AFFORESTATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



147 



And last year, a year of great commercial depression, our 

 imports of pitwood and wood-pulp were far larger than ever 

 before, increasing respectively by ;^53o,ooo and ;^3 13,000, 

 or ^^'843,000 in all, over the previous highest record in 1907. 



Hewn Pitprops or Pitwood, 



Wood-pulp, 



Year. Loads. Value. 



1906 2,451,665 ^2,713,005 



1907 2,627,209 3,049,484 



1908 3,041,440 3,579.355 



Year. Tons. Value. 



1906 606,811 ^^2,915,209 



1907 672,499 3,312,347 

 1988 748,419 3.625,803 



Year 



Combined value of Pitwood and (^ 

 Wood-pulp alone, . . . J 



1907 

 1908 



Value. 

 ^5,628,214 



6,^61,831 



7.205,158 



The total value of our wood and timber imports was 

 ^27,507,410 in 1906, ^^27,093,054 in 1907, and ^24,306,059 

 in the depressed year of 1908. Of this total ^18,534,958 

 in 1906, ^17,146,823 in 1907, and ^i4,5i5.433 in 1908. 

 were for wood " sawn or split, planed or dressed," and at least 

 one-third of this amount represents wages paid to foreign 

 workmen (in addition to the ordinary cost of extraction from 

 the forests), a great part of which might be retained for our 

 own industrial classes if we had the necessary raw material to 

 operate upon. 



If our waste lands and poor pastures are at all plantable 

 with profit, it will be in coniferous and softwood crops for 

 pitwood and pulp that the best returns must be sought. Such 

 crops are the most likely to thrive on poor land, cost least to 

 establish, and give the quickest returns. It may be safely 

 taken that 3,000,000 acres of woodlands (chiefly conifer) are 

 the minimum that should be provided either by the State on 

 its own responsibility or in co-operation with County Councils 

 and private landowners. 



To carry out a vast scheme of afforestation, such as the 

 9,000,000 acres of planting which the Royal Commission 



