REPORT OF GENERAL MEETING. 37 



a great mistake. The American ash is different from our ash. 

 Most of the tools we import from America are shafted with 

 American ash, and it has not half the strength of the British 

 ash. There is another kind of timber that was mentioned 

 to-day — that is, the Japanese larch. Mr Carlow said that 

 the larch was used for certain purposes in the mines, and that 

 they could get nothing which served the purpose better. I 

 believe that for ordinary pit-timber there is no better tree to 

 grow in this country than the Japanese larch. You can produce 

 pit-timber in ten to twelve years quite well by means of the 

 Japanese larch on certain kinds of soil, and it has this advantage 

 that it will grow where other larch will not. Japanese larch so 

 far is practically immune from disease, and I do not think there 

 is any timber which would be better ibr pit purposes, because it 

 answers all the pit-owners' requirements — straightness, cleanness, 

 and strength. Of course, it is stronger than Scots pine. I 

 was very much interested in Sir John Stirling-Maxwell's 

 address, and in what he said about education. I was surprised 

 to hear that there were as many as six teaching centres in this 

 country as against one in France. If one teaching centre is 

 sufificient for France, I do not see what we are doing with 

 six here. I was also interested in what was said about the 

 Forest of Dean School. We were in advance of England in 

 the teaching of practical foresters. The teaching of practical 

 foresters was started in Scotland before the Forest of Dean 

 School was thought of, and it was modelled on the Scottish 

 one. That was in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. In the year 

 1888 or 1889, Professor Somerville gave a course of lectures 

 to practical foresters, and after that a fully-equipped course 

 was started there. I think that one very important thing in 

 connection with forestry is the technical instruction of the 

 working forester." 



Sir John Stirling-Maxwell said : — " I cordially support Mr 

 Eraser's proposal. It seems to me that it is only right that we 

 should point out to the Secretary for Scotland, the very inferior 

 position in which Scotland has been placed in regard to forestry 

 during the past eight or nine years. From having been far 

 ahead then we dropped behind, simply through the unfortunate 

 arrangements which, perhaps, with the best intentions have been 

 made for the change of forestry in this country. I think it 

 would be very well if the actual state of affairs could be 



