THE TIMBER TRADE CONFERENCE. 57 



poles must either be returned to the suppUers or be sold at a 

 poor price at the port. After the selected poles have been 

 creosoted they have to be reloaded and sent to their destination 

 by rail, and from there drawn out to the places where they are 

 to be erected, costing another 6d. or more per foot." 



After an interesting discussion, in which Mr Morgan, Controller 

 of the Stores Department of the General Post Office, took part, 

 the following resolution was proposed and adopted: — "That 

 with a view to encouraging the utilisation of native timber, the 

 various departments of His Majesty's Government concerned 

 be urged to give a preference to such timber when inviting 

 tenders for Government purposes, as far as practicable, 

 consistently with adequate guarantees as to quality and 

 suitability." 



10. Continental Notes — France. 



By A. G. Hobart-Hampden, late Indian Forest Service. 



r. Although the State is an ideal forest owner, in view of its 

 permanency, progress in the formation of Government forests is 

 slow in these islands. There is, however, one direction in which 

 we may possibly hope for more success. The municipalities 

 of the United Kingdom are vigorous bodies, and not infrequently 

 rich. They have the same qualification of permanency that the 

 State has, and if the communes of the Continent can find in 

 their forests a paying investment, as is the case, it may well be 

 that when they see this our own municipalities may take to the 

 idea. In this connection, then, it may be of interest to recount 

 the action of the town of Pontarlier, in the French Jura. Fifty 

 years ago the town owned 1185 acres of forest; to-day it owns 

 2018. During this period over three million trees have been 

 planted. In the period 1868 to 1877 the forest brought in an 

 average annual revenue of 41,000 francs, and ever since then the 

 revenue has been slowly rising till it is now nearly 70,000 francs 

 (;j{^28oo) ; and in all probability the rise will continue. The 

 town has recently purchased for ;^3i7o a private estate of 383 

 acres, a third of it already wooded, and in doing so has secured 

 certain advantages, such as a water supply. The writer of the 

 article from which we have been quoting, says — " Numerous and 

 incontestable are, for communes, the advantages which the 



