156 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



be found in arguments for national self-sufficiency or in alarmist 

 views as to price, nor indeed does Mr Stebbing limit himself 

 to these arguments. The plain fact is that timber prices have 

 followed the main trend of general prices, 1 and will do so again, 

 we do not hesitate to predict, for some considerable time as 

 soon as economic conditions have settled down after the war. 

 Whether the price of timber will at some period rise sharply in 

 relation to other commodities is a question upon which it is 

 impossible to prophesy : among the factors to be taken into 

 consideration are the planting and conservation of forests all 

 over the world, the preservative treatment of timber, and the 

 utilisation of alternative substances, e.g. metal for constructional 

 purposes, grass and other fibres for paper ; on the other hand, 

 the fact that the consumption of timber per head of population 

 appears to rise with economic development has to be taken 

 into consideration. 2 But these questions are world questions, 

 and although afforestation in this country might mitigate the 

 consequences to us of world mismanagement or disaster, the 

 mitigation at best would be but slight so long as these islands 

 retain their present population and use timber to the same 

 extent. We cannot be independent in this respect or in many 

 others of vital consequence to the nation ; for good or evil an 

 island industrial community is bound to the world and its 

 interests are the world's interests. In one sense, the Reconstruc- 

 tion Sub-Committee were right when they advocated afforestation 

 as a measure of insurance in case of war : this is a strong 

 argument, while the economic arguments frequently used are 

 weak or fallacious : indeed, the future peace of the world is not 

 so assured that we can afford to neglect it. But there is a 

 better argument which equally we cannot afford to neglect, 

 and that is that in its own interest as well as in the interest 

 of all the communities of the world no nation can afford to fail 

 to utilise its resources or to improve the conditions of its people. 

 Britain, as part of a world-community needs timber, and the 

 nation should grow it wherever it can be economically grown to 

 the extent to which the land is better adapted for this than for 

 any other purpose : if afforestation will add to the number of 

 healthy and prosperous people in these islands, that also is in 

 the interests both of Britain and the world. We need not, with 



1 Cf. Cd. 7488, pp. 77, 78. 



2 Ibid., pp. 75, 76. 



