NOTES 627 



Conservation Commission. The tax on the timber is to be paid by the 

 State; but when the timber is being cut to be refunded by the owner, 

 with 4 per cent simple interest added. 



There are provisions for revocation of classification by the Conserva- 

 tion Commission and by the owner. In that event the accrued taxes 

 must be paid with interest thereon at 4 per cent. 



These bills were vetoed by Governor Whitman on May 15. 



A further move to bring the State of New York to a somewhat saner 

 forest policy has been made by the adoption in the legislature of a con- 

 current resolution to amend article MI of the Constitution, to the effect 

 that the construction of municipal and State water reservoirs on State 

 forest lands may be permitted, by legislative act, under defined condi- 

 tions, and that dead and fallen timber on these lands, for fuel or other 

 domestic purposes and for construction of roads and trails, may be au- 

 thorized by the legislature. To make this effective the legislature of 

 1919 must pass it again, and if then accepted by the electorate it may 

 come into practice by January i, 1920. 



Meanwhile the lands are to be "forever kept as wild forest lands," 

 which does not prevent their being planted up. 



In connection with this movement an article by G. X. Ostrander, 

 President of the Empire State Forest Products Association, in State 

 Service, II, 3, pp. 29-32, is of interest. It is accompanied by financial 

 yield tables of white pine and Norway spruce, intended to show that 

 forestry does not pay ; that it is a communal concern. This, to be sure, 

 is based upon an untenable 6-per-cent compound calculation and with- 

 out adequate allowance for rise of prices. We are, however, agreed on 

 the general proposition on account of the long-time element, and for 

 this reason that forest management is not attractive to private enter- 

 prise. There seems to have been no result from the legislation in 1912, 

 which allows exemption from taxation for lands classified as permanent 

 timber lands. The writer advocates entire exemption from taxes dur- 

 ing the life of the stand, with a yield tax at the end, such as the States 

 of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont have now 

 on their statutes. The writer also advocates assistance in reforestation 

 by the States. 



The importance of providing fodder in times of scarcit\ has led the 

 Forestry Department of New South Wales to reopen their offer of two 

 years ago, through the Secretary of the New South Wales Forestry 

 Commission. vSydney, to supply seedlings of suitable species to all 



