AFFORESTATION. l6l 



that I would urge the examination of the schemes set out by 

 the Erosion Commission Report, and the letter of Mr Munro 

 Ferguson and your anonymous correspondent (R.S.A.S. 

 Transactions, Vols. XXL, p. 135, and XXII., p. 8), in order to 

 consider not only the merits of each and how far they are 

 mutually supplementary, but also more particularly^ for therein 

 lies the solution — to which class of land each is best applied. 



Afforestation by the State. 



It is a curious fact that all discoverers of the new republic 

 start their Utopia from tabula rasa either by blindness, more 

 or less assumed, to existing facts, or by an imaginary transfer 

 to the islands of the blest. The modern silviculturist collectivist, 

 as represented by the Erosion Commission, and in a limited 

 sense by Mr Munro Ferguson, is not less callous, or shall we 

 say optimistic? The interests of • the evicted farmers are dis- 

 missed with the curt phrase : " The tenants will probably find 

 holdings elsewhere " (Erosion Report). The rural population 

 is given the scant comfort that it is not with permanent employ- 

 ment for the countryman, but rather with the wastrels of the 

 towns that the Erosion Commission is mainly concerned. 

 Mansion-houses, according to Mr Munro Ferguson, are to 

 be bought and sold, apparently without reference to the 

 feelings of owners or occupiers, provided only that no loss 

 will accrue to the State. Farms and villages according to 

 the same authority are to change hands, and if there is any 

 signification in the phrase, " Where also the State and local 

 authorities could well conduct to the best advantage popular 

 {sic) experiments in small holdings," the era of the State 

 nationalisation of land is to commence. 



As far as can be gathered from the Erosion Commission's 

 Report — though here, Mr Munro Ferguson, with his knowledge 

 of silviculture and great practical experience, holds very different 

 views — the pathway of progress to 9,000,000 acres afforested 

 is to be simple and straightforward. 



In the "Golden Age" time is not of moment; Boards will 

 grow like mushrooms, and trained " Forstmeisters " blossom 

 forth before the foundation of training colleg&s are laid. Vast 

 areas will be controlled before experience, built up on hard 

 years of administrative work, is acquired. No rabbit so bold 

 as to eat his way through a paper regulation ; no squirrel so 



