THE AFFORESTATION CONFERENCE. 6j 



the casuals of large towns in such a way that the men might 

 cease to be casuals, and would become permanent rural 

 labourers. -Mr Margerison and others emphasised a similar 

 point of view — that afforestation work in connection with 

 unemployment must be regarded rather as educative than as 

 immediately remedial, and that the men employed should be 

 carefully selected as suitable for the purpose. Others, such as 

 Alderman Burgess, emphasised also the possibility of minor 

 rural industries springing up in the vicinity of the planted areas, 

 and thus helping to retain^the population on the land. 



It may thus be said that the result of the Conference was to 

 show that certain local authorities are already committed to 

 forestry operations on a moderate scale, and that, in the opinion 

 of many, it is desirable that this scale should be enlarged, on 

 the one hand because of the possibility of ultimately producing 

 woods which will form valuable commercial assets, and 

 secondly, because of the need of attaching more of the popula- 

 tion to the land, and therefore diminishing the number of casual 

 unemployed who constitute so serious a charge on the authorities 

 of the larger towns. We may now sum up the suggestions made 

 as to the best methods of encouraging the work. 



Taking the more general points first, it may be noted that, 

 as stated above, Mr John Burns favoured the establishment of 

 a School of Forestry, and the giving of expert advice by the 

 Government. Several speakers spoke of the need of some 

 system whereby expert advice could be given to municipalities 

 by a Government department, if possible free of charge. This 

 was especially emphasised by Mr Parry, who spoke of the great 

 importance of expert guidance ; by Alderman Sir Bosden Leech, 

 who thought that schools of forestry or experimental farms 

 should be established with the object of giving advice, especially 

 in regard to plant diseases ; by Councillor Ogden, who thought 

 that careful statistics, based on British forestry, should be 

 collected by the Board of Agriculture for the guidance of 

 municipalities ; and by Mr Richard Johnson, who thought 

 that the Department of Woods and Forests should give advice 

 on the subject to local authorities. 



Again, Sir J. RoUeston recommended that the effort to 

 promote afforestation should be national rather than local, and 

 urged that the Board of Agriculture should give a grant for 

 the purpose of commencing operations ; and Mr Trevelyan Lee 



