44 TRANSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



species with especial regard to the differentiation of hardwoods 

 from softwoods. It is hoped that by the date of the next Empire 

 conference, which it is expected will be held in Canada in 

 1923, information under the above heads will be much more 

 available and accurate than it is now. Indeed the discussions 

 and statements of delegates from many parts of the Empire 

 showed that such data are at the present time either entirely 

 lacking or, in nearly all other cases, exceedingly fragmentary. 

 One of the first activities of the Forestry Commission in this 

 country is to secure reliable information, based on a survey of 

 our own woods, as to the timber of various classes left after 

 the ravages made upon our meagre woodlands by the war ; 

 also accurate estimates of the areas of land already cleared 

 and suitable for timber crops. The methods to be adopted for 

 such surveys are, it is understood, at the present time under the 

 earnest consideration of the Commissioners. 



The third Resolution expressed the great desirability that the 

 several Governments should secure, by Act or Ordinance, a 

 continuity of forest policy, to the end that forest lands be 

 reserved to the State for proper development and management, 

 and thus render it for all time impossible that forests be 

 alienated in the reckless fashion that obtained, for example, on 

 both sides of the International Boundary of the Pacific Coast 

 up to very recent times. The Governments are urged to 

 provide adequate funds for the maintenance of their Forest 

 Services, and to grant to their forest officers a status in the 

 Civil Service commensurate with the supreme importance of 

 their functions. The example of continental countries, where 

 forestry has for many generations been a subject of State 

 concern, may well be followed in this respect. It was also 

 insisted that the appointments of Chief Forest Officers be from 

 those most highly qualified for the posts ; the suggestion was 

 clearly that the subject of forestry should be removed entirely 

 from the arena of politics, which in these democratic days has, 

 in some countries, too often determined the appointments in this 

 service. The last paragraph of the resolution suggests that 

 officers should be appointed, in all cases where there have been 

 previously no such appointments, whose special function would 

 be to advise the respective Governments on the general lines of 

 forest policy and to execute the surveys recommended in the 

 second resolution. 



