BRITISH EMPIRE FORESTRY CONFERENCE. 45 



The fourth Resolution stated how desirable it is that the 

 Forest Authority in each part of the Empire should be in the 

 closest touch with the lumbering and manufacturing interests. 

 In the discussions in the early part of the conference, it was 

 brought out that too often the Forest Authority has been 

 regarded with suspicion and hostility by private interests 

 connected with the timber industry — more especially, and 

 quite naturally, by those whose only concern is the acquisition 

 of timber lands and their wholesale exploitation. It is, perhaps, 

 only to be expected that those who have invested immense 

 sums in the timber business should be apt to resent any 

 interference with their operations by the State, whose view must 

 of necessity be a far longer one than that limited by the life of 

 a company. At the sa/ne time, the general interests of the 

 timber industry as a whole in any country would gain enor- 

 mously by the co-operation and guidance of a State Authority 

 in whom confidence was reposed. 



The fifth Resolution stated that the duty of the Forest 

 Authority in every country was the encouragement of education 

 and publicity, in order to secure the co-operation of the public 

 towards the aims in view. Nowhere more thoroughly and 

 successfully than in Germany has this policy been adopted. 

 Even in the elementary schools in woodland districts admirable 

 instruction is given and diagrams and leaflets are available on 

 subjects connected with forestry, with the result that the 

 ignorance of the subject general in our own country is in 

 marked contrast with the intelligent interest in forestry 

 matters possessed by most German peasants in such districts 

 as Thuringia and the Black Forest. The British Forestry 

 Commission has adopted already the admirable practice of 

 publishing bulletins and leaflets dealing with detailed questions 

 of great interest and value to tree-growers, following the 

 example set by the United States Forestry Authorities, whose 

 periodical publications have for several years dealt exhaustively 

 with such subjects as fungoid diseases of trees, insect pests, 

 distribution of tree species, and nursery practice. It was 

 recognised by the conference that one of the most important 

 functions of Forest Authorities is the dissemination of informa- 

 tion in a form "that will create general public interest through 

 the populations within their borders." The propaganda work 

 of the Canadian Forestry Association, with its large member- 



