1886.] PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 605 



REPORT OF THE SELECT PARLIAMENTARY 

 COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 



rilHE proceedings of the Select Committee appointed in last 

 JL session of Parliament to inquire into the state of forestry in 

 this country, and the desirability of establishing a Forestry School in 

 Great Britain, has been embodied in a rather lengthy report. It 

 contains little bearing on the subject that was not already known to 

 those who have given it their study and attention. It may be 

 regarded as an epitome of facts and opinions which have been given 

 within the past few years in forestry reports and other writings 

 bearing on the condition of forestry at home, in India, and in our 

 colonies. Among the witnesses examined before the Committee are 

 some whose names are identified most closely with forest conserv- 

 ancy, sylviculture, and forestal literature. All are most earnest 

 advocates of an improved system of education for foresters both at 

 home and for our possessions abroad, and have contributed largely 

 to the furtherance of that object. Mr. W. G. Pedder, Dr. Cleghorn, 

 Colonel ]\Iichael, Colonel Pearson, and Professor Thiselton Dyer all 

 ijave valuable information in their examination before the Com- 

 mittee, and presented as it is in the handy form of the report, it 

 will be of great value to the general public and all whose access to 

 general literature on forestry matters is limited. 



The subject of forestry and forest products embraces a much 

 wider field than the mere production of timber, tliough that is the 

 leading idea which presents itself to the minds of those whose 

 interests do not lead them to study it closely in all its bearings. 

 The important influence of forests on climate, shelter, and water 

 supply, their value as a source of labour or employment for the 

 poor, and the immense amount of commercial resource they yield in 

 the shape of resins, gums, oils, fuel, etc., all constitute these posses- 

 sions of the highest national importance, and entitle them to the 

 careful consideration of the Government, with a view to their 

 conservation and improvement where they already exist, and their 

 increase wherever it may be desirable and practicable. 



It is only within the last thirty or forty years that attention has 

 been given by the Government to the conservation and utilization of 

 the immense forest areas that we possess in India and other of our 

 dependencies, and altliough the progress lias been slow and halting, 

 yet it has been, on the whole, progressive. One great obstacle has 

 been the difficulty of obtaining properly qualified men, either natives 

 or Englishmen, to superintend and manage the great interests at 

 stake efficiently. Our system of forestry education at home was too 



