I go TRANSACTIONS OF KOYAI, SCOTTISH ARIiOklCUL'IUR AI, SOCIETY. 



suggested that the report should be submitted in draft to the 

 railway companies for their approval. 



Mr Chrystal, in reply, stated that the railway companies 

 would be glad to hear what the deputation had to say and that 

 they would decide afterwards whether they approved of the 

 report which it was proposed should be submitted to the members 

 of the different societies. Captain Stirling agreed to the proposal 

 and proceeded to refer to an agenda which had been drawn up 

 of the points it was proposed to discuss, and stated that in this 

 agenda certain figures were quoted, and asked whether it might 

 be assumed that these figures were before the railway companies. 



Mr Chrystal, in replying to Captain Stirling, informed 

 the deputation that the railway companies were in absolute 

 ignorance of the reason for the deputation, that to a certain 

 extent they understood it had to do with the afforestation of 

 land in Scotland, and that the price paid by them for home 

 timber had an indirect bearing on this point. He understood 

 they had merely come to hear certain points which the 

 deputation had to put before them. 



Captain Stirling remarked that he thought it was under- 

 stood that the principal object was to lay before the railway 

 companies the difference in the prices they were paying for 

 home and foreign timber and to ask for a remedy. Captain 

 Stirling then called upon Mr ^Sime to speak on the difference 

 between Baltic and home timber prices. 



Mr SiME pointed out that the present price of home sleepers 

 was about 3s., and that Baltic sleepers of the same specification 

 were being sold at 4s. 6d. and 4s. yd., being a difference in price 

 of about IS. 6d. to is. yd. per sleeper in favour of the foreign 

 article. For the yeais 1909 and 1910 the difference was only 

 about 5d. per sleeper, and he asked if the railway companies 

 could state how this difference was accounted for. Mr Sime 

 maintained that the Scots pine sleeper was better in quality than 

 the Baltic sleeper, and gave as one of the reasons for this that 

 the home-grown Scots pine sleeper is taken from root cuts, 

 whereas the Baltic sleeper is taken from middle and top cuts. 

 He explained that the railway companies in their own specifi- 

 cation laid down that there must be only two sleepers cut from 

 the block, and to get these two sleepers it was necessary for the 

 Baltic merchants to go far up the tree with their cuts. Mr 

 Sime expressed the view that the railway companies ought to 



