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Reference :-
C.O.882/12
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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incurred until a far more comprehensive examination had been made of the total capital cost or of the maintenance charges which, as Mr. Simmons has shown, would be charged against capital during the first period of fifty years. But we must go further; we cannot take for granted an estimate of revenue which rests on so hypothetical a basis. There is no assured market in the Colony; the sugar factories now have very little need for wood fuel and the demand for fuel not only has declined, but will be met from the coppices on the coast rather than from the forests. The Conservator informs us that "the public are nibbling at the eucalyptus and pine" of the forests, but this timber is being extracted without any attempt being made to establish proper commercial costs, and is in fact being sold in order to "educate the public " at any price which the public will offer. No reliance can be placed on the local market for the future, and still less on the export market. It is a common knowledge that a world shortage of soft wood is anticipated; this anticipation is not confined to Mauritius, it is a stimulus to many other countries which, unlike Mauritius, ate in a position to develop their forest resources on the largest scale. Who will be the customers for Mauritius timber? What will be the position in the general export trade of the annual output of 800 acres in Mauritius, burdened as it must be by charges for capital and for management out of all proportion to the amount of the product?. It is not possible to give hopeful answers to these questions, and their consideration we cannot reject as entirely inapplicable the history of Mauritius sugar in its relation to the world market.
We are faced with a scheme in which the data of expenditure do not exist and the estimate of revenue is entirely problematical, and we have no hesitation in recommending that the scheme be now abandoned. The Colony should not embark on a forest project which in its failure to estimate costs and its visionary prophecy of revenue so closely recalls the unhappy scheme of irrigation.
6. We are not strengthened in this view solely by the ominous precedent of La Nicoliere. Forest development in Mauritius has a long history of its own.
When in 1880 Mr. Thompson, on deputation from India. found the forests of Mauritius to be a picture of doleful ruin" these forests were already under the protection of a permanent staff of 32 men; the area was only half that of the present forests, but Rs.65,000 had recently been spent on the acquisition of land and Rs.30,000 on planting. Mr. Thompson recommended the purchase and planting of land, though he made the interesting remark that secondary but spontaneous growth, if protected from injury, in twenty years would re-forest the island without a cent being spent on planting. Such growth would not form valuable forests in the sense of timber yield, but for shading the ground, preserving the water supply, and providing fuel and small building material
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for the people it would serve admirably." He was principally concerned with protection, and considered the existing staff adequate for the purpose, if really employed on protective duties. But he added to the attraction of his programme of land purchase by ** If forests suggesting the possibility of commercial exploitation.
were created growing timber-yielding trees of good kinds, they must become valuable properties hereafter, from their position near Rail- ways; and also since they will ultimately be capable of giving an income by the steady yield of well-grown useful timber and other forest products. Probably three-fourths of the land, now recom- mended for purchase, is capable of growing timber of a large size and which could be yielded by both indigenous and such introduced species as are now so well established in Mauritius. Should other foreign species than tried ever be introduced it will be as well to remember not to risk the experiment except in such small pro- portion as would render a failure inappreciable."
In 1900 the Chairman of the Forest Board could point to no other result than the expenditure of nearly Rs.3,000,000 on acquiring 29.000 acres in accordance with Mr. Thompson's proposals and Rs.350,000 on plantation. There had been no commercial return. In 20 years the expenditure on staff had been Rs.1,680,000, and the total revenue derived in that time from the sale of produce had been no more than Rs.131,000. But the same vague hope of profit persisted. The Chairman repeated the paragraphs which we have quoted from Mr. Thompson, and urged the example of the 110,000 square miles of forest in India as an encouragement for the develop- ment of the 105 square miles of forest in Mauritius.
In 1904 Mr. Gleadow of the Indian Forest Service made his report; he compiled a valuable record of ordinances which had failed and of policies which had been abandoned; he stated that "since the date of Mr. Thompson's visit nothing whatever had been done towards the collection of scientific, statistical, or cultural facts A needed before a regular working plan could be attempted. certain amount of planting had been done, but no record kept of the localities, successes, failures, and reasons; hence, even for Mr. planting work, the recorded knowledge was very scanty.' Gleadow expressed considerable doubts as to the possible market in the island; there might be a trade in sleepers for the railway, "if the open market should cease to pay more remunerative prices for the wood in other forms ; the State should abandon the fuel market as far as possible to private enterprise, for large numbers of private owners were growing and selling fuel. He drew up a general scheme of timber fellings and expected that by about the year 1944 the forests would be mostly in good working order, while a substantial revenue would be obtained in 20 years. But Mr. Gleadow, while reviving the hope of commercial development, was far from being optimistic; for one thing the timber trade is practically