THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION AT PARIS. 353 



being supplied in quantity, the supply being at present greater 

 than the demand. Among such wcods are ironwood, saj, toon, 

 thingan, eng, and others, and it is hoped that the trade in these 

 will improve. The exhibits which illustrated scientific manage- 

 ment, the maps, working plans, books, and photographs were 

 very greatly appreciated, and our foreign critics were full of 

 praise for the admirable work which India has done, as the most 

 extensive pioneer of forest conservancy in tropical countries. 

 Indeed, I believe that its only earlier competitor was Java, for I 

 think real forest conservancy in the Dutch Indies was probably 

 instituted earlier than it was even in British India. 



I now come to a matter which perhaps will more directly 

 interest you, and that is the question of what should be done 

 in the United Kingdom to bring forest conservancy to some- 

 thing like the level which it has reached in the great Continental 

 countries, as well as in India and in the Netherlands Indies. 

 The first and most obvious recommendation has often been made, 

 and probably more often before the Royal Arboricultural Society 

 of Scotland than anywhere, and that is the institution of State 

 reserved forests and a State Department. To a small extent, 

 such a Department already exists, as we know; but we cannot 

 shut our eyes to the fact that though much has been said, even 

 in Parliament, on the subject, and much has been written, little 

 or nothing has yet been done, or seems to have any chance 

 of being done ; for it must be remembered that in the New 

 Forest, the Forest of Dean, and elsewhere, the Government 

 estates, though doubtless managed as well and as scientifically as 

 present circumstances allow, are badly hampered by prescriptive 

 rights, and by the common but erroneous idea of the public that 

 a properly managed forest is one which has lost its beauty and 

 its charm. If the Government wished to possess forests, 

 such as the French and other Continental Governments possess, 

 it would have to purchase forest estates, free of rights, as they 

 become available, or plant up existing waste lands. And so I 

 feel emboldened to suggest attention to what struck me very 

 forcibly during my examination in Paris, as a member of the 

 Forest Jury of national exhibits, and that is the excellent work 

 done by forest societies. The members of this society, one of 

 the oldest forest societies of Europe, will, I hope, appreciate 

 what I say; but you are perhaps unaware that on the Con- 

 tinent there are societies, one or two of which have gone 



