4'S TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



afterwards, who had come over from France, and he said that 

 the poles which came from Scotland were the best that the 

 Expeditionary Force had received. Probably I am going into 

 history somewhat, but it was exactly the same with sleepers in 

 France. Of these, drawn from several different sources, the best 

 sleepers came from Scotland. There was no doubt about their 

 quality. In later years I was able to compare the sleepers, and 

 feel safe in saying that the Scots wood — Scots pine particularly 

 — was quite the best. 



" In connection with the question we are discussing to-day 

 it seems to me that we must have a very large amount of 

 co-operation. It was by co-operation that the enormous 

 supplies of wood sent from this country were obtained — by 

 co-operation of consumer and producer. I think the only way 

 whereby you are going to put British timber on the British 

 market is by attending first of all to your plant. Doubtless 

 some of you have got quite good machinery, but I am con- 

 vinced that if you are going to make a success of home timber 

 you must scrap a lot of the present plant. The timber is not 

 cut to sufficient length — it is too short. I am quite convinced 

 of that, and, further, in the production of it there is a great deal 

 of waste. I have heard my friends, particularly Mr Munro, 

 throw up his hands with horror and complain of the waste 

 of the Canadians. Knowing the value of timber to-day, I turn 

 round and tell him that he and the other timber merchants are 

 responsible for a great deal of unnecessary waste. If we go to 

 Switzerland we find that the wood that is thrown away in this 

 country is utilised for the making of toys, and for all sorts of 

 small articles of furniture. There is no effort of that kind here 

 to speak of. There is absolutely -no reason why wood wasted 

 at present should not be properly utilised and developed by 

 other industries. I suggest that the two big timber associations 

 which you have in Scotland should combine into a corporation 

 with sufficient capital to commence two large installations- of 

 proper up-to-date plant, into which every member of the associa- 

 tion could send his best material and there have it sawn up to 

 proper specifications and proper dimensions and stored and 

 seasoned. That is done in Switzerland where they have not 

 got so very many more forests, and where, during the war, from 

 rough planking to the finished hut, the same class of associations 

 were large producers to their own profit. There is an example 



