1 3
2 11. Ranipura and Rangir have been demarcated by cleared lines and
3 Renipura, Ravgir, & Huthku, 2°2PSofstones. The demarcation of the Huthku reserve is
4 “eee iy progress, and will shortly bo completed.
5 12. Details regarding the cost of maintaining boundary lines and marks in
6 and Tatenance of boundaries the reserves previously demarcated are given in the return
7 forest, SS s@ferred to at the beginning of this section.
8 13. The selection and reservation of the sil bearing tracts in Mandla and
9 Balaghat has, from the want of maps of that part of the country, been postponed
10 from ea to year, Jt was hoped that ere this the survey of these tracts would
11 have been taken up by the Topographical party, and that with the aid of the
12 maps thus made available the officers nf this Department would be able to define
13 approximately the limits of the better’, ~tions of the forests, compute their area,
14 and draw up a plan for placing them unde. 1 proper system of conservation ; but
15 up to the present time the regular survey has not been commenced, and so far as
16 I am at present aware there is no prospect of maps being available for some time
17 to come. I have therefore requested Mr. Jacob to make a detailed examination
18 of these forests, so that in casc the survey is not to be carried, out by the Topo-
19 > party within a reasonable time, be will be in a position to frame a plan
20 or a Departmental survey of the more valuable forest tracts to be carried out
21 during next open season,
22 Section IJ,
23 Requirements of the population, dc,
24 14. The requirements of the people as regards the small building material,
25 wood for agricultural purposes,{fuel, and minor forest produce, are at present
26 almost entirely met from the unreserved forests, The conditions under which
27 these wants are supplied vary in different districts, as will be shown hereafter ;
28 but there are two main distinctions, inasmuch as the rural communities, having as
29 a rule their own carts and cattle, purchase their fuel, small building material, &c.,
30 in the forest, and remove it themselves ; while the inhabitants of large towns,
31 having no such facilities for transport, supply their wants through petty timber
32 merchants, who are seldom content with moderate profits,
33 15. When the reservation of certain forest lands was originally determined
34 on, the capabilities of the land for producing large timber were the main points
35 to which attention was given, though the requirements of such large towns as
36 Kamthi and Nagpur were not altogether lost, sight of, as is instanced by the re-
37 servation of the tract known as the Satpura reserve. It is not therefore a
38 matter for surprise that these reserves are only calculated to meet a very limited
39 portion of the requirements of the people,
40 16. A reference to the existing forest rules shows that when they were
41 drawn up it was presumed that the wants of the agricultural classes would, as a
42 rule, be supplied from the unreserved and not from the State forests. Since that
43 time, however, the increase in the revenue resulting from this demand, which has
44 risen from Rs. 99,649 in 1865-66 to Rs. 3,98,851 in 1871-72, has raised it in the
45 scale of importance, while the apparently increasing demand seems to point to
46 the necessity of a further reservation of forest lands expressly for this purpose.
47 I shdll now endeavour to explain how far each existing State forest is capable of
48 mecting the ordinary wants of the péople,
49 17. This forest was taken up with the express purpose of maintaining a
50 Sitpara eetares supply of small building material, bamboos, &c., for the
51 a large stations of Kamthi‘and Nagpur. The result of re-
52 cent enquiries shows that the timber produce of this forest can be sold at a profit