ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, AUGUST 7, 1893. 3 
Many of you may remember that in his introductory address to 
the Forestry Class in the University, Colonel Bailey referred to the 
startling fact that, in specifications issued by the Board of 
Agriculture with reference to works to be executed under the 
Land Improvement Act, the use of home-grown timber was 
not allowed, without special permission. Colonel Bailey most 
properly criticised and condemned this restriction as a slur on the 
proprietors of forests of this country. The wording of the specifica- 
tion, as given by Colonel Bailey in course of a correspondence in 
the Scotsman, provoked by his exposure of the fact, is :—‘‘In all 
cases where fir timber is used, that obtained from Memel or 
Riga, and battens from Dram, St Petersburg, or other Norway 
or Baltic ports, is to be preferred, but if not procurable, the best 
quality of American red pine only may be substituted; or, if 
specially allowed by the Board, larch or ‘home-grown’ fir may be 
used, if thoroughly sound and well seasoned, in which case the 
age, size, and growth of the trees must always be specified.” The 
matter came before your Council at its meeting in November last, 
when the following letter from Mr Munro Ferguson was read, and 
the correspondence quoted ensued :— 
RairH, Kirkcarpy, N.B., 
15th November 1892. 
Dear Sir,—The Lecturer on Forestry at the University of 
Edinburgh has commented, none too severely, upon the practice 
of the Board of Agriculture in framing its conditions of contract 
so as to prohibit the use of home timber. But this Board is not 
the only sinner. Two or three weeks previously, a wood-merchant 
handed me a post-office form of tender for telegraph poles, which 
entirely cut out any native products from the competition. I 
wrote to the authorities, who showed the utmost readiness to look 
more closely into the matter. 
This exclusion of home timber from contracts is the common 
practice of architects and others, and has been gradually established 
owing to the importation of prepared timber in bulk, and because 
the use of it may save a certain amount of trouble. 
We home growers may be remiss as to the manner we sometimes 
place our wood upon the market, but I know of nothing to justify our 
exclusion from free competition, and of nothing to make us afraid 
of it. I much regret being unable to attend to-morrow to ascertain 
whether it be the view of other members that the matter should be 
taken up by the Society.— Believe me, yours truly, 
R. Munro FEreuson. 
W. J. Morrat, Esq. 
