Report suitably bound in vellum and inscribed was presented to 

 His Majesty when at Holyrood and was duly acknowledged. 

 The thanks of the Society have been conveyed to Lord Lovat 

 and Captain Stirling for the great amount of work and time 

 devoted by them to the preparation of the Report. 



TJie Developineiit Fund. 



The negotiations with the Development Commissioners and 

 the Secretary for Scotland, referred to in last report, on the 

 subject of the Society's programme for the development of 

 Forestry in Scotland and the scope of the inquiry to be made by 

 the proposed departmental Committee were continued, with the 

 result that the terms of the remit were made wide enough to 

 embrace the Survey proposed by the Society. 



The names of the Committee and the remit to them have 

 already been printed on page 215 of the July part of vol. xxiv. 

 of the Transaciiofis. The Committee's report is understood to 

 be in the hands of the Secretary for Scotland, but has not yet 

 been made public. 



The first report of the Development Commission was issued 

 in the course of the summer, and that part of it which deals with 

 Forestry was read at the General ^Meeting held at Inverness, and 

 has been reprinted in the January Transactions. 



A Department of Forestry for Scotland. 



When the Small Landholders' Bill was first presented to 

 Parliament, it contained a provision that one of the Com- 

 missioners should have special charge of Forestry. In the 

 course of its passage through Committee this provision was 

 struck out, and the Council thereupon made a representation to 

 the Secretary for Scotland with a view of having it restored. 

 In reply Lord Pentland said that while the Government did not 

 think it desirable that the Bill should itself provide that a member 

 of the Board should be specifically appointed to take charge of 

 Forestry, it was their intention in the event of the Bill becoming 

 law to establish as an integral part of the administration of the 

 Board of Agriculture for Scotland a Department of Forestry for 

 Scotland. The Council thanked Lord Pentland for this promise 

 and expressed a[)proval of his proposal. The Council also sent 

 a further letter in which they outlined a scheme for the constitution 

 of a representative Forestry Board. These letters were duly 

 acknowledged, and Lord Pentland promised that the suggestions 

 put forward would be very carefully borne in mind when the 

 establishment of the proposed Department came to be considered ; 

 but he reminded the- Council that the Department was to be 

 worked under the Board of Agriculture or some special section 

 of the Board. 



