1 88 TRANbACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



24. The Erosion and Afforestation Royal Commission 



Report. 



By J. F. Annand. 



The whole question of forestry has been brought before the 

 pubHc in a very forcible manner by the Royal Commission on 

 Coast Erosion and Afforestation, in their recently issued Report 

 dealing with the possible development of forestry as an industry, 

 with a view to mitigating the evils of unemployment and keeping 

 people permanently on the land ; probably nothing has previously 

 done so much to arouse a general interest in the subject. 



Perhaps what strikes one most about the forestry proposals of 

 the Commission is their magnitude. To put 9,000,000 acres of 

 bare land under forest — land presumably comprising a variety of 

 geological formations, of climates, and of local peculiarities, 

 exceeding anything to be found anywhere within a similar area 

 on the Continent of Europe — is certainly no light task. It is 

 indeed greater than anything yet attempted by any of the 

 European States with the best forestry traditions of a century 

 and a half behind them. For the Continental forester has had 

 to deal mostly with the improvement of existing forests, and has 

 had comparatively little to do with the formation of new ones. 



If this great scheme is to be brought to a successful issue — 

 even if the smaller scheme of afforesting 6,000,000 acres (which 

 by the way would seem to be ample) is to be carried out, it will, 

 in my opinion, most certainly require the united efforts of the 

 State, the landowners, and every one else connected with the 

 management of land. 



The Commissioners say that it is a task for the State, and no 

 doubt this is to a great extent true. The want of continuity of 

 management has been a serious drawback to the success of all 

 forestry operations hitherto undertaken in this country by 

 private owners, and there has been too much haphazard work 

 at all times. But has the State done any better? The small 

 extent of our Crown lands under forest, managed as they have 

 been under various Acts of Parliament for a variety of purposes 

 and according to traditions of a sort, have not always proved an 

 unqualified success from the timber-grower's point of view ; and 

 some still maintain that the State is likely to do no better, if 

 entrusted with the management of millions of acres, than it has 

 done in the past in the management of thousands. 



