REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 345 
largely of young trees; but the arboretum at Edinburgh consists 
largely of old trees, with every facility for making forestry a 
practical study.” 
At the meeting held on the 4th June 1886, Dr W. Schlich, 
Inspector-General of Forests, and at present organising the Indian 
Forest School, at Cooper’s Hill Engineering College, near Egham, 
Surrey, was the first witness examined, and, among other inte- 
resting details, he gave the following valuable evidence :— 
“Will you state to the Committee your exact position in 
connection with the Cooper’s Hill School?” ‘I am Inspector- 
General of Forests to the Government of India, and, as such, 
I have been deputed by the Government of India, at the 
request of the Secretary of State, to make the necessary arrange- 
ments at Cooper’s Hill for the starting of a forest school, 
as a branch of the college, at which officers for the forest 
service shall be henceforth educated.” How long have you been 
in the Indian forest service?” ‘Close upon twenty years.”— 
“You succeeded Dr Brandis at the head of the Forest Depart- 
ment?” ‘ Yes,” 
“You have expressed the opinion that, although you do not 
anticipate any panic as regards the timber supply from abroad, 
still there is every prospect that in the future the prices will tend 
to rise, and that woods now planted in Great Britain and Ireland 
may be fairly expected to be remunerative?” ‘“Thatis my personal 
opinion.” —‘ And that, in fact, having regard to the probable falling 
off in our present supplies, it is very desirable that steps should 
be taken to secure a better supply in the future?” “TI feel some 
difficulty in replying in a direct way to this question. The opinion 
I hold, personally, is that there is a fair field for investing a 
certain amount of capital in the production of timber. But 
whether | would exactly go as far as to say that it is desirable to 
do anything of that class would be another question. Still I 
think there is a fair field for investing in woodlands, provided the 
woods are planted upon surplus lands, that is to say, lands not 
required for agriculture. I do not believe that lands which are 
required, or could usefully be employed, for agriculture will under 
forest yield the same return on the invested capital as they would 
under agriculture.”—‘ The question as it stands is rather of a more 
general character. Take, for instance, the case of Canada; you 
have expressed the opinion, in your very interesting memoir, that 
‘it is high time to take energetic steps towards the introduction 
