202 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



small holdings. He would remind the Chancellor that four 

 reports of Royal Commissions within the last twenty-five years 

 had each expressed complete confidence in the belief that timber 

 of the first quality could be produced in the United Kingdom. 



Mr Gillanders, forester to the Duke of Northumberland, 

 pointed out that without Demonstration Forests and facilities for 

 training, it was impossible to educate foresters able to cope 

 with the various conditions under which silviculture had to be 

 carried on in this country, owing to the varying geological 

 formations and the difference of soils. 



Mr Sydney J. Gammell emphasised the need for training and 

 the absence of properly qualified men. 



Mr Spiers, of Edinburgh, Mr Macdonald, of Peeblesshire, Mr 

 Crozier, of Kincardineshire, and Dr Borthwick also spoke. 



Considerable conversation took place between the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer and members of the deputation on various 

 points raised in the course of their speeches. The Chancellor's 

 questions were particularly directed towards ascertaining the 

 need for delaying any afforestation scheme until what the 

 deputation suggested are the essential preliminaries had been 

 adjusted. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that he supposed the 

 whole experiment depended largely upon their being able to 

 secure land at a reasonable price, because if they paid twice 

 as much as the land was worth, it could not possibly be 

 a commercial success, and he understood that Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell was consequently in favour of compulsory acquisition 

 of any scheduled lands. 



Sir Herbert Maxwell agreed, provided a difficulty was found 

 in acquiring land by voluntary means, but he did not anticipate 

 any such difficulty in the present state of the land market. Of 

 course, if the price went up the moment land was scheduled, 

 then compulsion would need to be applied. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply, said : — " Mr 

 Ferguson and gentlemen, I am exceedingly obliged to you for 

 your kindness in coming here, because I really wanted to 

 be informed upon these subjects, and when Mr Ferguson and 

 the Master of Elibank suggested to me that I should receive 

 a deputation, 1 felt quite grateful to them for the suggestion. 

 I knew that the gentlemen they mentioned would be able to 

 inform me from very special knowledge of their own and from 



