REPORT OF THE GENERAL MEETING. I I 



that the department was staffed by practical men and not 

 amateurs. I only speak as a member of the Interim Authority, 

 but I should have great pleasure in looking over this matter 

 again, and suggesting to Mr Acland that if it is not quite clear 

 that this brings out the fact that we are to have practical men 

 and practical Scotsmen to run these affairs, that an amendment 

 should be suggested to His Majesty's Government to have that 

 incorporated. We have had very much more criticism from 

 other places than Scotland of having too many Scotsmen 

 connected with this affair rather than too few, but it is a very 

 good thing also to see that the other side is put forward. 

 In all the discussions which we have had the idea has been 

 prevalent that, while you must have, in the initial stages of 

 work such as this, men who have got a certain experience 

 of administration, at the earliest possible time a really big 

 United Kingdom Forestry Service is to be built up so that one 

 personnel could carry out the whole of the work. May I put 

 this to those people who wish to press the claim of any district, 

 that you cannot have your cake and eat it? If you have a 

 single personnel that is going to give you the best brains, if you 

 have a single authority, Scotsmen can be promoted, and their 

 promotion will not necessarily be confined to this kingdom. 

 On consideration, you will see that it is to the advantage of the 

 best man to have as many billets as possible open to him, 

 so that he can climb to the top of the ladder if he has the 

 brains and the intelligence to stick up there. It is for this 

 reason that in France they are so determined on this principle 

 of one personnel that they even included in the French 

 Administration the whole of the Algerian forests, and the 

 difference between these cases is much greater than that between 

 Scotland and England. You should not have too many limiting 

 factors put into the Bill, because you cannot take them out 

 afterwards. This is a matter which should be left to the 

 common sense of the Government when appointing these people, 

 but I shall certainly bring the matter again before Mr Acland. 

 I think the leading article in this morning's Scotsman makes 

 a very fair point of criticism on the question that what we do 

 want now is to get ahead with some work, or to put it in the 

 words of the Agriculturist, Mr John Jorrocks, ' Let's cut the 

 cackle and get to the 'osses.' We do want to get something done. 

 There is always the danger in a crowded session of having a 



