1 ( 5 )
2 25. Only the three purely Government forests, vz., part of Panjal and the
3 pe ee ae eee two Bamboo Forests of Karnptr and Bindrdban, remained.
4 Bamboo and one of Chil. 1 had understood, in the absence of any information to the
5 Unexpected difficulty re- contrary, and on the admission of the then Deputy Com-
6 aa missioner of Hoshidrpur (an officer anything but favorable
7 to forest rights being claimed by the State), that these three were the absolute
8 and unrestricted property of the State.
9 26. On obtaining, however, authority to assert this clearly and unmis-
10 takably in the Settlement proceedings, an old parwana, issued in 1856, was
11 discovered bearing the approval of the Commissioner. It was not always easy to
12 trace the exact authority for such documents in the earlier days of our rule, but
13 it was clear that the orders had for many years been acted on—not fully, but toa
14 less mischievous extent ; and I have obtained sanction, therefore, to the recogni-
15 ne eee tion of the prac/ice, not of the letter, of the orders, and I
16 trust shortly to hear that the right of the State, whieh is
17 now found to be limited in a sufficiently innocuous manner by certain rights, has
18 been clearly recorded and the forests demarcated accordingly.
19 27. Kdngra.—The complete transfer of the forests to this Department was
20 not effected during the year; but the whole of one import-
21 ant tahs{l (Nurpur) has been completely visited, and, by
22 consent of the people, just as in Hoshiarpur, certain compact tracts free of all
23 rights ‘reserved ’—to the extent of 4,000 acres.
24 28. The subject is so interesting that I have printed Mr. Duff’s statement,
25 geal aaa showing the way reserved area was taken from each village
26 (ude Appendix A). Mr. Duff writes :-—
27 “‘ Tt was the work of an entire month getting 4,000 acres; but, now that
28 ‘the principle has been fairly established, 1 have great hopes of being able to
29 ‘‘ take up something like 25,000 acres next cold season.”
30 29. The rest of the forest is to be left open, under certain general pratec-
31 Treatment of the unro- tive prohibitions, to the direct management of village
32 porvedt forent., communities ; and I have proposed that the supervision of
33 All to be supervised hy this management, as well as the entire management of the
34 thu: Deparonont. reserves, be transferred to this Department. The orders
35 sanctioning this were, however, not issued when the year closed.
36 30. It is proposed to carry out the same demarcation works in the tahsils
37 Kangra Tabsil not taken Of Dehra and Hamirpur, there being little forest
38 in. in Kangra Tahsil which could be either treated under
39 forest rules, or conveniently made over to this Department.
40 31. Mr. Roe, Settlement Officer, has been vested with powers, in the
41 Kangra District, to represent the Civil authorities and
42 , Officer specially appointed arbitrate for the people as regards the proposals made for
43 abitrate . . .
44 exchanges, buying out rights, &c., incident to the selection
45 Kangra transfer.
46 of reserved forests.
47 - 32. Gurddspdér.—tThe forest area in this is confined to the hills about
48 ‘ Dhar and Danéra, which are traversed by the road to
49 eee Pane ae Dalhousie. The ‘‘Chfl,” which is the chief oe 1s inferior,
50 and the forest area so intersected with cultivation that,
51 though the tracts were carefully visited by Mr. Roe and Mr. Sparling, it was
52 thought by thoso officers impracticable to demarcate any special compact forests ;
53 and it was proposed only to reserve the right of the State to all valuable trees
54 not growing on actually private lands, allowing trees and fuel on ‘free permits’
55 to landowners, and modifying the existing rules to suit this purpose.
56 33. I have, however, abstained from recommending these proposals to
57 ariditiasiea pesieauel Government during the year, as it was thought that the
58 " example of the neighbouring Tahsil of Nurputr, above allud-
59 ed to, would, when the work was finished, induce the Shaéhpur Kandi zamindars
60 to agree, notwithstanding the difficulties of the case, to something like what has
61 been done in Hoshidrpur and Nurpur, and that we should be eventually able to
62 secure some compact forests free of rights, albeit few in number,