I02 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the Cabinet have decided on the following grants to corporate 

 bodies and woodland owners : — 



(i.) A free grant of a fixed sum for every acre planted this 

 season by Local Authorities. (This grant will corre- 

 spond approximately with the 60 per cent, grant to 

 the Local Authorities' labour bill allowed out of the 

 fund of the Unemployment Grants Committee.) 

 (ii.) A free grant of ^3 for every acre prepared and planted 

 by private individuals during this planting season, or, 

 alternatively, up to ^t, per acre for land prepared for 

 planting this season, but planted at some subsequent 

 date, 

 (iii.) A free grant of jQi per acre for all approved scrub- 

 clearing schemes, whether the scrub be cleared by the 

 Local Authority to provide work for the unemployed 

 or by the owner to provide land for planting. 



In asking woodland owners to undertake forestry operations, 

 I am well aware that ^3 represents only a small part of the 

 cost of preparing and planting an acre of land : further, that 

 many proprietors who would otherwise wish to plant are 

 prevented from doing so by the crushing burden of local and 

 imperial taxation. I believe, however, that many landowners 

 wish to replant the land cleared during the war, when the 

 opportunity offers, and I submit that the present time is one 

 in which they can do so with the greatest advantage to the 

 State and themselves. 



The importance to the State of the immediate re-afforestation 

 of cleared areas cannot be gainsaid. The reserves of standing 

 commercial timber in Great Britain have never been lower 

 than they are to-day. Unemployment is acute in many rural 

 districts, and unless there is an improvement in agricultural 

 prices in the near future, it will have a tendency to increase 

 rather than diminish. 



From the point of view of the woodland owners, it is 

 important to note that the ^3 grant per acre for preparing 

 and planting land, with the additional grant of ^£2 per acre 

 given in the case where standing scrub has been removed (a 

 maximum grant of jQe^ in all), is a free grant available during 

 the next six months, not a conditional loan offered under the 

 Forestry Act, 19 19, Section 3 (3) {d). 



