REPORT OF GENERAL MEETINc;. 5 



be far too busy in the future to give sufficient attention to 

 forestry ; next, that the subject of forestry had grown so large 

 that it would provide work enough for a Department of its own ; 

 thirdly, that being a new departure it was important to start 

 it upon sound lines, and that this could only be done under 

 the direction of experts ; and finally, that it was essential to put 

 forestry in a position in which it would be unaffected by 

 political changes. I hope that the reasons which convinced the 

 Council will convince you also, and that we shall receive your 

 full support in the request we have made for an independent 

 Department of Forestry. I will ask Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart to 

 move a resolution with regard to this." 



Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart moved approval of the proposal that 

 the management of forestry in the three kingdoms should be 

 under an ad hoc Forestry Board, not under the Board of Agricul- 

 ture. He said : — "I am speaking in the presence of many of 

 those who know something about forestry, and a number of 

 those who know a great deal about it, and I am sure that they 

 will agree that I am not exaggerating when I say that there are 

 only two ways in which any one can know anything about 

 forestry. One is a close and intensive study in youth, or half a 

 lifetime in practical first-hand knowledge of the work of forestry, 

 or preferably a combination of those two. That is the only 

 kind of practical knowledge we would expect in the work before 

 this country if it is going to seriously take up afforestation in 

 Scotland, England, and Ireland. There is no Board of Agricul- 

 ture that we have seen which has had at its head any one 

 who professes any close acquaintance with forestry, and — 

 apart from all the reasons which you brought forward about 

 the enormous addition to the work of the Board of Agriculture 

 in Scotland, England, and Ireland — it is simply common-sense 

 that forestry operations should be under the guidance of a Board 

 composed of men who have practical acquaintance with arbori- 

 culture, either from close intensive study in youth or from half a 

 lifetime of practical acquaintance with it." 



Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart then read from page 90 of the last 

 part of the Transactions (vol. xxxi.) the Council's recommenda- 

 tions with regard to the duties of a Central Authority (Nos. i, 

 2, 3i 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). " I am sure," he continued, " we have 

 only got to read over that list of some of the duties which will 

 fall to the Authority which is set up to deal with forestry, to 



