DEPUTATION TO THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND. 57 



is that its high districts, corresponding to our Highlands, instead 

 of being bare acres of heather, are woods, while the valleys are 

 occupied by the population working those woods, where they 

 have their holdings and gardens. That seems to me an im- 

 portant thing, and I find it in Mr Seebohm Rowntree's extra- 

 ordinarily interesting book, Land and Labour in Belgium. I 

 wonder if you know it?" 



The Secretary for Scotland.—" I do not know it." 

 Sir John Stirling-Maxwell.— " May I send you a copy?" 

 The Secretary for Scotland.—" I should be very grateful. I 

 know his work." 



Sir John Stirling-Maxwell.— " This book is most delightful, 

 and there is a very good chapter on forestry. He estimates 

 there that the wages paid in forestry in Belgium are no less than 

 ^400,000 a year, and they are therefore a very important part 

 of the economy of the country. I have added those remarks 

 in order to try, if I might presume to say so, to put you on the 

 track of seeing what the real economic value of woods can be, 

 judging the question as we all wish to do from a national stand- 

 point, and not from that of the personal interest of any section 

 of the inhabitants." 



Mr Geo. Fraser said: — "As Chairman of the Middle Ward 

 District Committee of Lanarkshire, I have been asked to deal 

 with the progress and the effect of the Committee's work at 

 Camps Afforestation and the Forest Nursery at Hairmyres. The 

 extent and details of these schemes are already known to you 

 officially. The Committee believe that by their efforts forestry 

 has been popularised ; and its great value as a factor in educa- 

 tion, in the restoration of health, and in rural labour has been 

 conclusively proved. I shall deal with these points in the 

 order given. 



'^Awakening Interest in Forestry. — Watching children working 

 in the forest nursery at Hairmyres suggested to members of this 

 Society that every child should be taught to know what forestry 

 is and what it means to our country. The result was the booklet 

 entitled Forestry Jar Young People, so admirably written by our 

 President, Sir Andrew Agnew. That in turn has resulted in 

 seven ladies coming to work in Hairmyres nursery — three of 

 whom intend to make forestry their profession, while other two 

 are teachers, who came with the intention of equipping them- 

 selves for giving instruction in elementary forestry. 



