DEPUTATION TO PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 4S1 



and one or two other very eminent officials, among whom was 

 Sir George Nares of the Board of Trade. The result of that com- 

 mittee's inquiry was an immense amount of practical work, includ- 

 ing an extension of telephonic communication and life-saying 

 apparatus at the lighthouses and along the whole coast. I think 

 that the mixture of an official and unofficial element is very apt to 

 produce some workable scheme which could be submitted to heads 

 of departments, and offers a course of possible promise for some 

 progress being made. In this committee the suggestions which 

 have been made could be thoroughly threshed out, and if that 

 were done and a report submitted to you, if it met with your 

 approval, I am sure that with that energy which we were accus- 

 tomed to see in you in dealing with the Treasury, something 

 definite might be done, and a very great need would be met. 



Colonel Bailey, who next spoke, said : Mr Munro Ferguson 

 has mentioned a pamphlet which he is good enough to say I drew 

 up. I may say that a great deal of pains was taken to make this 

 pamphlet a clear and concise statement of our case. It was pre- 

 sented to the Council of the Society, and by them, at a meeting- 

 held to consider it, was accepted as embodying their views. So 

 far as I am aware, little or nothing has occurred since the accept- 

 ance of this memorandum by the Society to alter the position ; 

 therefore, in presenting it to you, I would urge that you should, 

 if possible, run over the pamphlet, because there you will find 

 the whole of our case stated. I may say that the pamphlet is on 

 these lines. We begin by quoting the opinions of certain ex- 

 perts, French and German, on the system that they found in 

 vogue amongst us. We go into the cause of these conditions, 

 we show how reform in our methods is necessary, we deal with 

 the forest school, if it may be so called, in Edinburgh, we explain 

 where a model forest ought to be located, we show that a working 

 plan to control the management should be provided, we state 

 the financial results expected, and so forth. What 1 should like 

 to emphasise at present is the very great difficulty that is found 

 in trying to teach forestry without a proper field of practical 

 instruction. I am well acquainted with the system of forestry 

 instruction pursued in several Continental countries, in America, 

 and elsewhere. I may say that in every one of these countries I 

 have named, as well as in many others, they have great organisa- 

 tions for the teaching of forestry by professors. Mr Munro 

 Ferguson has mentioned one or two instances, and I could add 



