SHOT, SHELL AND SOLDIERS DEVASTATE FORESTS 



339 



order to supplement our imports. Lord Selborne's well- 

 timed action in appointing the Home Timber Committee 

 was v^ise. There are two points in connection wiih these 

 home timber fellings, however, which might, without 

 undue hardship, be insisted upon, (a) all woods pur- 

 chased and felled by government at the present high 

 rates should be at once replanted by the owner as a condi- 

 tion of contract ; (b) the Home Timber Committee should 

 keep a careful record of the amounts of material cut from 

 the areas they purchase, its nature, locality in which 

 grown, etc., for this will prove a valuable record in 

 future planting operations. 



"My proposition is that the Allies should place them- 

 selves in a position to control the European timber mar- 

 ket at the end of the war — to exercise, in fact, a state 

 control o\er prices for a time, as the only eiTective means 

 to cope with the enormous demand which will exist, and 

 to prevent the formation of timl)er "rings,"' either by 

 the Central Powers or others. It is no plea that such a 

 thing has never been done before. The end of the war 

 will find us, the war itself is finding us, doing a good deal 

 we never thought to have to do. 



"First, then, we want to place our finger on accessible- 

 supplies in large quantities and owned by the Allies ; and, 

 secondly, to come to an agreement by wdiich these sup- 

 plies can be made available at the earliest possible mo- 

 ment with the object of bringing down the present pre- 

 posterous rates. 



"If we examine the forestry resources of the Allies, 

 the one great fact wdiich immediately becomes apparent 

 is the gigantic area of the forests in Russia, the Land of 

 Forests, as it has been termed. 



"My suggestion is that Russia should be asked by the 

 Allies — by the British Government, if necessary, since 

 we are very deeply concerned in this matter, as, unlike 

 our other Allies, we have no forest resources of our own 

 at our backs — to institute fellings on a large scale in 

 those of her forests which are adjacent to the most suit- 

 able ports. Every saw-mill in these regions should be 

 set to work converting timber at high pressure and stack- 

 ing it in suitable depots for transport to the areas re- 

 quired at the earliest possible moment. 



"If afforestation is taken up in this country on the 

 scale now so urgently needed, we shall have to wait about 

 thirty-five to forty-five years to obtain pit props from 

 the woods, and longer for large timber. 



"I would suggest that to tide over this long period we 

 should lease for a period of years a large area, or sev- 

 eral areas, of the Russian forests and work them our- 

 selves, in order to ensure that this country obtains a pro- 

 portion of what she requires in timber, etc., independent 

 of extraneous imports and at a reasonable price. 



"There are .T, 000,000 acres of so-called afforested 

 land — of woodlands, in Great Britain, and we have, sav, 

 0,000,000 acres of afforestable land : put it at 7,000,000, 

 or even 5,000,000. It will do to go on with. It has 

 been stated bv many who know what they are talking 

 about, that this land, or much of it, will bring in more 



under trees than under any other form of cultivation; 

 or, to put it in another way, that this land will prove 

 a greater national asset under woods than managed in any 

 other way. Why not, then, set to work and get it planted 

 up? If for no other reason than the one of national 

 economy, the matter must be regarded as one of urgency. 



^'-^>^-^ 

 ^"^■^^c. 



"^^m 



n,..to by Un.ic 



■ li & U>tJci'WOuJ. 



WHAT TWO SHELLS DID 



This tree, just above the j)ost of an officer in command of a line of 

 trenches on tlie French fighting line, was struck by two shells. The 

 first bit a large piece out of it and the second shattered and over- 

 tlirew it. 



We can no longer afford to leave any source of national 

 wealth unexploited. We must all agree that it has be- 

 come a duty — a national duty — to see that every acre of 

 land in this country is made to bring in the best return 

 possible in the interests of the community as a whole. 

 Well, there exists a considerable acreage of land which 

 experts are agreed is not bringing in anything like an 

 adequate return. This land can be made to grow produce 

 which is in great demand in the country, and which in 

 the absence of homegrown supplies, necessitates large 

 imports that have to be paid for, and are going to be 

 more expensive in the future. The aspect of the forestry 

 problem has entirely changed from its pre-war position. 

 The prices of timber are not likely to fall to their former 

 level. So long as prices were low there was a good deal 

 to be said for those who were against afforestation in 



