FORESTRY RESEARCH

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1927, Page 3

FORESTRY RESEARCH

AN EMPIRE CAMPAIGN

WORK AT OXFORD

(From Our Own Correspondei.t.)

LONDON, 4th December.

The Imperial Forestry Institute, University of Oxford, has brought out its second annual report, which shows how much that work is being helped forward by the .programme of training and research laid down by the Institute in the two years of its. existence.

* It is.realised that there' should.be a thoroughly capable staff to administer the vast forest property of the Empire and prevent wasteful exploitation.- To that end the Institute is assisting by undertaking the training of forest officers for the Empire and by acting as a centre for research on the formation, protection, ' and care of forests. It is estimated that there is a total^area of 1,837,000 square miles of forest in the British Empire, of which some 685,000 square miles are at present accessible and marketable.

Lord Clinton (chairman of the Board of Governors) stated that, now the preliminary period of organisation jis largely over, market progress has been made both in instructional work and in research. During the'first, year, twentytwo students attended; during the second year that number had been doubled, and the number of new entries at the beginning of the third year, togetherwith the applications for further admissions, indicate that there is likely to be a steadily increasing number of students in the future. It is pointed out that tile-Institute is not intended to take the place of existing schools of forestry, but aims at supplementing general training by more advanced or specialised work. The situation of the Institute, within easy reach of Continental forests which have been managed along scientific lines, for centuries, is an important matter, and. the happy connection which has been established between the Institute and some of the foremost Continental authorities on forestryaugurs well for the future development of practical training in Continental forests, as well as possible collaboration in solving some of the difficult problems with which the forestry sciences are confronted. The location of the Imperial Forestry Institute at a great university which already possesses a > flourishing School of Forestry, and has always shown a deep ; interest in the progress of scientific forestry, is another asset, Lord Clinton remarks, the importance'of which can hardly be over-rated.

STUDY AND TRAVEL.

During the year the'^subjects dealt with have been sylviculture, forest management, the economics of forestry (including forest policy), mycology, entomology, ■ systematic forest botany (mainly tropical and sub-tropical), the structural and properties of "wood, surveying, and forest engineering. Tours have been organised to selected forests on the Continent, a liaison has been established between the Institute and the British Forestry Commission, arid also between the ■ Institute and the Forest Products Research Laboratory, and it is hoped that the Institute will extend its activities in the direction of arranging special courses of instructon in other centres. One instance is that of two forest officers deputed from Nigeria for '.-training in sylviculture research methods with special reference to trdpical conditions, who, after several months' instruction and practice at Oxford, proceeded; under arrangements made by the director of the Institute, to the Forest. Eeseareh Institute at Dehra Dun, India, and .studied tropical sylviculture in certain selected forest tracts in India and Burma. Inthe course of v. few months these, officers will return to Oxford and complete their course of training, when •they should be in a position when they go back to Nigeria to initiate experimental work on. scientific lines.

The forty-four students who attended courses during the year were made up' of nine post-graduate probationers from the "Colonial Services and'five from India, together with fourteen forest officers on leave ' from the colonial services, nine from the Indian services, two private students, and five research students from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Besearch. Students already admitted for the year 1926-7 are representative of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Burma, Nigeria, Ceylon, British .Honduras, Malaya, Nyasaland, and Cyprus.

In.order to take part in experimental ■work under actual forest conditions a new experimental garden has been started on the outskirts of pxford. Thirtyone students attended the Continental forest tours, and a provisional arrangement has been come to with Dr. F. ■Heske, of the Vienna University staff, whereby hel will undertake the organisation and conduct of tours, and practical work 'on behalf of the Institute in Central Europe.'

IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIES.

Systematic forest botany is another important subject, and the report mentions that of 172 distinct species of trees which pass under the • name of mahogany, only two-are true mahoganies of the genus Swietania. The identification of 439 specimens has been carried out and approximately 20 species which appear to be new and un-i described have been brought to* light from the Gold Coast, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. Considerable work has been done dn regard to forest diseases and insect.-attacks, while some 200 books have been-added to the library.

