94 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" In connection with forestry I feel to-day we are in a very 

 fortunate position. The Prime Minister has indicated that 

 forestry is to take a real place in the reconstruction programme 

 of the Government, and the Secretary for Scotland has also in 

 many ways given you assurances of his real interest in this 

 matter. Both of these statesmen well know the possibilities of 

 their respective native countries for the creation of large forests, 

 and I am quite convinced that there never was a time when 

 there was a better opportunity to go ahead. It so happens, 

 however, that the Government have not settled the lines of 

 policy or the exact lines of administration. It is to be hoped 

 that these will follow in a very short space of time, but in the 

 meantime I personally, and I know you, welcome the creation 

 of the Interim Forest Authority, and particularly my friend 

 Colonel Fothringham who is here to-day as representing the 

 Interim Forest Authority. I know that you have confidence in 

 the constitution of that Authority. You have exhibited that 

 confidence in various ways already, and I am quite sure your 

 confidence will not be misplaced. I should explain that the 

 Secretary for Scotland has asked me, as a member of the Board 

 of Agriculture, to undertake the development of forestry in 

 Scotland, and he has also requested me to co-operate with 

 the Interim Forest Authority, and, so far as I can, my 

 fullest co-operation in all the work will be given to the 

 Authority. 



" There are some matters that I would like to refer to just now 

 because, as you know, we cannot expect large forests to grow 

 in a day, and we have many things to do and many preparations 

 to make before forestry becomes a real and assured and estab- 

 lished industry of the State. In the first instance, we have 

 got to find the ground. The Reconstruction Sub-Committee 

 propose that 200,000 acres should be planted in the first ten 

 years. To obtain that area of ground means exhaustive 

 negotiations and a good deal of time. We must be particularly 

 careful to select the right ground, and we must have the best 

 advice in the selection of it. Now, we can only get the ground 

 if we have the sympathetic consideration of the owners of it. 

 You as an established Association for over sixty years have 

 urged the advantages of afforestation. Your membership con- 

 sists of all the large and, I think, of most of the small owners 

 of land in Scotland, and I would ask these members and their 



