were about to appoint a Committee to consider the whole 

 subject and to report to the Reconstruction Committee, which 

 the Government had recently appointed. Lord Lovat, Sir John 

 Stirling-Maxwell, and Mr Sutherland are members of this 

 Committee, and it is understood that their report may be 

 expected soon. The report of the Conference with the Scottish 

 Members of Parliament is printed on page 20 of Vol. XXXI. 

 of the Transactions. 



Representatives of the Council had also a conference with 

 representatives of the Development Commissioners on the 

 subject of the afforestation of privately-owned lands, and a 

 correspondence subsequently took place between the Secretary 

 and Sir Sainthill Eardley Wilmot, Forestry Adviser to the 

 Commission, part of which was printed on page 1 08 of Vol. XXX. 

 of the Transactions and continued on page 38 of Vol. XXXI. 

 A statement of the financial position of the Development Fund 

 as regards forestry is printed on page 44 of Vol. XXXI. 



The Secretary had some correspondence with the Y.M.C.A., 

 the Church Army, and the Salvation Army with the object of 

 getting their help in ascertaining the views of soldiers regarding 

 rural employments on their return from the war. The two 

 latter bodies said that they were quite unable to undertake such 

 an enquiry, but the Y.M.C.A. secretary willingly offered to 

 help, provided a concrete scheme were placed before him which 

 he could recommend to the soldiers. It is impossible, however, 

 to deal further with the matter until the Government's proposals 

 are known. 



Conference re Pit-wood. 



Representatives of the Society also attended a Conference, on 

 29th March, with the Coal-Mining Organisation Committee on 

 the subject of the supplies and price of pit-wood. Representatives 

 were present from the Coal Owners, the Timber Merchants, and 

 Growers of Timber. The Council's representatives believed that 

 an arrangement would be come to by the various bodies 

 concerned without the need of Government intervention, and 

 this proved to be the case. As the Conference was considered 

 to be private, the Government did not authorise any report 

 to be issued. 



Returns of Standing Timber. 



As the result of the Conference mentioned above, the Council 

 decided to ask the Board of Agriculture to obtain ofificial returns 

 of all the growing woods in the country, and the requirements 

 of the Coal Owners, Railway Companies, and the Government 

 during the next two years. The matter was brought to the 

 notice of the Board of Agriculture, but in reply it was explained 

 that the great difficulty in carrying out the survey of the standing 

 timber of the country was the want of men to undertake this 

 work owing to the pressure of other duties. 



