FORESTRY COMMISSION. 39 



has also been reduced by increasing materially the proportion 

 of leased to purchased land. 



The various stages in the evolution of British forestry are 

 dealt with at the beginning of the Report, namely, the period 

 of Destruction, the period of Private Enterprise, the period of 

 Enquiry, and the period of State Action. Statistics gathered 

 during the period of enquiry showed that the imports of timber 

 had increased five-fold between 1850 and 1910, and the annual 

 consumption per head had, during the same period, increased 

 from 3^ cubic feet to 11 cubic feet. The ratio of home timber 

 had declined, and in 1914 amounted to barely 10 per cent, 

 of the supply, and the price of imported timber had risen 

 steadily during the thirty years before the war while the quality 

 had declined. 



The experience gained during the war demonstrated, as 

 nothing else could have done, the absolute necessity of main- 

 taining a supply of growing timber within the country adequate 

 to make us independent of imported timber at least for a 

 consecutive period of three years, should occasion arise. In 

 1 9 13 the quantities of timber and grain imported were about 

 equal and headed the list of imports. In 19 16, when food 

 was very scarce, it was found impossible to release the smallest 

 fraction of the shipping required to carry the timber essential 

 for the operations of war abroad and at home. 



In support of the policy based on National Insurance in 

 time of peace and in time of war three strong arguments are 

 given, namely : — 



I. The timber consumed in Great Britain and by the British 

 Army in France between the years 1915-20 cost the country 

 at least ^^190,000,000 more than a similar amount of wood 

 would have cost at 1909-13 prices. In the year 1920 the 

 nation imported approximately one-tenth less wood and pulp 

 than in 1914, and paid over ;!{^8o, 000,000 more for their 

 purchase. 



There is no reason to suppose that the average annual 

 demands for timber for house construction, delayed repairs 

 and industrial developments will be less in the next decade 

 than they were during the five years immediately preceding the 

 war. If this is the case, and the price of timber does not 

 fall much below a figure midway between the 1913 and 1920 

 prices, we shall have to pay for the whole of the period 



