1 ( 2 )
2 generally made in the jungles on'the banks of some stream and then floated
3 down to wherever they are wanted. This is especially the casein Upper Assam.
4 The results of the enquirics of the year regarding the other products
5 of Bengal forests have not been very clear or satisfactory. This much, however,
6 we know, that a large amount of India-rubber comes to market from the
7 forests of Assam, Cachar and Cooch Behar, and yields a fair revenue to Govern-
8 ment; the wild silk of Assam also contributes to the Government treasury in
9 the form of revenue paid for the trees on which the worms feed; Jac and
10 gums are largely collected in the private forests of Midnapore, Chota Nagpore,
11 and Orissa for the Calcutta market.
12 2. Turning now to the work done by the Forest Department in Bengal
13 during the year 1871-72, the Lieutenant-Governor will proceed to review the
14 Conservator’s report and the transactions of the year under the following heads,
15 namely—
16 Cooch Behar forests Private forests.
17 Assam forests. Plantation work.
18 Eastern Bengal forests. Financial reeults.
19 3. Cooch Behar Furests.—The forest work of this division is still directly
20 under the Conservator of Forests, and has not yet been placed under the direc-
21 tion of the Divisional Commissioner, as has been the case in Assam, Chittagong,
22 and practically in Dacca also. Forest rules for the territory of British Sikkim
23 were approved by the Government of India and published in 1866. But the
24 new Bengal forest rules of 1871 have not yet taken effect in the Cooch Behar
25 division. The Government forests in this division were stated in last year’s
26 review to be—
27 Square milcs
28 Sikkim temperate forests .. i eee |
29 Darjeeling terai_ .. si <s -. 42
30 Annexed Bhitan Dooars .. . -- 740
31 The present report does not state what the Government forest area in Cooch
32 Behar really is; and the Lieutenant-Governor would ask that next year’s report
33 may state, as precisely as can be done, the area cf Government forest in each
34 forest district, and the rules or orders under which those areas are administered.
35 In an appendix to the present report there is a memorandum by the Assistant
36 Conservator, giving an account of twenty different forest tracts in the Cooch
37 Behar division. Mr. James appears to have examined all the forests of his
38 division pretty closely, and to know something about them all in an unpro-
39 fessional, unscientific sort of way. The foresta of the Darjeeling terai and of
40 the Sikkim hills must certainly be kept as Government forests; the only
41 forests in the annexed Bhiitan Doors which would seem, from Mr. James
42 description, likely to repay careful treatment and working are the Mooraghat
43 forests (29,000 acres , and parts of the great Buxa forests (103,000 acres).
44 Nothing was done during the year to conserve or improve the condition of
45 these forests, except that timber felling within their borders was entirely, or
46 almost entirely, stopped. Some work was done in verifying, the stocks of
47 felled timber, and bringing them as far as possible into convenient depdéts.
48 Successful effort was also made to improve the rubber collected by the Forest
49 Department, and to send it to market in a purer and more valuable state than
50 heretofore An attempt was made to get felled logs out of the forests and down
51 to market through a contractor; but Government money was advanced too
52 freely, the deed of contract was loosely drawn, the work was not supervised,
53 and Government has unfortunately lost some thousands of rupees. The
54 Lieutenant-Governor issued special orders that efforts should be made this
55 season to clear off a part at least of the old timber stocks (338,053 c ft. in
56 all) in the Cooch Behar division. Most of this timbor was cut some years ago
57 by the forest officers, and has been left in more or less inaccessible places
58 ever since; much of it is sMl, which is difficult of removal by water. All
59 these timber stocks will probably now come into use in the Northern Bengal
60 Railway.