EMPIRE FORESTRY DINNER, I924. 75 



largely scrapped, and it was now being recognised that only the 

 State could get forestry much further in this country. He then 

 referred to the Arboricultural Societies and the good effect of 

 these joint meetings, which he hoped would be held oftener. A 

 very pleasing tribute to the work of the Secretaries was made in 

 the following passage : — "The two great Arboricultural Societies 

 are here to-night, and, of course, we know that the Presidents of 

 these Societies are supposed to be very influential, but as a 

 matter of fact I may tell you privately the Secretaries are far 

 more influential than the Presidents. We are fortunate in having 

 Mr Galloway and Mr Davidson as our Secretaries." Con- 

 tinuing, Professor Somerville expressed his satisfaction at the 

 recent decision come to by the Departments concerned, to 

 establish a higher Forestry Educational Centre, and at the 

 selection of Oxford for that purpose. 



Mr A. Roger, O.B.E., replied for the Empire Forestry 

 Association and the Forest Services of the Empire. He 

 referred to the suggestion of the 1920 Forestry Conference 

 that a Forestry Bureau should be started, and suggested that 

 the Empire forestry Association should start a small club for 

 Empire foresters in London, where they could meet and 

 exchange ideas and bring their combined influence to bear 

 on those who sometimes troubled them. He hoped all foresters 

 would seriously consider his suggestion and, without delay, try 

 to give effect to it, even in a small way. 



In the absence of Mr Horton, Mr Spiers, replying on behalf 

 of the Timber Trade, said he was convinced from what he 

 had seen at Wembley that the Colonies could produce all we 

 required in the v^ay of timber, but he felt that we could produce 

 a great deal more at home. A member of the present party, 

 who was largely interested in the mining industry, had told 

 him that he would willingly use as much home timber as we 

 could supply were it possible to get it of the quality available 

 from other countries at the moment. Mr Spiers thought 

 it quite possible that we could, especially from the west and 

 north-west of Scotland, provide a much larger amount of high 

 quality timber. He also reminded the meeting that we ought 

 to cultivate much more commercial timber of larger sizes, 

 especially coniferous sorts, such as the Scots pine, larch, 

 common spruce and Douglas fir. It was the same with hard 

 woods, and he was inclined to think that within fifty years 



