CONFERENCE ON HOME-GROWN TIMBER. 47 



from our home woods.' He said, ' We have been getting 

 80 per cent, of that timber from abroad in the past, and we 

 will never get half enough from our home woods, and we 

 will be bound to get it from abroad.' The next statement 

 was as to quartering. ' You can never quarter home timber 

 for pit-wood because it has not the strength of imported 

 timber.' As to his first statement, in about two years, 

 I think in 19 17, the whole of the mines in Scotland were 

 supplied with pit-wood — with Scottish pit-wood — and not only 

 the Scottish mines but many English mines were supplied in 

 addition. In so far as the statement concerning strength is 

 concerned, he himself acknowledges now that he was absolutely 

 mistaken, but it was the statement of prejudice, exactly the 

 same prejudice which in 1912 influenced the railway companies 

 when they were approached about sleepers. 



"Now in 1915, that was the second year of the war, the 

 Office of Works in London were then the department to supply 

 timber to the War Office. Timber for the war was supplied 

 through the Office of Works, and it occurred to me that we 

 might push some native woods through the Office of Works 

 and from there to France. I found a little prejudice there 

 also, but the pressure on the War Office for supplies involved 

 application from the Office of Works to Scotland to provide 

 sleepers and other timber for France, and in that connection 

 I would like to pay a tribute to the timber merchants of 

 Scotland. It was my duty to go to them and ask for help, 

 and they co-operated to a man. I do not think there was 

 any better co-operation in the whole war than that of the 

 Scots timber merchants in the supply of wood for France. 

 I remember the original suggestion was that we might get 

 3 4000 defence poles, and we convened the Scots timber 

 merchants together. They said they would supply 4000 poles 

 at once, and they were ordered. At the end of about a 

 month, instead of 4000 mining poles, we had a stock of 14,000 

 or 15,000, and they were at once despatched to France. But 

 when I told London that instead of 4000 mining poles we 

 had 14,000 or 15,000 they said we had overstepped our 

 authority. But we had confidence in Scotland in these days, 

 with the result that these 10,000 additional pieces of timber 

 went over to France, and the supply was kept abreast of the 

 demand for two years. I saw one of the engineers very shortly 



