STATEMENT BY THE COUNCIL REGARDING AFFORESTATION. 89 



made a point of always having enough for the operations of the 

 succeeding ten years, this would probably be suflficient. 



The surveys, the selection of areas to start upon, the purchase 

 or leasing of the land, the formation of an efficient forestry staff, 

 would occupy some time at the outset. And the actual work of 

 afforestation would be better done if not too much were attempted 

 at first. Planting should be done on a moderate scale for the 

 first few years, advancing in pace as experience was gained, and 

 as the supply of trained men was increased. 



There would be an advantage in fixing at once upon a 

 definite extent of afforestation to be aimed at, and a definite 

 time within which the work should be completed. The extent 

 might be, as already suggested, 2 million acres, and the time 

 eighty years. Planting might then start at the rate of 5 to 

 10,000 acres annually for the first ten years; rising, as 

 circumstances permitted, to a rate which would ensure the work 

 being fully carried out within the prescribed period. 



8. Forestry Authority. 



If afforestation is to be carried out on a national scale, it will 

 require to be placed under the control of an Authority whose 

 sole business it will be to attend to it. The present position of 

 forestry under the Board of Agriculture has proved unsatisfactory 

 — at least in Scotland — -for various reasons, and a change is 

 urgently needed. 



We are strongly of opinion that the best policy would be to 

 create a separate Forestry Department for the whole of the 

 United Kingdom. This would ensure a uniform policy and 

 system of management for all parts of the kingdom, and a fair 

 allotment to each country of work to be done and grants to be 

 received. The actual work of afforestation would not be large 

 at first, and might seem insufficient for a State Department, but 

 it would require much forethought and preparation ; and when 

 once begun, it would grow rapidly in magnitude and importance. 



The work can only be properly planned and successfully 

 executed under the guidance of someone who is himself an 

 expert in forestry ; and you are seldom likely to be able to place 

 at the head of the Board of Agriculture a man who is at the 

 same time an acknowledged expert in farming and in forestry. 

 It would, therefore* seem more business-like to separate the two 



