1 ( 35 )
2 Rs. 39,12,662, thus showing an inercase of Rs. 17,18,761 in six
3 years.
4 72. But at the same time the surplus which in 1866-67
5 stood at Ks. 9,38,336, and rose in 1868-69 to Rs. 12,08,189, fell
6 again in 1869-70 to Rs. 8,38,653, and in 1871-72, owing to the
7 non-adjustment of the railway accounts, to Rs. 5,45,022. Last
8 year, mainly owing to the adjustment of these accounts, it rose
9 again to IRs. 11,01,009.
10 73. The cause of this falling surplus in the face of the
11 rising revenue is, of course, increased expenditure. In the
12 six years under review the establishment charges rose from
13 Rs. 4,35,096 to Rs. 8,52,878, or in rouud numbers four lakhs of
14 rupees. At the same time the expenditure on works rose from
15 Rs. 8,20,461 to Rs. 19,58,775 ; and though this was accompanied
16 by a corresponding increase in revenue, yet there was no addition
17 to the nett profits.
18 74. Forest revenue is divisible into two main heads,—
19 1lst.— Revenue derived from the sale of timber at the forest
20 depéts, being the bond fide result of departmental
21 work.
22 2nd.—Revenue derived from the sale of timber, generally of
23 small scantling, removed from the forests by pur-
24 chasers; also that realized by the sale of grass, bam-
25 boos, and miscellaneous forest produce, as well as
26 from grazing dues. This portion of the revenue is
27 collected either by the direct agency of the Depart-
28 ment at customs posts on the borders of the forests,
29 or by annual leases of tracts of jungle, generally of
30 inferior quality, or by a system of licenses or passes,
31 or by a sort of commutation tax, under the terms of
32 which certain villagers or bodies of cultivators are
33 granted the right to remove forest produce from
34 certain jungles, generally in their vicinity, on pay-
35 ment of a fixed yearly sum. Besides the above,
36 there is, in Burma, a tax on foreign timber.
37 75. Now, the Financial Department, in raising the issue as
38 to whether the Forest Department pays or not, has pointedly
39 alluded to the revenue derived from the sale of timber on the
40 ground that ‘‘ very much more than the nett revenue has been
41 transferred to the Forest Department from land revenue, and
42 would be collected without charge if the Forest Department did
43 not exist.”” The management, however, of the minor sources of
44 revenue was made over to the Forest Department, not because
45 its aid was necessary for their collection, but that the forests
46 micht not be cxhausted by being too heavily drawn upon, as would
47 probably have been the caso had they been left in the hands of a
48 department whose main business it would be to extract from them
49 the fullest possible amount of present revenue, unburdened by the
50 responsibility of arranging for their future rcproductiveness.
51 76. As regards the revenue from the sale of timber, it is
52 easy to show that, since little else than distant and exhausted
53 forests remain, any large profit is out of the question. Let us
54 take the figures for 1870-71. The total forest revenue for that
55 year amounted to Rs. 35,57,479; of this sum Rs. 16,97,512 was
56 derived from the sale of timber. Buta reference to the ex-
57 penditure account will show that no less than Rs. 16,18,054
58 was spent during the same year on timber works, so that
59 the nett profit to the Department, derived from this branch of its
60 revenue, was Rs. 79,458. Nor is the expenditure on establish-
61 ments, roads, and other works of improvement, included in
62 this account, but merely the actual outgoing on the felling, saw-