1 14
2 authorities, and the work at once proceeds. Should the villagers and tho Forest Officer
3 be unable to come to terms, the matter is referred to the Superintendent of the Pro-
4 vince, from whom if necessary an appeal lies to the Chief Commissioner. But in
5 practice, this last appeal will, I anticipate, never be made, and hitherto we have had
6 little difficulty in getting our lines agreed to.
7 When however we commence working in North Coorg, more opposition will arise.
8 In South Coorg, villages are scarce, and every farm house has large bine holdings
9 attached to it, so that our operations are really but little felt by the people. In North
10 Coorg the inhabitants live in villages and own a number of cattle, wretched animals,
11 but for which grazing must be found. The villages too are not unfrequently in tho
12 middle of tracts of forest land, which must, in the mterests of Govornment, be reserved.
13 The proximity too of the Mysore country, where wood is in great demand, also leads to
14 theft, and asthe rigid reservation of theso forests will interfere with the gains of the
15 villagers, several obstacles will doubtless be thrown in our way, and the Department
16 will be vastly unpopular for a time, act as judiciously as if may. It is therefore proposed
17 that’ where villages are surrounded by . forest, a certain proportion of such forest be
18 set off by demarcation lines for the use of the villagers, and be placed in the charge of
19 the Patél (headman), who will be held responsible that no depredations are committed in
20 the adjoining forests, and that the resources of the village allotment are carefully hus-
21 banded. These village forests are only’intended to supply the villagers with fuel, and
22 small wood for agricultural puposes. They wll bo compeiled to resort for building
23 timber to depots. in common with all others. It has already beon notifiod that grazing
24 will not, asa rule, be stopped in the State forests. It will be limited and roguluted in
25 spots as occasion may arise, but every where goats and shoep are excluded. The real
26 cause of other objections which will be made, will be, I think, that our operations will
27 check much illicit fellag. This must of course be stopped, but the Department while
28 it must act with vigor and firmness, will find that its success will greatly depond on its
29 officers working carefully, judiciously, and in a conciliatory spirit, for tho changes now
30 contemplated in Coorg, as in Mysore, are very radical ones.
31 THIRD SECTION.
32 ‘PROTECTION oF ‘THE FoRESTs.
33 18. The forests aro just now being enclosed, and will require far larger establish-
34 ments simply to watch and work them than those now provided. The police work in
35 the forests, especially in those bordering Mysore, (as do most forests in Coorg), must take
36 up the services of many men. Tho pay thus disbursed will form an ugly item in tho
37 expenditure without any corresponding item of revenue on the other side, which can be
38 expressed in figures. Still it would be false economy to cut down this branch of the
39 establishment for the purpose of exhibiting a good balance sheet, and I dy not see how
40 a large increase in forest expenditure can be avoided for somo years to come, the results
41 of which will not appear till the present generation of Forest Officers has nearly passed
42 off the scene. I also think that what we chiefly want is not so much an increase in the
43 number of Officers as in the number of Rangers and men in actual personal charge of each
44 forest. With a good and sufficiently numerous subordinate staff, one Executive Officer
45 can superintend the operations of a large range, better than with the aid of two or
46 three juniors and a small subordinate cstablishment; I also think the first plan will, in
47 evory way, be found the most economical.
48 FOURTH SECTION.
49 IMPROVEMENT AND EXTENSION OF THE FORESTS.
50 19. The first thing to bo done is to have our forests domarcated.
51 90. Plantations—-At the Karmdd teak plantations, 50 acres of new land were
52 planted up according to the Assistant Conservator’s Report. With rogard to this I
53 must slate that the quantity of land so planted was not measured, but computed by the