350 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
XXXVIII. The Society's Register of Foresters and other 
Estate-men. By the SECRETARY. 
The proposal that the Society should start a Register of 
Foresters was made at an early date in its history. As far 
back as 1866 a committee was appointed to consider the 
matter, and later, prizes were offered for essays on the subject. 
Two of these, one by Mr James Kay, forester, Bute, and the 
other by Mr C. Y. Michie, forester, Cullen, were published in 
Volume V. of the Society’s Transactions, but no further action 
appears to have been taken at that time. The subject was 
again raised by the late Lord Mansfield in his Presidential 
Address, delivered before the Society on 31st January 1900, 
and a committee of the Council having reported in favour of 
the proposal, the Register was started in 1903. 
Mr Kay’s main proposal was that a Committee or Board of 
Examiners should be appointed by the Society for interrogating 
intending foresters, and that a Register should be kept of such 
as should pass an examination in stated subjects connected 
with forestry. He proposed to divide the candidates into—1st 
Class, who had obtained excellent results; 2nd Class, who had 
obtained good results; and 3rd Class, who were only qualified 
as assistant foresters. The salaries he proposed to attach to 
these classes were—ust Class, from £80 to £100; and 2nd 
Class, £60. He did not state a salary for those in the 3rd 
Class. He also advocated that a text-book should be provided 
dealing with the subjects of examination. 
Mr Michie also recommended that a committee of the Society 
should be appointed to interview candidates. He did not, how- 
ever, prescribe subjects for examination, his object being merely 
to interrogate the men as to their experience, etc. He also 
proposed to divide the men into four classes, the salaries 
suggested being £100, £80, £50, and £40. 
It will be observed that, according to both of these schemes, 
an attempt would have been made to select the candidates with 
a view to admission to the Register, and to classify them in the 
Register according to their merits. 
The committee appointed in rgo2 did not think it necessary, 
in the early stages of the Register, that candidates should be 
examined and classified. They contented themselves with 
