Rights of State in Waste.—Under Indian rule the State claimed full power of disposing of the waste, and, even where an exclusive right in the soil was not maintained, some valuable trees, e.g. the deodÁr in the HimÁlaya, were treated as the property of the RÁja. Under the tenure prevailing in the hills the soil is the RÁja's, but the people have a permanent tenant right in any land brought under cultivation with his permission. In Kulu the British Government asserted its ownership of the waste. In the south-western PanjÁb, where the scattered hamlets had no real boundaries, ample waste was allotted to each estate, and the remainder was claimed as State property. Kinds of Forest.—The lands in the PanjÁb over which authority, varying through many degrees from full ownership unburdened with rights of user down to a power of control exercised in the interests of the surrounding village communities, may be roughly divided into
The first are forests of deodÁr, blue pine, fir, and oak in the HimÁlaya above the level of 5000 feet. The hill Management and Income of Forests.—The Forest Department of the PanjÁb has existed singe 1864, when the first Conservator was appointed. In 1911-12 it managed 8359 square miles in the PanjÁb consisting of:
It was also in charge of 235 square miles of reserved forest in the HazÁra district of the N.W.F. Province, and of 364 miles of fine mountain forest in the native State of Bashahr. In addition a few reserved forests have been made over as grazing areas to the Military Department, and Deputy Commissioners are in charge of a very large area of unclassed forest. No forest can be declared "reserved" or "protected" unless it is owned in whole or in part by the State. It is enough if the trees or some of them are the property of the Government. In order to safeguard all private rights a special forest settlement must be made before a forest can be declared to be "reserved." In the case of a protected forest it is enough if Government is satisfied that the rights of the State and of private persons have been recorded at a land revenue settlement. After deducting income belonging to the year 1909-10 realized in 1910-11, the average income of the two years ending 1911-12 was £81,805 (Rs. 1,227,082) and the average expenditure £50,954 (Rs. 764,309). Sources of Income.—In the mountain forests the chief source of income is the deodÁr, which is valuable both for railway sleepers and as building timber. The blue pine is also of commercial value. DeodÁr, blue pine, and some chÍr are floated down the rivers to depots in the plains. Firwood is inferior to cedar and pine, and the great fir forests are too remote for profitable working at present. There are fine mountain forests in ChitrÁl, on the Safed Koh, and in Western WazÍristÁn, but these have so far not even been fully explored. The value of the hill forests may be increased by the success which has attended the experimental extraction of turpentine from the resin of the chÍr pine. The bamboo forests of KÁngra are profitable. At present an attempt is being made to acclimatize several species of Eucalyptus in the low hills. The scrub jangal in the plains yields good fuel. As the area is constantly shrinking it is fortunate that the railways have ceased to depend on this source of supply, coal having to a great extent taken the place of wood. To prevent shortage of fuel considerable areas in the tracts commanded by the new canals are being reserved for irrigated forests. A forest Forests in KashmÍr.—The extensive and valuable KashmÍr forests are mountain and hill forests, the former, which cover much the larger area yielding, deodÁr, blue pine, and firs, and the latter chÍr pine. The total area exceeds 2600 square miles. |