The Dominion. HURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909. AN AFFORESTATION SCHEME.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 447, 4 March 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. HURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909. AN AFFORESTATION SCHEME.

Full particulars are now available concerning the important report issued six weeks ago by the British Boyal Commission on Stato Erosion and Afforestation. The problem of afforestation has of late become one of the highest moment in many countries; it may be said that there is a general awakening of the civilised races to the necessity for maintaining the forests and woodlands that are disappearing under our destructive civilisation. The question in its order of reference to which the Commission has replied was' "whether in conncction with reclaimed land or otherwise it is desirablo to make an experiment in afforestation as a means of- increasing employment during periods of depression in the labour market, and, if so, by what authority and uuder what conditions such experiment should bo conductcd"; and tho finding is unanimously in favour of afforestation on an enormous scale for its own sake as well as for the sake of the relief which it will afford to a congested labour rrfarket. Afforestation is declared to bo both practicable and desirable. The soil and climate of tho United Kingdom is suitable for the production of high-class timber; and sven at prosont prices sylviculture should prove a safe and remunerative

investment. But the increasing consumption of timber, and the probable scarcity of the world's supply in the future, afford absolute security for the belief that the investment of a large sum in afforestation will pay very handsomely indeed. The area of land suitable for the scheme described by the Commission is set down at 9,000,000 acres, which should be afforested at the rate of 150,000 acres annually. On this basis, a sum of £2,000,000 would bo required annually to pay the cost of the land acquired, and all the expenses of afforestation, and this sum, it is proposed, should be raised by loan, since tho scheme would be a productive investment of capital. It is calculated that, at the end of eighty years, tho net revenuo from the forests at present prices—but, of course, prices will rise—should be £17,500,000, representing per cent, on tho net cost calculated at accumulated compound interest at 3 per cent. At that date tho State will be in possession of property worth £502,000,000, or about £107,000,000 in excess of the total cost involved in its creation. For forty years there would be an annual deficit, rising progressively to a maximum of £3,131,250, after which period the forest would be more than self-supporting.

On the question of afforestation in its relation to employment, tho Commission believes that a sound scheme will alleviate the unemployed trouble. Labour distress is most acute in tho winter, just when afforestation demands most labour, and the work of planting, if necessary, can be within limits adapted to recurrent periods of distress. On the average it will take twelve men to afforest 100 acres in a season, and 100 acres when planted will provide permanent employment for at least one man. If 150,000 acres were annually taken in hand, the labour of 18,000 men would be needed, and permanent employment would- bo afforded to 1500 men every year, until ultimately 100,000 men would be permanently employed. But, of course, a great deal of labour would bo absorbed by the subsidiary and incidental industries created by tho scheme. The Commission points out that the special advantage of sylviculture is that it offers a new source of employment, while the conversion of comparatively unprofitable lands into forests enhances the productiveness of the adjacent areas. It is also believed that the employment of a permanent staff in maintaining a forest area and the encouragement of small holdings in connection 'with sylviculture would do much to stom the tide of rural de-population. The report has met with tho unanimous favour of the British press, but practically all the newspapers insist that tho financing of tho scheme shall be strictly businesslike, and not accommodated to the desires of those foolish people who favour "making work" for the workless. On the Commission's own showing the measure of direct alleviation of tho pressure of unemployment will not be large. It is'in its byproducts that the real social value of the scheme is to be found: in the assistance which it will give to the small holdings movement, and in tho positive wealth which it will create for tho nation, which, by importing annually thatamount of timber wbich could be annually grown by the planting of 9,000,000 acres, is virtually leaving untouched a vast source of wealth. It is as if a rich gold mine or coal mine were left idle. This is not a mere figure.of speech. The Commission calculates that tho scheme proposed will encroach on grazing land to tho extent of ultimately shortening the mutton production by 60,000 tons at the most, or only 2.6 per cent, of the national consumption. Compared with the yield of the forests, this loss would be inconI siderable.