand, were the 
mill.placed at Insein on the Hlaing river, of which the Thonze as well 
as the Okkan are tributaries, the former draining a bamboo area to the 
north of the latter river, and fully described above, it would be supplied 
from two separate bamboo areas, and at the same time would be 
sufficiently far down the river to allow of large boats coming up from 
Rangoon. The respective merits of these two sites can only be compared 
after the capacity of the mill has been definitely determined. In fixing 
the site it would be of the first importance to consider the advantage of 
having two areas from which supplies of raw material would be avail¬ 
able ; the question of having a greater area over which to recruit labour ; 
and the proximity and connection by water with Rangoon, as against 
concentration of labour and the proportionate reduction in establishment 
were the bamboos procured from one reserve only. As regards the water 
supply, there is always a sufficient quantity flowing down the Okkan and 
Hlaing rivers to meet the requirements of a factory at either place. 
These remarks apply with equal force to the scheme for the Thonze 
Reserve described above. 
[1205 ] 
