KDITORIAL COMMENT 947 



the subject. A special committee was appointed in March, 1918, to 

 consider and report on tlie question of forestry and the immediate tim- 

 ber suppHes of the United Kingdom. On June 3, at a conference insti- 

 gated by this organization, a resolution to the following effect was 

 passed and forwarded to the Government : 



"That this conference is of opinion that it is in the national interest that the 

 liinpire should, as far as is possible, be rendered self-supporting in essential com- 

 modities, and that arrangements should be made without delay for the supply of 

 timber for building and other purposes, to be obtained from sources of supply 

 witliin the Empire. 



The committee was empowered and drew up a memorandum dealing 

 with the whole question of timber supplies of the United Kingdom, 

 'i'hcy submitted the following to the Government for consideration : 



T. The total area under woodland in the United Kingdom before the war was 

 estimated at 3,000,000 acres; the annual yield from which is 1)elieved to have 

 been 45,000,000 cubic feet. 



2. The average annual imports of timber similar in character to that produced 

 in the British Isles were equivalent to 550,000,000 cubic feet of standing timber. 

 The home production, therefore, was less than 8 per cent of the consumption of 

 these classes of timber. 



3. In order to render the United Kingdom independent of imported timber for 

 three years in an emergency, it is necessary, while making due allowance for an 

 improved yield from existing woodlands, to afYorest 1,770,000 acres. 



4. The United Kingdom derives 80 per cent of its imported timber from foreign 

 countries. The largest reserves within the Empire arc to be found in Canada. 

 Newfoundland, Australia, and India. 



Unless arrangements can be made with the Dominion governments for the 

 effectual conservation and utilization of these reserves, it is a matter of urgent 

 importance that provision sliould be made within the British Isles on a far larger 

 scale than has been proposed al)ove for the purpose of defense. Reference should 

 here be made to the report of the Royal Commission on Coast Erosion, of 1900. 

 whose recommendations contemplated, i)itcr alia, the afforestation of 0,000,000 

 additional acres in the British Isles. 



,'\ study of the question shows that we arc tlie largest importers of timber of 

 any nation, and therefore we are the most dependent on forests abroad and tlie 

 most interested in the conservation and utilization of the forests of the Empire. 



The liritish hjnpire rroducers' ( )rganizati(«n acKocalc that the fol- 

 lowing policy be adopted forthwith: 



In view of tlie extreme urgency and uncertainty as t<> the (|uestiun of our timber 

 supplies, such forest authority should be aiipointed immedi.itely to consider and 

 deal with the whole subject. 



The organization is satisfied that in order to encourage the investment of capital 

 necessary for the development of large supplies, certain guarantees, including 

 permaiuiit securitv of market, will be looked for. 



