REPORT OF GENERAL MEETING. 7 



mention the methods of enquiry the Committee followed. They 

 did not take evidence. There was on record an immense mass 

 of evidence on forestry development. They did not consult 

 bodies like this in advance, but they tried to form their 

 own opinion on the facts of the case. They then asked for 

 advice from this and kindred bodies, compared your views with 

 those they had formed, and I think in that way they got as 

 near good recommendations as any body of men is likely to get. 

 I may add that since the Committee like yourselves started 

 from a knowledge of the facts of the situation, and of the needs 

 of the day, it is perhaps not surprising that they arrived very 

 much at the same conclusions. 



" For the last three years every one engaged in the organisa- 

 tion for war has known how dearly this country is paying for the 

 neglect of a great national industry. The Prime Minister has 

 told us that timber absorbs more shipping than any other im- 

 port, and that we can only ensure imports of food by foregoing 

 imports of timber. He described the situation to the House 

 of Commons as 'one which undoubtedly calls for the gravest 

 uneasiness.' We have now reached the stage when the use 

 of imported timber, except in small quantities, is prohibited 

 unless it receives official sanction. Recently it has been found 

 necessary to withhold sanction even for the erection of huts for 

 the service of our soldiers and munition workers. There 

 is no seasoned home-grown timber to fall back on, and no time 

 to season any. The demand is too pressing. Everything is 

 used as it is cut. For the army we are mainly dependent on 

 the French forests. Had our Allies neglected forestry as we 

 have done, the war could not at this stage have been carried 

 on at all. I shall not waste time in dwelling on what might 

 have been, but it is only fair to this Society to point out that 

 if its advice had been taken, things would be very different 

 now. We should at least have been secure in the vital matter 

 of pit-wood, and we should have had sufficient men skilled 

 in the conversion of wood, to enable us to surrender the 

 younger men to the army without paralysing our efforts 

 to make the most of our native timber. One hesitates to 

 speak of money in these days when money does not seem to 

 count, but money is strength and we still have to face the bill. 

 We had the great good luck to be able to import timber for the 

 first two years of war, but the cost in increased price, freight and 



