184 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



by the Society two years ago, although growing a considerable 

 quantity of oak, also leaves something to be desired. It is 

 stated in the Board of Trade returns that we import annually 

 from abroad 20 millions sterling worth of timber, and it is 

 also affirmed by many authorities that this quantity could quite 

 well be produced at home under good Forest management. "We 

 are also told that the foreign supplies of timber are of necessity 

 being much reduced. This being so, it is surely time that the 

 Imperial Parliament were beginning to acquire and plant up the 

 waste lands of the country for the benefit of the people. There 

 can be no doubt but that the rearing of timber will pay, that 

 is to say, if the work is conducted on commercial principles. 

 No private individual could make a better return from wood- 

 lands than the Country's Executive, as they can borrow money 

 at a much cheaper rate of interest, and can wait much longer for 

 large and deferred profits. 



In pleading for State aid in the matter of Forestry, I could use 

 many more arguments in favour of a Government Board to 

 manage and control woodlands ; but suffice it to say that these 

 and similar reasons have been urged before, and although the 

 arguments I have used are not new, they have the higher merit 

 of being true, and we must still keep pegging away until the 

 Society has reached the goal of its ambition, the placing of 

 Forestry education on a national basis. 



As I said before, I believe that there is a growing concensus 

 of opinion among the advocates of National Forestry, that the 

 State will ere long take the matter in hand, so that this country 

 may not be behind other countries, and in this way add much 

 to the material prosperity of the empire. 



