FOURTH REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONERS. 203 



land ; and the Commissioners have, therefore, been compelled to 

 consider an alternative plan, under which land could be leased 

 by a suitable executive authority from the owner, and afforested 

 with assistance from the Development Fund. The question of 

 the authority to work out and execute such schemes (the 

 Commissioners themselves having no executive power) now 

 requires a solution, which they hope will be found shortly. 

 They trust that in the event of this obstacle being overcome, 

 private landowners will be willing to share the financial burden 

 and risk of afforesting their land, by letting it on what may be 

 called a proceed-sharing lease instead of payment of a fixed rent 

 from the beginning of the lease. It is clear that if a landowner 

 himself starts afforesting his land, he loses for many years any 

 grazing rent which he has previously received for the part 

 afforested. The object of a proceed-sharing arrangement is to 

 defer payment for the use of the land till the proceeds of the 

 afforestation accrue, and thereby set free for actual afforestation 

 that part of the limited resources of the Fund which would 

 otherwise have to be devoted not to planting but to the 

 acquisition of land preliminary to planting. It is possible 

 also by lease to select only land suitable for afforestation, whereas 

 a purchase scheme must almost always include land more fitted 

 for agricultural or other purposes. 



" One minor matter may be mentioned in conclusion. The 

 Distress Committee of the City of Glasgow applied for a grant 

 of ^640 for the afforestation of about 80 acres of their estate at 

 Palacerigg. After an inspection of the area by one of the 

 Commissioners, they came to the conclusion that the site does 

 not lend itself to a practical scheme of afforestation. The 

 Distress Committee have since submitted another scheme, which 

 was being considered at the close of the year, for the reclamation 

 and development of parts of the Palacerigg estate by means of 

 shelter belts." 



