AFFORESTATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. I 53 



posal. The thing, however, had passed from an experimental stage, and the 

 Government were seriously considering it with a view to action. 



This last official statement was immediately contradicted by- 

 Mr Munro Ferguson, who maintained that — 



The right hon. gentleman was entirely wrong in telling the House that 

 afforestation had passed beyond the experimental stage. There had been a 

 few experiments by a few scattered landowners, but the State itself had done 

 absolutely nothing. The State had not only kept its own forests in a most 

 disgraceful state, but it had failed, in spite of every kind of pressure, to 

 provide any training whatever either for its own servants or those of the 

 private adventurer. We must at least have two Schools of Forestry, and the 

 Government would want about ;[^ioo,ooo to start with. 



Now, all that has been done experimentally by Government 

 was thus summed up by Mr Pease, Junior Lord of the Treasury, 

 on nth February 1908: — 



The amount spent by the Commissioners on Woods and Forests during 

 the last ten years, in England and Wales, on afforestation, by which term is 

 meant planting new areas, not previously under timber, as distinguished from 

 re-planting old woods, is about ^5000. The cost of land, in England and 

 Wales, bought during the same period for afforestation, is about ;^I200. 

 There has been no expenditure on planting new areas in Scotland or Ireland, 

 but ;^25,ooo has recently been spent in buying land in Scotland for afforesta- 

 tion. 



Since then no planting has yet been done on this Crown 

 estate of Inverliever Argyllshire (bought for ^25,000); but 

 planting is to begin this autumn, and only 150 acres a year are 

 to be planted for the next twelve years. 



And Mr Burns's statement, that anything like a great national 

 scheme of afforestation is " a subject that did not require 

 legislation of an elaborate sort," is quite wrong, and simply 

 shows that apparently Government have as yet no proper idea 

 of this subject at all. Very numerous legislative amendments 

 will have to be made in existing Acts {e.g., rights of owner in 

 possession under law of entail in Scotland, and various other 

 Acts previously referred to), which are bound to have far- 

 reaching consequences. And the proposal to expropriate for 

 afforestation about one-third of the land of Scotland, must either 

 result in the fall of any Government that is foolish enough to 

 propose it, or, if carried, will mark the first and the greatest 

 step towards an era of Socialism in Britain. And if land is to 

 be forcibly nationalised for forestry, then, the ancient royal 



VOL. XXII. PART II. L 



