The supervision of the communal forests which had, indeed, existed since the 16th century was by no means an easy task. The opposition to it which had always existed and was, in earlier times, justified by the incompetence and graft of the officials, continued even after this justification of it had ceased. Thanks to the tact and efficiency of the officials of the modern period, the opposition has been largely overcome, and, thanks to the progress made in enforcing these rigorous laws, their necessity has almost vanished, and, at present, relatively few infractions need to be investigated and punished. Moreover, the rigor of the original law was somewhat abated by the law of 1859. There are, however, voices which proclaim that the supervision by the government is not as thorough as it should be, and that the conditions of the communal property have deteriorated. While the supervision of the management of communal property is mainly based on fiscal considerations, the _Code forestier_ also authorizes the administration to interfere in the management of forests whose influence on the public welfare can be demonstrated. In order to assure the possibility of such interference, every private owner who desires to clear land is required to advise the government of his purpose, when the administration can prevent such clearing, if deemed necessary to prevent landslides, erosion and torrential action, to protect watersources, sand dunes, _for defensive purposes at the frontier_ (!), and for public health. Otherwise, the management of private forest is unhampered. By special legislation, enacted in 1860 and 1882, however, the special cases of torrential action were taken care of in a special manner, which will be set forth in following pages. The reboisement law of 1882 authorizes the administration to acquire by expropriation mountain forests or mountain slopes needed for reforestation for the sake of safeguarding them and preventing torrential damage. For Algiers, the same authorization to expropriate was extended by law of 1903 to include all such areas on which according to the _Code forestier_ the administration might forbid clearing, and such extension is advocated for the mother country. As a rule the administration has been able to avoid expropriation and secure the territories by voluntary sale at less than $10 per acre.