BRITISH FORESTRY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 149, 25 June 1908, Page 2

BRITISH FORESTRY.

In January, 1903, a Departmental Committee (Mr -R. C. Munro Ferguson, chairman; Mr R. H. Hooker, of the-Board of Agriculture, secretary) issued, a valuable report on forestry in the United Ejingdom, They said .that"the area of waste, heather, and rough pasture or land out of cultivation in the United Kin&dom on. which afforestation couldbe profitably undertaken, -is 21,000,000 I acres, and that afforestation would furnish remunera'ive: labour to an' increased rural population, land 'under forests requiring .ntore labour, than the same area under sheep. The world is approaching/a dearth in its supply of coniferous timber, which constitutes between 80 and 90 per cent, of the total British timber imports, and which can be grown in the United Kingdom, and the question is therefore a matter of grave national concern. In his bookj "Forestry in the United Kingdom,?'. Dr W. Schlich, Ph.D., C.B. t F;R.S., estimates the home production ' of timber in the United Kingdom at 2,ooo,ooo'tons per annum, and-says the British import of timber is rather more than 10,000,000 tons per annum. Of the quantity imported about 90 per cent, is pine and fir and oak, which could be grown in Britain. Omitting furniture and hard, woods, the imports of timber in 1906 were valued at £25,580,239. Dr Schlich points out, further, that Europe has not been able, for a good, ,many years, to supply from within its own borders the timber it re- ; quires. The two great exporting countries outside Europe are the . United States and Canada.

But the CJnited States are working with a heavy deficit S* compared with production. They have, therefore, organised a Bureau of Forestry, and are, in steadily increasing quantities, drawing on Canada. Dr Schlich urges that 5,000,000 or. 6,000,000 acres of waste land in the United Kingdom should gradually afforested. This he estimates would require an expenditure on labour of about 122 per acre for planting. After the forests are established, every acre would require about five days' labour a year. This, with the transport and working up the timber, would find profitable employment for a large number of people. At a conference of representatives or municipalities with Lord Carrington and Mr John .Burns,, June ,25, 1907, Mr Burns said there are thirtyfour local authorities which own or lease' 90,000 , acres. Eight afforestation schemes are. being carried out by local authorities, but only 2000 acres are in woodland. Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Bradford, and Manchester are "developing forest land. Only 2J*,'per cent, .of British woodlands are in State possession, as compared with 12 per cent, in France arid Norway, 27 per cent, in Sweden, 33 per cent, in \ Germany, and 61 per cent, in Russia. v The Government in 1907 arranged for the purchase of the estate of Interliver, Argyllshire,^ which has an area of about 12,530 acres, with a view to its conversion into a State forest, under the management of the Office of Woods and Forests.