lO TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the Commissioners informed the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries that they found themselves unable to recede from their 

 previous position, that having regard to the increase already 

 made in the forestry staff at selected centres, including Oxford, 

 they believed it to be unnecessary at present to recommend 

 any further grant for forestry instruction at existing institutions. 



The Commissioners have now set forth their action in regard 

 to forestry research and instruction ; but there is still one 

 question of importance with which it is necessary to deal in 

 some detail, viz., that of encouraging afforestation by local 

 authorities. 



Early in April the Commissioners were invited, on behalf of 

 the Leeds City Council, to inspect the Corporation water- 

 catchment areas in the Washburn Valley, of which several 

 hundred acres had been afforested during the previous six years, 

 chiefly by men selected from the ranks of the unemployed in 

 Leeds. About the same time, the Commissioners received 

 semi-official information that other local authorities contemplated 

 seeking aid from the Development Fund in afforesting their 

 water-catchment areas, or other suitable land which they 

 possessed or proposed to purchase for the purpose. They 

 therefore asked the Chairman of their Forestry Committee to 

 report, after inspection, on the whole question of the aff"oresta- 

 tion of water-catchment areas. Sir Sainthill Eardley-Wilmot 

 accordingly visited the Leeds watershed, and later (accompanied 

 by Mr Jones-Davies) the principal watersheds of Wales. These 

 comprised the catchment areas of the Corporation of Birming- 

 ham in the Elan Valley, Radnorshire ; of Liverpool, at Lake 

 Vyrnwy, Montgomeryshire; of Birkenhead in Denbighshire; 

 of Cardiff and of Swansea in Brecknockshire ; and of Pontypridd 

 in Glamorganshire : at all of which places special facilities were 

 afforded by the municipal officials, whose courtesy is gratefully 

 acknowledged. 



After considering the reports on the subject prepared for their 

 information, the Commissioners came to the general conclusion 

 that the water-catchment areas of local authorities provide 

 considerable blocks of land which can be utilised for the 

 development of forestry. The utilisation of these areas appears 

 to them in the circumstances the course best calculated to 

 enhance the value of the property, and to provide a fairly high 

 and constant revenue in the future ; and they think that the 

 introduction of systematic forestry will confer a direct benefit 

 upon the distant population dependent on the water by 

 preserving and purifying the supply, and an indirect benefit on 

 the immediate neighbourhood by the creation of new industries. 

 For these reasons they were of opinion that the local authorities 

 should be assisted by loans on easy terms to afforest their water- 

 catchment areas, if the area afforested is large enough to 

 provide permanent employment for a fairly considerable staff, 



