38 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



is only in that form that the product of the country is known 

 to the public at large at all. Before the war it was a melan- 

 choly fact that a sleeper of home-grown wood, though it might 

 be of equal qualify to an imported sleeper, was worth very 

 much less money. The difference of price depended on two 

 things — the prejudice of the buyer and want of organisation 

 amongst the producers. I happened to have something to do 

 with that matter, both from the point of view of a railway 

 company and from the point of view of a group of people who 

 were trying to produce sleepers. I found from the point of 

 view of the railway company that they could not get a guarantee 

 of sufficient supplies to justify them entering into large contracts 

 at the same prices as they were paying for imported wood ; 

 from the other point of view, that they could not make any 

 arrangement. The price of home sleepers was is. less than 

 the price being paid for sleepers from abroad. We have got 

 to put these things right. The war has not rectified them, 

 although it has led to the use of an immense amount of 

 home-grown timber. In some ways it has emphasised the 

 difficulties of the situation and the stigma under which home 

 timber has lain. The work has been hurried. Producers have 

 been pressed to put in the largest amount of stuff to meet 

 urgent needs without being too particular, and the exploitation 

 has also been by the Government direct, and that also has been 

 done in extreme haste. This may have led to mistaken notions 

 as to the quality of timber which can be produced under normal 

 conditions. For instance, I read in yesterday's newspaper that 

 Mr M'Laren, M.P., had made a speech in the House of 

 Commons in which he stated that pit-wood produced in Scotland 

 could not be used in a mine because it let the roof down. 1 

 hope someone will answer him. I am sure he did not wish to 

 do harm, but spoke because he was ill-informed, and mistakes 

 of that kind are much too common. 



"How are we to put things right? 1 think we have a great 

 opportunity during the next two or three years. Supplies of 

 timber from the Baltic and elsewhere and from British Columbia 

 have been coming in. They have not been coming in in large 

 quantities, and freights are certain to be very expensive for some 

 time. There will also be great competition for coniferous 

 timber from other countries, and, therefore, I feel that those who 

 are going to be users of timber, and especially Government 



