Minutes of evidence taken before the Royal Commission upon Decentralization in Bengal of witnesses serving directly under the Government of India, volume 10 ([London?]: [House of Commons?], 1908)

ROYAL COMMISSION UPON DECENTRALIZATION.

17

42769. Do you make any special use of the word
“ regular ” ?—Yes, there are various kinds of working
plans ; there may be plans of operations lasting for a
few’ years—for an indefinite period ; those do not
come to me at all. It is only when there is a regular
plan, which fixes the w’ork for a long period of years,
and defines the manner in w'hich the forest is to be
treated, that it comes to me.
42770. A regular plan comes to you notwithstanding
the largeness or the smallness of the area affected by
the plan ?—Yes : if it was a plan w’hich required the
sanction of the Local Government it would come to
me for an expression of opinion.
42771. Would that expression of opinion be sent to
the Local Government direct ?—It would be sent to
the Local Government direct, but it is merely an
expression of opinion.
42772. It does not go to the Government of India?
—No, it comes to me as Inspector-General of Forests.
I send the opinion down without reference to the
Government of India : it is purely technical, of course.
42773. What would be the smallest area affected by
one of these regular’ forest plans?—If it was an
unimportant area supplying produce to a town or to a
cantonment, or something of that kind, it might fall
as low as 20 square miles, or less ; it depends on the
importance of the area chiefly.
42774. The Forest Service is an Imperial Service?—
It is an Imperial Service in the upper grades.
42775. What would be the standing of one of the
senior Conservators of a provincial Government ?—
The average, under the present rate of promotion,
would be about 20 or 22 years.
42776. Would an officer of that standing have served
in most of the provinces in India ?—No, probably not;
very often he would have served in one province, or
perhaps in two.
42777. Would he not be moved about a great deal
during his term of service ?—He would have been
moved about ; we try, for instance, to get him into
Burma, which is a special forest area.
42778. Is not an officer’ of 25 years’ service capable
of being trusted with the decision on a smal regular
forest working plan ?—He may or may not be ; it
depends on the personality of the officer himself
entirely.
42779. Would there be much value in an officer of
25 years’ service who was not capable of dealing with
matters of this sort ?—From the silvicultural point of
view there would not be much value in him.
42780. Taking it for granted that-an officer is what
he ought to be after 25 years’ service, should he be
capable of dealing with these smaller plans ?—I think
so, but officers after 25 years’ service vary in their
opinions ; if you have a forest with two or three
Conservators, you may have two or three different
opinions upon one point.
42781. The same thing might happen in the case of
Inspectors-General of Forests ; your successor might
have a different opinion from yours ?—He might
mentally condemn my opinions, but he could not alter
them.
42782. There is no hard and fast standard in
silviculture which would enable anybody to say this is
right—this is wrong?—At present there is not. Of
course there would be in Europe, but the conditions
are very varied in India. For instance, in Madras
they had three Conservators disagreeing upon a point
a few months ago, and they were obliged to refer the
matter for decision.
42783. The Inspector-General might be ignorant
(and not improperly ignorant) as to questions which
might vitally affect some of the smaller plans referred
to him for decision ?—Certainly.
42784. Under those circumstances would it not be
better that the smaller cases should be dealt with
locally ?—I think the Inspector-General, having a wider
experience is less liable to error than a Conservator,
who has not so wide an experience.
42785. At all events the qualification of most of
these local Conservators is not sufficiently high to
criticize those schemes ?•—I did not wish to produce
that impression ; the majority of them would be able
to do so.
33383

42786. From whom is the Inspector-General of
Forests chosen?—From the Conservators.
42787. Is there any step between the Conservator
and the Inspector-General of Forests?—There is
a Chief Conservator in Burma and the Central
Provinces.
42788. Except in Burma and the Central Provinces
there is no step between the two ?—Chief Conser-
vators have been refused in Madras and Bombay ;
they were offered by the Government of India, with a
view to giving to each province a technical Head, but
the provinces declined.
42789. Therefore it is quite possible that an officer
who cannot deal with a small working plan to-day
may have to deal with the whole of the forests to-
morrow ?—That may be.
42790. The Subordinate Services are under the
Local Government ?•—Yes, entirely. 1 have nothing
to do with any of the Services. I have nothing to do
with the Forest Services except to note for the
Government of India.
42791. Do you note upon the qualifications of
officers ?—I forward a confidential report to the Local
Government. In the majority of cases I know 80
per cent, of the men personally in the Imperial Ser-
vice, and I have seen their work from the working
plans and the papers which have reached me.
42792. You do not want any administrative
authority ?—No, it would hamper me very consider-
ably.
42793. What is your staff at the present moment ?
—I have got one assistant in the office, and the usual
office establishment—a forest branch with about 12
clerks.
42794. You send down officers from time to time
to inspect forest areas?—Yes. In the Research
Institute there are five officers, and if the Local
Government consents I send them round to make
specific enquiries on certain subjects. I have to get
the consent of each Local Government to each enquiry;
the research officers can go anywhere with the consent
of the Local Government in each case.
42795. A witness told us that all these officers'
notes came to the Government of India, and that
later on explanations were asked from the forest
officers as to the way in which they did their work ; is
that so ?—We have had no opportunity of testing
that yet ; the present system has only been established
for two years, and the notes of the local officers have
not yet been sent back.
42796. Have any remonstrations or observations
been sent to the Conservators by the Inspector-
General ?—No, I am not empowered to do that at
all.
42797. It was rather hinted at by a former witness,
but you deny that altogether ?—I deny it entirely.
In Bengal, for instance, no one had been sent there.
There was an occurrence in Bengal this year where
the Conservators did not wish to have a man sent
there, but as he had not tried it before, he was not 'in
a position to criticize the matter at all.
42798. When forest questions come up to the
Government of India is your advice invariably sought ?
—Yes, in the ordinary course of business I have to
express an opinion.
42799. Do you often differ from the Local Govern-
ments ?—No, I do not think I differ from them as a
rule.
42800. Suggestions were made to us that when the
Local Government had its views overridden by the
Government of India before a final decision was given,
the views of the Inspector-General upon whose advice
their own theories might be upset should be submitted
to the Local Government ; have you any observations
to make on that matter?—I would not mind my
opinions being submitted to the Local Government at
all ; I should like to know beforehand whether they
were going to the Local Government or not, because
one uses different language in a private note to the
language one uses otherwise ; the language, I mean,
might be stronger or clearer.
42801. But you have no objection to the advice
which you give to the Government of India going to
the Local Government ?—No, not the slightest.
C

Mr. S.
Eardley-
Wilmot.
1 Feb., 1908.