along which inspection tánahs under the management of the Forest department were placed to check the exports with the permits. These regulations still remain in force.
Minor forest produce for their own use may be collected by the Rampa people free of all charge; but on any which is exported, seigniorage is levied generally at the weekly markets outside Rampa where the produce is brought for sale, and from the traders and not from the hill men. The same procedure is adopted in the case of minor produce brought out of the Yellavaram division.
The Rampa people are also allowed to graze their own cattle in the forest free. But owners of foreign cattle driven to Rampa to graze have to take out permits and pay fees,1[1] and the cattle have to be produced for check at the tánah specified in the permit. In 1900-01 the forest revenue from all these sources amounted to Rs. 5,500; in 1901-02 to Rs. 9,400; in 1902-03 to Rs. 10,800; and in 1903-04 to Rs. 6,700.
In the Agency outside the Rampa country the forests are either wholly or partially reserved. In the latter, timber, as in Rampa, may be felled for agricultural and domestic purposes free, except that certain trees must not be touched. In Pólavaram nineteen species have been thus excepted, in Yellavaram fifteen, and in Bhadráchalam nine; while in this last taluk Kóyas and hill Reddis are allowed to fell any trees except teak and Diospyros melanoxylon. In unsurveyed villages any trees may be felled to prepare land for permanent cultivation and any except certain species (specified in each division) to clear it for pódu. In surveyed villages the rules usual elsewhere are in force.
Minor produce (except rela and tangédu bark, for which permits are required) may be gathered free for domestic use in this class of forests in Yellavaram, and in Bhadráchalam by Kóyas and hill Reddis. Seigniorage is collected, as in Rampa, at the weekly markets from the traders on any which is collected for export. In Pólavaram the revenue is collected on the permit system in both classes of forest.
The grazing rules differ in the different divisions of the Agency; but in all of them Kóyas and Reddis are allowed to graze their cattle free, and in all of them except Bhadráchalam (whither cattle are seldom driven on account of its remoteness
- ↑ 1 This system was not instituted till 1899, when it was found that the hill muttadars were levying fees of this kind without authority. See the correspondence in B.Ps., Forest Nos. 318, dated 28th July 1897 and 264, dated 22nd June 1899. For the subsequent raising of the fees see B.Ps., Forest Nos. 89, dated 1st March 1901 and 19, dated 28th January 1904.
