Abstract
COLONEL CLARKE, the Acting-Conservator of Forests in Ceylon, in his Report for last year says that since attention was called in 1873 to the gradual destruction of forests in Ceylon efforts have been made to check the evil. At first the expense was the great obstacle. The Government did not see its way to expend the large sums that would be necessary before the forests could be regarded as self-supporting. However, in 1885, “The Forest Ordinance” was passed, under which certain areas of forest lands were acquired by the State and made State forests, the owners of those areas or persons having any interest in them being compensated for the loss of their rights. These tracts were to be clearly marked out, and, where necessary, replanted and improved. It is yet too soon to say what the effects will be of this systematic treatment, but the Government hopes that a constant supply of good timber will be at hand, and that the climate of the island will be benefited by increased care of the forests. Forests, Colonel Clarke says, make the climate more equable, increase the relative humidity of the air, and perhaps increase the rainfall. Furthermore, the water-supply is regulated by forests, the springs being more regular and sustained, and the rivers more continuous in their flow. Adjacent fields are protected by them and the speed of the wind is reduced. In tropical countries especially, where, during the wet season, the rain falls in torrents, forests are useful in preventing the soil from being washed away into the rivers and bays. Besides, it is confidently expected that a substantial revenue will be derived from the sale of timber, fuel, &c. India, which, relatively speaking, has not more valuable forests than Ceylon, yielded in the year 1883-84 a gross revenue of £1,052,190, representing a clear profit of,£403,815. In the past the native forest-keepers connived with gangs of natives who plundered the forests and deprived the island of the revenue that would otherwise have accrued. The evil effect of the destruction of forests that was so very common until quite recently in every quarter of the globe, is apparent everywhere. Some striking instances were given in 1885 before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Forestry. For example, what was fifty years ago the great rice-producing district of the west of India. Ratnagiri, has suffered terribly from the denudation of the Western Ghats of the dense forests which extended all over that range of mountains. Again, the native State of Jinjira was all but ruined by the indiscriminate felling of the forests which covered the whole State, which is from fifteen to a hundred miles in breadth, and about forty in length. Similarly, in Ceylon itself, the chena cultivator in the Southern and North-Western Provinces and in the Province of Uva is threatened with ruin.
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Forest Conservancy in Ceylon . Nature 38, 606–607 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038606b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038606b0