THE CENTRAL FOREST AUTHORITY. 1 55 



Secretary for Scotland. Time does not allow me to indicate 

 how this Administration of Forestry in Scotland could be linked 

 up with the Central Forest Authority, but I don't believe that 

 there is any insuperable difficulty in this. I have trespassed 

 too long on your patience. Let me say this word in conclusion. 

 This question will have to be decided for good or evil in the 

 near future. There could be no better support for the case 

 which I have tried to make out than the unanimous adoption 

 of the resolution before the meeting." 



The Chairman. — " I am afraid I will have to leave the meet- 

 ing shortly. We intended to have had the meeting on 

 Wednesday, but we had to call it for Friday, and I had another 

 engagement. When I vacate the chair I will ask Mr Massie 

 to take it in my place, and I would only ask the Society to be 

 kind enough to excuse me. Perhaps Colonel Balfour might 

 tell us something about France." 



Lieut.-Colonel Balfour of Dawyck said : — " I have been in 

 close contact since October 1916 with French methods of 

 forestry, and for many months attended bi-weekly meetings 

 with the forestry authorities in Paris. As has been said here 

 to-day, the head of the " Departement des Eaux et des Forets " 

 is in Paris, and his service, like that of any other great Govern^ 

 ment office, is entirely centralised there. There are in different 

 parts of France what are called " centres de bois," which have 

 charge of the State forests and all forestry matters in their 

 neighbourhood. For example, the "Centre de Bois" at Rouen 

 deals with the forests of the lower valley of the Seine ; Orleans 

 with those of the Loire and the great national Foret d'Orleans ; 

 BesanQon with the coniferous forests of the Jura Mountains ; 

 Bordeaux with the maritime pine forests of south-west France ; and 

 there are others. All these " centres de bois " have their officer in 

 charge with his staff of subordinates, and he is in almost daily 

 communication by telegram and telephone with the head of the 

 service in Paris. I cannot conceive how the Forest Service of 

 France could be conducted if the officer in charge, say, at 

 Bordeaux, acted independently and under a different system of 

 organisation from, say, the service at Nancy. They must be 

 co-ordinated in one Central Authority. That is the system 

 that obtains in France, and I cannot see that we can do better 

 than follow the example of the French, who, after long ex- 

 perience in the scientific working of forestry matters, have 



