THE STATE IN RELATION TO FORESTRY. I 33 



(3) Sufficient land is available for extended afforestation. 



(4) We have a surplus population, leading to an ever in- 



creasing army of unemployed, more particularly in 

 times when trade is slack. Afforestation would lead 

 to the retention of more people in the country, and 

 would thus be an auxiliary in reducing the number of 

 unemployed in the towns, apart from the fact that it 

 would have a most beneficial effect upon the physique 

 of the people. 



(5) The land which it is proposed to afforest gives now very 



low returns, whereas it can be made to yield a 

 considerably higher income if placed under forest ; 

 hence, any comprehensive scheme of afforestation 

 would certainly not lead to financial loss. 

 The following different methods for carrying out the work of 

 afforestation present themselves : — 



(i) To let private owners afforest their surplus land. In 

 the case of owners who are willing to do so but are 

 in want of pecuniary assistance, advances could be 

 given by Government at cost price, on proper security. 



(2) Joint action by the proprietor of the land and the State, 



the former contributing the land and the latter the 

 funds for planting, administration, etc. In this case, 

 it is essential that the State should keep the manage 

 ment entirely in its own hands, the net receipts being 

 divided in the proportion of the capital contributed 

 by each party. 



(3) The State may acquire the land and bring it 



under forest. 

 When I began, twenty-three years . ago, to urge extended 

 afforestation in these Islands, I proposed that all these methods 

 should be put into operation, but the results are very small. 

 A limited number of private proprietors have planted com- 

 paratively small areas, and the State, on behalf of the Crown, 

 has bought an estate of some 12,000 acres in Scotland, and a 

 few thousand acres in Wales, the sum total being disappointing. 

 As a result, the idea has got abroad that the State must do 

 the work alone. The Committee on Irish Afforestation, which 

 reported last year, proposed that the State and County Councils 

 should acquire 700,000 acres of unplanted land as well as a con- 

 siderable portion of the 300,000 acres of existing woods; while 



