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guards form a special branch in Rodrigues and are charged against Head 19. This cadre was established by the reorganization of 1929, the immediate result of which has been an increase in pay of Rs.8,000 for the three senior posts and Rs.8,500 for the 86 remaining posts, while the comparison of the old maximum rates with the new minima plus the new 25 per cent. allowances for proficiency in forestry shows that an ultimate extra liability of Rs.32,000 has been incurred. Other charges incidental to the staff have slightly decreased from Rs.21,648 in 1929 to Rs.19,148 in 1931. The present financial stringency has been reflected in a decrease in the allotment for works; whereas in 1929 the works allotment, for staff costing Rs.157,000, was approximately Rs.133,000, the staff now costs Rs.170,000 and the works allotment is only Rs.117,340.

The estimated revenue in 1929 was Rs.45,000 from forest pro- duce, and is now Rs.66,000, the last recorded actuals having been Rs.53,553 in 1929 and Rs.66,758 in 1930.

2. The newly-appointed Director, now Conservator of Forests, introducing this scheme of reorganization in his memorandum of the 10th April, 1929, stated that the number of the forest staff would not be inadequate for the work which they had to carry out, if the men were all of good type, well trained, and supervised; but young men of promise were not attracted either by the initial pay or by the prospects; the type of men applying had been unsatisfactory in education, character, and physique; "given police work in an environment of which he was largely ignorant, the Ranger receives no training and little encouragement or super- vision and is therefore likely to become and remain profoundly uninterested in all matters of forestry the Inspectors were ignorant of the rudiments of forestry (both have in fact been seconded and are now working as engineers on the harbour works). The Director maintained that the reorganization of the Forest Department was especially suitable to a time of financial stringency, provided that the increase of expenditure on salaries was not unduly large. "Not only is considerable revenue lost by slack, badly- supervised forest protection, but a large proportion of expenditure on such works as utilization, cleaning, and planting is wasted. The increase of revenue and the more economical use of the expen- diture are but two of the results obtained by better supervision and more efficient working."

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Unfortunately, a long period must elapse before a reorganiza- tion based on these premises can become effective. We under- stand that seven vacancies remain unfilled and that very few of the staff have qualified, or indeed are likely to qualify, for the extra allowance on account of efficiency in forestry. The result is that at the time of its greatest nancial stringency the Colony is paying more for what is essentially the same staff, in the

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forestry sense no more productive than before, even though tem- pered by the enthusiasm of their chief-a quality which we cordially recognize in Mr. Sale's work.

3. This memorandum of the 10th April, 1929, foreshadowed an extensive scheme for the improvement of the forests, though it stated that any extension or intensification of the work carried out in the forests would need an increase of staff." A further note in October, 1930, was prepared for the Colonial Conference, and reviewed the present position of forest work. The Con- servator admitted the difficulties of silviculture, the failure of the plantations, the servitude of the forests to shooting rights, the damage by deer, monkeys, and hurricanes, the absence of any work on survey, enumeration, working-plans, communications, and research, and the need for creating a local market by propa- ganda and better methods of sale." He did not suggest how these serious obstacles were to be met, and he gave no estimate of the cost of measures which would be inevitable if any real development were undertaken. But in 1930 he asked for the con- struction of buildings for the staff at a cost, on a rough estimate only, of Rs.300,000, and for a grant of Rs.200,000 for roads. He supported this demand by formulating a programme which it is only fair to describe in his own words.

I have the honour to bring to your notice another aspect of the improvement and development of the Forest of Mauritius, the necessity for which is generally admitted. The present area of the Crown Land in the Island is 70,000 arpents, of which 50,000 may be regarded as State Forests. Some of this area is unproductive, some steep slopes will give a very low average annual yield of timber. It is safe to assume that at least 40,000 arpents can be managed as timber forests. It is clearly necessary that in order to bring this area under Forestry, plans should be made and worked for a certain area to be undertaken each year. From present plantation experience we can fix the average rotation at 50 years, so that trees planted in 1930 will be ready for utiliza- tion in 1980. The whole of the 40,000 acres must therefore be dealt with before 1980. This involves the planting of 800 acres per annum. Each plantation needs careful attention during the first three years and thereafter three or four thin- nings are necessary. It becomes apparent that 800 acres have to be planted, and 1,600 acres tended each year, while at a later date 2.400 to 3,200 acres will have to be thinned. In all about 5,000 acres will have to be dealt with each year. In an agricultural country this will be appreciated by all as an undertaking of some magnitude. There remains with the department the further duty of policing and protecting, not only the 40,000 acres of timber forest, but also the remainder

PUBLIC

PECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.882/12

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