II 



me in this chair last year, I tried to find out what the most 



pressing needs of forestry in Scotland appeared to be for the 



moment, and two matters which came to the front were the 



need of instruction in autumn for working foresters and men in 



charge of woodlands at such a time as they could attend 



lectures. That was one matter. The other was the need of 



taking some practical step in the direction of a Survey, which 



has been long advocated by the Society without any response 



on the part of the authorities. In both these matters there has 



been an advance during the year. Mr Dawson has started, at 



Aberdeen, a class for working foresters, which has been in every 



way successful, and I hope the step will be the beginning of a 



great development of work on these lines. We have also, in 



this Society, taken up for ourselves this matter of a Survey, 



and with the help of Lord Lovat and Captain Stirling we 



have actually been able to get, within the year, results far 



beyond anything expected when the suggestion was first thrown 



out that we might make an attempt in that direction. Lord 



Lovat will speak about the Survey himself, and therefore 



I have nothing more to say about it now, but that we have 



great reason to be grateful to him for the immense amount of 



time he has devoted to this subject. I want to say one word 



about the Development Grant and the negotiations in connection 



with it. It would be wearisome to go over them in detail, but 



I should like to point out that all our difficulties spring from 



the fact that we have not been able to persuade the Government 



to realise that a large subject like forestry cannot be dealt with 



effectively, unless it is made the subject of a Department organised 



to deal with it, which has power to take charge of it, and 



which is able to centralise all the different efforts which have 



been made. We have, unfortunately, not yet persuaded the 



Government to give us a Board of Forestry. We shall continue 



to press for such a Board, which has from the beginning been 



the policy of the Society. Meanwhile, however, money has 



been devoted by Parliament to the development of forestry, 



and the Development Commissioners, who hold the money, 



have to be approached through some public Department. As 



there is no Department of Forestry, we are approaching them 



through the Education Department for Scotland. I should 



like to say that Lord Pentland and his Department have met 



us in the matter very frankly, and I think with a very good 



