1 ( 36 )
2 ing, and transport of timber. At the same time all the rest of
3 the working expenditure of the Department (minus establish-
4 ment charges) amounted, in the same year only to Rs. 6,10,159,
5 while the revenue from all other sources amounted to Rs. 18,59,968,
6 It is evident then that, if the Forest Department was compelled
7 to rely for a nett revenue on timber works only, its profits would’
8 be almost 2zZ; nor is this to bo wondered at, when it is remcm-
9 bered that all the best and most accessible forests were either cut
10 down or given away previous to the formation of the Depart-
11 ment.
12 77. But other causes, not altogether within the control of
13 the Forest Department, have of late years conduced to a failure
14 in the amount of surplus revenue. These causes were fully
15 admitted by the Honorable the Financial Minister in his budget
16 speech, in which he stated that ‘‘ the receipts represented for the
17 most part the value of work done for the service of the State; the
18 cash receipts from private persons, as well as from the general
19 public, not as yet being considerable.’’ This assertion is quite
20 true as applied to the dealings of the Department in timber of
21 large scantling.
22 78. Among these may be noticed the sudden cessation of the
23 scheme for building large barracks for troops in the plains, as well
24 as the practice now obtaining of employing iron in the construc-
25 tion of large buildings, wherever railway transport renders it
26 possible at a reasonble cost. These alterations have thrown a
27 heavy stock of valuable timber on the hands of the Department.
28 As far as the wants of the general public are concerned, large
29 timber is almost a drug in the market. The general timber mer-
30 chants and traders wi)l not look at it, they will not pay for it,
31 and they require an inferior article at a cheaper price. There are
32 now probably about 250,000 cubic feet of magnificent s{l timber
33 in the depédts of the North-West, originally cut (in 1869-70) for
34 the Barrack Department, for which there is scarcely any demand
35 in the general market, unless it was offered at the same price as
36 could be obtained for unsound and inferior logs. This wood,
37 which was cut four years ago, is now coming into use on the
38 Oudh and Rohilkhund Railway, and on the canals under
39 construction in Rohilkhund; but in the meantime it has repre-
40 sented so much dead stock, and has been productive of no
41 revenue.
42 79. It is curious to observe how the same effects are wont to
43 reproduce themselves under different conditions. In the Revue
44 des deux Mondes of 15th September 1871, there is an article on
45 the scarcity of mature timber in Europe, in which, after stating
46 the fact that France at present consumes twice as much timber
47 annually as she produces, the reviewer recommends, as a remedy
48 against the dearth of timber which is likely to ensue, that
49 imported timber should be used as far as_ possible, so as to allow
50 the French forests time to recover themselves. But at the same
51 time, recognising that in order to obtain the requisite pecuniary
52 means to meet her own conservancy expenses, she cannot forego
53 her present forest income, he suggests that all forests in France
54 should be worked on what is known as ‘‘the mixed coppice
55 system,” a certain number of standard trees per acre being left
56 to grow to maturity, in order eventually to produce large timber,
57 while the rest is felled in rotation at certain periods to meet the
58 demands of the market and for purposes of revenue.
59 80. _ In India we have now to deal with the same conditions,
60 though in a greatly exaggerated degree,—viz., impoverished
61 forests which require rest, with the necessity of raising a regular
62 annual income; and here also the same principles, with a s ight
63 difference in details, seem to afford the best ground work fora