14 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



alone would bear the rates. We are not, however, prepared to 

 make any recommendation on the subject ; though attention may 

 be directed to the incidence of taxation in certain foreign 

 countries. 



29. "We have had considerable evidence that claims are made 

 upon timber merchants and others by local authorities on 

 account of "extraordinary traffic," it being alleged that the heavy 

 weight of timber damages the roadway; and it has been repre- 

 sented to us that such claims hamper the industry. We are of 

 opinion that these claims are unreasonable, more especially in 

 view of the fact that woodlands, by paying rates during the many 

 years when they are yielding nothing, and when no timber is 

 therefore moved along the roads, have contributed to the main- 

 tenance of these roads, from which they derive no benefit until 

 the crop is brought to market. 



Estate Duties. 



30. Three systems of levying the Estate Duty on woodlands 

 have already been tried since the introduction of the Finance Act, 

 1894; and that now in force is peculiarly unfair to the poorer 

 districts. The ordinary rate of duty on agricultural estates rests 

 on a maximum basis of twenty-five times the annual value of the 

 land, the consequence being that in richer districts, where land is 

 valued up to this amount, the timber itself bears no duty. In the 

 poorer districts of Britain, however, and in Ireland, where, under 

 the Finance Act, estates are valued down to sixteen years' purchase, 

 the Death Duty can, where there is a crop of timber to be valued, 

 be levied upon the latter until the maximum is reached ; the 

 maximum of twenty-five years' purchase thereby becoming, in 

 those cases where an estate is sufficiently wooded, the minimum 

 basis. It is therefore conceivable that duty calculated on nine 

 years' purchase of an estate could be levied on its timber, which, 

 were the estate more agriculturally prosperous, would be totally 

 exempt. An estate in the comparatively rich lands of Devonshire, 

 for example, might escape a Death Duty upon timber which one in 

 Ai'gyllshire might have to bear to the extent of a fourth of the 

 whole duty raised. Moreover, the pressure of such a Death Duty 

 on timber must both act as a bar to afforestation in districts most 

 needing it, and compel the realisation of immature timber, thus 

 preventing the practice of sound forestry. We feel that this irregu- 

 larity in the incidence of the duties needs immediate revision. 



