DEPUTATION TO THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND. 5 1 



awaiting them in this country, and every one of them has to 

 go abroad to find employment. 



" It is facts like these, Sir, which have made us anxious to 

 see forestry placed under some new authority, where it will be 

 treated not in a haphazard and disconnected way, but where it 

 will be considered as a whole and developed in a wisely-ordered 

 manner. 



"I think, perhaps, it would be unfair to give you the 

 impression that nothing absolutely has been done, although 

 what has been done is very little; but, such as it is, you might 

 like to hear something about it, and two of my colleagues 

 here to-day who have taken a personal part in the work 

 will tell you about it, and give you any information on the 

 subject you may desire. I must not detain you by entering 

 into any general question of afforestation. We have endeavoured 

 to save your time and your patience by sending you a printed 

 statement, which contains our views upon the subject. That 

 statement was prepared at the request of the Forestry Recon- 

 struction Committee, to which I have alluded, and was sent to 

 them to assist them in arriving at their conclusions. We shall 

 be glad if you will take an opportunity of reading the statement, 

 and, when you have done so, I think you will see that the views 

 contained in it are reasonable and practicable. 



" I will refer to only one point on which we have laid 

 considerable stress in that statement, and that is the question 

 of a separate Department of Forestry. I have shown you how 

 forestry has been a good deal neglected in the past, and how 

 no progress has been made owing to lack of funds. But, 

 besides that, there were several other reasons which influenced 

 us in asking for a change. The first was that the Board of 

 Agriculture will, in the future, be far too busy — be far too much 

 occupied with problems of its own to be able to pay sufficient 

 attention to the subject of forestry. The second reason was 

 that forestry had become a very large question, and that it 

 will afford ample work for a Department of its own. And 

 still another reason was that forestry is a highly technical 

 business, and that, if national afforestation is to be a success, 

 it should be placed from the first under the control of men who 

 have made a special study of the subject. 



** I hope that these reasons may commend themselves to you, 

 and that you will be able to support the proposals made. But, 



