DEPUTATION TO THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND. 7 1 



under the auspices of the Board of Agriculture in the future. 

 But there again one is deahng with a matter which will have to 

 be fully discussed in relation to the other proposal. Well, now, 

 the second thing, when you are considering ways and means of 

 achieving the object we all have at heart, is. What policy shall be 

 pursued in order to attain that end ? There, Sir John Stirling- 

 Maxwell has furnished me this morning with very valuable 

 suggestions, if I may say so, valuable not only in that they 

 come from him, but in themselves as well, and all I can say 

 with regard to that matter is that I shall consider the suggestions 

 very carefully, and see whether effect can in the future be given 

 to them. Then I have had a suggestion from Sir Kenneth 

 Mackenzie which I was glad to hear. He referred to the alliance 

 between forestry and agriculture. That is a view I have always 

 taken and publicly expressed, and it is receiving effect at the 

 present moment, as all of you know, in Borgie, in Sutherland- 

 shire, where a very useful experinient in that direction is being 

 conducted. There was another proposal for the future from Mr 

 Milne Home about taxation, which he supported in a speech 

 which would have done credit, if I may say so, to any experienced 

 lawyer, and which I, as a lawyer, found a little difficult to 

 follow. But there you are dealing with a subject which requires 

 legislation, and, so far as legislation of that type is concerned, 

 I am afraid that we shall have to wait for a little time before it 

 can be put through. 



" Apart from policy in the future, I was glad to hear of what 

 has been done in the present. I was glad to hear of the opera- 

 tions in Lanarkshire, and also to listen to what Mr Richardson 

 said about education. I am entirely with you in viewing this 

 as an urgent matter which cannot wait till after the war to be 

 dealt with. There are many important things to be done after 

 the war, but in some of its aspects I think the forestry problems 

 of to-day are so urgent that the sooner they are tackled the 

 better. I spent this day week in the train, having left London 

 on Thursday night for Wick — and as I travelled North I was 

 very much struck with the number of trains I met hurrying past, 

 long trains of trucks, and every truck containing wood, and the 

 other side of the picture was to be seen on the hillsides as one 

 passed along, bare and bleak hillsides, formerly covered with 

 trees. I think even that picture in itself was sufficient to convince 

 anybody of the urgency of the problem of afforestation to-day 



