1 ( 3 )
2 The absence of trained forest officers does, as pointed out by the Conservator,
3 to some extent account for the failure to do any proper forest work last year
4 in the Cooch Behar division. The Lieutenant-Governor hopes that this
5 year the forest officers, whether under the Commissioner’s orders, or acting
6 under his advise, may take in hand the conservaney of at least one (perhaps
7 the Mooraghat) reserve; that they may clear off the old timber stocks, and
8 develope the rubber revenue. Tho failure of the Cooch Behar forest divi-
9 sion to supply timber to the Government dep6éts at Dinagepore and Purneak
10 received very unfavorable notice during the year.
11 4. Assam Division.—Before the working season of 1871-72, the forest
12 officers and the forest work of Assam were placed definitely under the Com-
13 missioner of the division. A small establishment for the management of the
14 “open” Government forests was attached to the Deputy Commissioner of each
15 forest district ; and the forest officers were directed to confine themselves, under
16 the Commissioner’s orders, to selecting and setting in order the reserves, and to
17 conducting certain experimental timber operations on the rivers of Upper Assam.
18 The results of the change of system are not noticed in the present reports. In
19 future years, the Assam, Chittagong, and Cooch Behar forest officers, will be
20 required to submit their reports through the Divisional Commissioner, who will
21 forward them with their remarks for incorporation with the Bengal Forest
22 Report.
23 Phe forest officers selected, reported upon certain “reserves” in the
24 Kamroop rfl forests and on the rivers of upper Assam. The Commissioner of
25 the division has not yet, it would appear, come to a decision regarding these
26 proposed reserves. It is not clear whether the experimental timber oper-
27 ations on the Debro, Dehing, and Dhunsiri rivers, appear to have been carried
28 to any practical conclusion. 565 logs have, it seems, been dragged to depéts
29 on the banks of the rivers, at a cost of 4 annas per cubic foot at the depét ;
30 for the-logs at one of the three depdts there will probably be a demand.
31 But the present report does not state what price the logs are likely to fetch;
32 whether any or al] of them will float; who are likely to be the purchasers.
33 Form No. 24 (page 48 ) gives, indeed, the kinds of timber brought to the
34 depdts; but does not state which of these eleven kinds of timber is good for tea
35 boxes, for building, or for canoes; nor does the statement show how far the
36 five station depéts are from any market. A report has recently been received
37 from the Commissioner showing that the 50 s&l logs out of 150 felled, as an
38 experiment in the Kamroop Dooars, have been brought into Gowhatty at a
39 cost of about six annas per cubic foot, and were eagerly bought up at auction,
40 fetching about 16 annas per cubic foot. Next year’s report should supply
41 this information, together with full particulars of the results of the sal
42 felling in the Kamroop Dooars. The real value of the woods of the Upper
43 Assam forests, either for local use or for export, has yet to be ascertained.
44 ‘he question of the India-rubber revenue and its administration is
45 much complicated by ‘the neighbourhood of independent hill races; much
46 of the rubber on which our revenue farmers take duty used to come from
47 beyond the line to which our regular civil administration extends ; speculators
48 had begun to deal with these tribes; and there seemed to be some risk of
49 political difficulty. The whole matter was reported to the Government of
50 India. Political explanations will, it is hoped, be prevented by the arrange-
51 ments which have been made; but there will perhaps be some diminution
52 of the rubber revenue, though probably no reduction in the amount of
53 rubber produced.
54 5. Eastern Bengal Forests.—In the Dacca division the Cachar forests
55 are still managed, and the revenues at the Sealtek ghit are collected by the
56 Deputy Commiss:oner after the old system. Much of the forest produce comes
57 from the Lushai tracts, with the inhabitants of which complications must be
58 avoided. ‘The Commissioner of the division will be asked to clear up any
59 doubts which may exist (para. 14 of the Conservator’s report) regarding
60 Government forest rights in Sylhet.