RAILWAYS AND HOME TIMBER. 193 



the home sleepers as for the foreign ones they would be surprised 

 at the greatly increased supply they would get. Owing to the 

 small price they were getting, it paid home timber merchants to 

 put sleeper timber to other uses, but a price equivalent to the 

 foreign sleeper would transfer a large portion of this timber into 

 the sleeper market. He held that home timber merchants were 

 giving to proprietors, in proportion to what they were getting 

 themselves, as good prices as it was possible for them to give. 

 In fact, those proprietors who had already made the test and 

 sold their wood in the market had found that that was so. It 

 was clear that the better price they got in the home market the 

 better price they would be able to give to proprietors, and, in 

 accordance with these better prices, so there would be greater 

 encouragement to proprietors to go on planting more timber. 

 As they were all doubtless aware afforestation on a large scale 

 was held to be one of the most effective methods of keeping our 

 people on the land. It was simply appalling to think that more 

 people were annually leaving Scotland than were being born 

 into it. It was clear also that if the railway companies adopted 

 a wise broad policy in regard to home timber, and this resulted in 

 the encouragement of afforestation, they themselves in the long- 

 run would be great gainers, as a large portion of the cost of 

 home timber was always represented by railway carriage. Be- 

 sides, it was to their interests that their sources of supply 

 should be as wide as possible, as in giving home timber of every 

 kind fair play in the future they would be able to keep the 

 foreigner much better in his place regarding his prices than 

 they had been able to do in the past. Mr Jones finished up 

 by appealing for a preference, just, indeed, as the Canadians 

 gave the Mother Country a preference, but if they could not 

 see their way to give a preference then they should at least 

 give them equality and, if they did so, then not only would 

 they be doing justice to the interests represented by the 

 deputation, but they would be doing justice to the interests of 

 the railway companies themselves. Mr Jones then exhibited a 

 piece of home spruce which had been in the roof of a building 

 at Larbert for twenty -five years and was still in perfect 

 condition. 



Dr BoRTHWicK then spoke with regard to the durability of 

 home-grown Scots pine, and stated that it had been tested up 

 to the hilt in previous times. In experience it had been found 



