THE OUTLOOK OF THE WORLD'S TIMBER SUPPLY. 355 



XXVI. The Outlook of the World's Timber Supply} 

 By Dr W. Schlich, CLE., F.R.S. 



The subject with which I propose to deal to-night is not new. 

 It has been discussed repeatedly at the meetings of this Society 

 and outside. The interest which the Society of Arts has taken 

 in forestry for more than a century is well known. Numerous 

 papers on the subject have been read and discussed in this hall. 

 Only a year ago my friend, Mr Hutchins, read a powerfully con- 

 ceived paper on " National Forestry." In 1894 General Michael 

 read an interesting paper on forestry. I had the honour of 

 addressing the members of the Society in 1890 on "The Utility 

 of Forests and the Study of Forestry." In 1884 Mr P. L. 

 Simmonds read a paper entitled, "On the Past, Present, and 

 Future Sources of the Timber Supply of Great Britain." As 

 regards the special aspect of the question with which I am about 

 to deal, Mr Simmonds's paper is, no doubt, the most important 

 of those enumerated, because he reviews the imports and demon- 

 strates the uncertainty of future supplies. Mr Simmonds's paper 

 is full of interesting statistics. Since then, however, great changes 

 have taken place, owing to the increase of population and the 

 development of industries all around us. 



As for myself, I took up the subject soon after my return from 

 India in 1885, and in December of that year I discussed, in a 

 pamphlet written at the invitation of the late Earl of Carnarvon, 

 then Viceroy of Ireland, the needs of the country in this respect. 

 In the first volume of my " Manual of Forestry," I brought the 

 data up to the year 1889, and I enlarged the information in the 

 second edition of that volume in 1896. Again, in March 1897, 

 I lectured at the Imperial Institute on " The Timber Supply of 

 the British Empire." The substance of that lecture was translated 

 into French and published in the Revue des Eaux et Forets and 

 in the Belgian Forestry Journal. 



So far the results of my efforts had been very small, and I 

 determined to make a last effort of rousing the public to the 

 importance and urgency of the cause. Hence I offered, about 

 sixteen months ago, to prepare the paper now to be read, but 



1 Being a Teprint of a paper read before the Society of Arts, London, on 

 27th February 1901. 



VOL XVI. PART III. 2 B 



