DISCUSSION ON REPORT OF FORESTRY SUB-COMMITTEE. I4I 



if officials were moved about from forestry to agriculture, and 

 vice versa, in the course of promotion and at the will of the 

 Minister. 



"The Central Administration of forestry is constituted as 

 follows: — There is one Director and three Administrators, each 

 at the head of a subordinate department. AH four of these 

 high officials are nominated, not by the Minister but by the 

 President of the Republic. This is a point of vital importance 

 and one upon which the welfare of the service depends ; there 

 can be no security in a service in which the highest appoint- 

 ments are made in any other way than by the selection of the 

 best available men by an authority possessing the complete con- 

 fidence of the service. The Director and the three Administrators 

 form the Forest Council, of which one of the administrators acts 

 as secretary. In certain details connected with the creation 

 and suppression of appointments and the nomination of 

 candidates to the school for forest officers, the Director makes 

 recommendations to the Minister of Agriculture. In certain 

 minor matters, he acts on his own responsibility. All the chief 

 business of the department is discussed by the Forest Council 

 and afterwards submitted to the Minister. It is expressly laid 

 down that the Director is bound to take the advice of his Council 

 in all financial business and in controversial matters, so that 

 in all important affairs the recommendation which he lays 

 before the Minister is not his own but the deliberate opinion 

 of the Council. This provision is another valuable safeguard 

 for the interests of silviculture. A Minister who is a layman 

 would incur grave responsibility in setting aside a decision of 

 the Forest Council of experts in silvicultural matters. It is 

 not possible to go into the details of the composition and duties 

 of the subordinate departments of the Central Administration, 

 but it is essential to remember that all the higher posts in the 

 Central Administration are filled by officers of the active 

 Forest service. As a consequence there is always close touch 

 between the administrative and executive portions of the service. 



"The extent of the forest area of France is 20,750,000 acres. 

 Of this II per cent., or 2,282,500 acres, are State forests, 

 23 per cent., or 4,772,500 acres, are communal forests. The 

 remaining 66 per cent., or 13,695,000 acres, are privately-owned 

 forests. Supervision over privately-owned forests is confined 

 to the enforcement of the law against clearance and of certain 



