THE IMPERIAL FORESTRY INSTITUTE, OXFORD. 1 25 



12. The Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford. 



By P. S. Spokes, Acting Secretary. 



The present year will see the beginning of what should prove 

 to be a great development in forestry training and research, 

 with the establishment at Oxford of an Institute which will be 

 known as the Imperial Forestry Institute, a title adopted at the 

 command of His Majesty the King. 



The question of establishing a central training institution was 

 first discussed by the British Empire Forestry Conference in 

 1920. This conference felt that, owing to lack of funds and 

 dissipation of effort, training in the higher branches of forestry 

 for the needs of the Empire was nowhere as complete or efficient 

 as was desirable, and therefore recommended the establishment 

 in the United Kingdom of one institution which should under- 

 take the higher training of forest officers and should also be a 

 centre for research into the formation, tending, and protection of 

 forests. An impartial Committee, consisting partly of represen- 

 tatives of the Government departments concerned and partly of 

 experts, was thereupon appointed to make recommendations 

 regarding the location and organisation of such an institution, 

 and other matters. After visiting the Universities of Oxford, 

 Cambridge, Bangor, and Edinburgh, and also taking evidence 

 from other Universities, as well as from institutions and societies 

 interested in forestry, this Committee issued in 192 1 a report 

 which recommended the establishment at Oxford of a central 

 institution for the higher training of forest officers, for training in 

 research, for the provision of special and "refresher"' courses 

 for officers already serving, and for the conduct of research into 

 forest production. The report made it clear that there was no 

 intention of interfering with the work done by the various 

 University Schools of Forestry, and provided the training of 

 these was maintained at a required standard, selected students 

 from any such schools would be eligible for admission to the 

 central institution. Full details will be found in the Report of 

 the Interdepartmental Committee on Imperial Forestry Educa- 

 tion, 1921 (Command Paper 1166). 



Further action was suspended until 1923, when the proposals 

 of the Interdepartmental Committee were considered by the 

 British Empire Forestry Conference in Canada. The con- 

 ference supported them in the strongest terms, and they were 



