DISCUSSION ON REPORT OF FORESTRY SUB-COMMITTEE. IIQ 



security. That is undoubtedly the strongest ground upon which 

 to base it. It has perhaps been too much the practice 

 in the past to dwell upon the profits which might be made, 

 upon the pecuniary gains to the country from its State forests. 

 That was a very natural argument to use when you were out 

 to persuade an apathetic Government and a reluctant Treasury, 

 but it never was the best argument, and it never was the 

 argument upon which our Society laid much stress. No 

 doubt, we all of us believed that under proper management 

 the State forests could be made to pay their way, and more 

 than pay their way, in this country as they have done on the 

 Continent, and no doubt we have said so, but the argument 

 upon which we have chiefly relied was the growing difficulty 

 and expense of obtaining foreign supplies of wood, the certainty 

 of an impending timber famine in the near future, and the 

 importance therefore of providing in time against any such 

 contingency. That is still as strong an argument as ever, and 

 it is one which ought always to be kept in view, but the war 

 has provided us with a still stronger argument. Large as is 

 the demand for wood in time of peace it is still larger in time 

 of war, while the facilities for importing it are very much 

 reduced. In these circumstances the want of an adequate 

 reserve of timber supplies in the country is a very great weakness 

 to the country, and it ought to be one of the first objects of our 

 Government to endeavour to build up a reserve of this kind. 



" We know now that the first thing that happens when war 

 breaks out is that the Government commandeer half the shipping 

 in the country for military purposes, leaving only the remaining 

 half for all other requirements. One of these requirements is 

 wood. But wood is a very bulky article, and if it has to be 

 imported it consumes a very large amount of tonnage. If, as 

 the Committee suggests, we can grow in this country a sufficient 

 amount of timber to enable us to hold our own for three years 

 without importing any more wood, it would set free all this 

 great amount of tonnage for other urgent purposes. Food 

 and wood are two necessaries of life. The country that is 

 self-supporting in both these commodities is in a very strong 

 position in time of war. We can never hope to be entirely 

 self-supporting in this country. Do what we will we can never 

 grow a sufficient amount of food to render us entirely independent 

 of foreign supplies, but we can grow enough wood to enable 