-Attention is-drawn to the fact that the existing accommodation of the institute is already inadequate, -that the work is hampered, and that the full cost of the buildings required is not les t>»ii £70,000. The' university is prepared to offer a site, and a public appeal for funds will be issued shortly. With the financial help already promised it is hoped that a sufficient sum will be available to carry out the object in view. ■■■•...:■

• "The Times" expresses the opinion that as a centre of training and resear«h the institute has definitely proved its value, and there is an. increasing disposition, especially on the part of forestry officers of the Empire, actual or prospective, to avail'themselves of the facilities which it provides. He wmild be a bold man who would deny the urgency of the need for a wide and practical extension of knowledge in every department of the science of forestry. The report comes as a useful supplement to the recommendations on the subject of forestry resulting from the' deliberations of the Imperial Conference.

TIMBER FAMINE THREATENING-.

" 'A review of the forestry situation throughout the world leads to the conclusion that available supplies of the principal timbers of commerce are rapidly approaching exhaustion.' By this uncompromising statement (continues 'The Times'), the opening words of the'first appendix to the report of the Forestry-Sub-conimittee of the Imperial Conference—Mr. Fraser Story exposes in a single sentence the grave danger which., threatens not only the Empire, but the world. The figures upon which it is based are not open to qupstion. It might be supposed that an Empire with an estimated total forest area of 1,837,000 square miles— about a third of what is at present accessible and marketable —should be able to supply its needs from its own resources. As matters stand, it cannot. A large part of this area has been depleted by wasteful methods of working, and. the most careful management

and organisation will be required before the waste of the past can be made good. . . .If the supply of soft woods is to be safeguarded the need for remedial action on the part of the Empire is urgent.

""Within a quarter of a century, unless both Empire and world timber supplies are largely, increased, a softwood famine, together with a corresponding rise in timber prices, cannot possibly be avoided. Something no doubt may be done to' meet the coming emergency by more extensive use of the Empire's wealth of tropical hardwoods (and perhaps also of other alternative materials) as a substitute for the more readily service able kind of timber.: But these could only be palliative measures of very limited extent. Lord Lovat and the other members of the Forestry Sub-Committee o£ the Imperial Conference have mucH larger ideas and schemes in \ view. Valuable opportunities ' for concerted action will be. supplied by the next two Empire Forestry Conferences, to be held in 1928 in Australia and New Zealand,- and five years later in South Africa, on the invitation of the, Governments of those Dominions. In the interval, and at the two conierences, a determined Imperial effort is being, and will be, made -to place the whole question of the national use and development of the Empire's forests on a more satisfactory .footing. ; •

AN EVtPEBIAI,. BUREAU.

"As one means towards the end the sub-committee, have decided to refer to the Forest Conference of 1928 the question o£ establishing an Imperial Forestry Bureau, to act as a clearinghouse for information. While recognising the usefulness of the Standing Committee on Empire Forestry, the Imperial Forestry Institute, and the Empire' Forestry Association, and also of the research and training work which is being carried on' by the Imperial Forestry Institute at Oxford, as well as in. Montreal, Vancouver, Pretoria, the "University Colleges of Auckland, "Wellington, and Canterbury, in Western. Australia and Victoria, and at Dehra Dun and other stations in India and Burma, they express the opinion that there is much need for further development and for co-operation, between the various organisations engaged ia research into forest products. . •

"They consider also that there is a, distinct possibility ]of developing schemes of settlement in connection with State forestry and afforestation— on 1 the lines alr.yjy adopted in thii country by the Forestry Commissioners —and they have communicated their views on this subject to the sub-com-mittee of the Imperial Conference on Overseas Settlement. The whole report, together, with'its appendices, conveys the idea- that this Empire campaign for a proper system of forestry, built up on the organisations already in existence, will be a solid and intelligent reality." '. .

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