PERIODICAL LITERATURE oTl 



management of private forests and afforestation possible without se- 

 rious financial loss to the owner. A specific forestry fund of three 

 million four hundred twenty-five thousand pounds was recommended 

 to finance the undertaking for the first ten years. 



Although the report of the sub-committee called for radical changes 

 and large appropriations it was accepted by the War Cabinet in No- 

 vember, 1918, and awaiting legislation the interim forest authority was 

 set up to prepare the way for the permanent authority. 



The forestry act which came into force September last followed 

 very closely the recommendations of the forestry sub-committee. A 

 commission of eight members was created by proper authority and 

 equipped with wide powers for "promoting afforestation and the pro- 

 duction and supply of timber and for purposes in connection therewith." 

 It is interesting to note that the powers of the commission give it 

 authority to purchase or lease any land suitable for afforestation, sell 

 or let superfluous land, purchase and sell standing timber, make ad- 

 vances by way of loan and grant for afforestation, manage or supervise 

 woods, establish and aid woodland industries, collect forest statistics, 

 promote forestry education, experiment and research, and make in- 

 quiries for securing an adequate supply of timber in the United King- 

 dom and in the Dominions. It would appear from this that the activi- 

 ties of this committee are only limited by the funds appropriated. 



The expenses of the commission are to be defrayed from a forestry 

 fund into which will be paid three and one-half million pounds during 

 the first ten years after April 1, 1919. 



To an outsider it seems reasonably certain that the recent radical 

 change in English forest policy will result in a land classification and 

 the setting aside of extensive areas (absolute forest land) on which 

 timber products will take precedence of other forms of soil utilization. 

 There is also reason to believe there will be instituted a system of 

 forest finance which will relieve the necessity for hand-to-mouth 

 measures in forest management. 



There are many things worth studying and analyzing in the recent 

 re-shaping of the English forest policy. Are we not more certain to 

 reach our goal of forest renewal through the recognition of the invio- 

 lability of private forest property, the recognition of the necessity for 

 cooperation and financial assistance on the part of the public and the 

 acceptance of mandatory laws only as the last resort ? 



J. W. T. 



R. L. Robinson. Forest Policx. Quarterly Journal of Forestry, Volume XIV. 

 April. 1920, pp. 82-95. 



