RESOLUTION ON TIMBER SUPPLY. lOI 



" 3. That in recent years successive Secretaries for Scotland 

 have promised on behalf of Government that a Department of 

 Forestry would be created in connection with the Board of 

 Agriculture for Scotland, but that such Department has not yet 

 been formed : 



" 4. That the Board of Agriculture for Scotland and the 

 Development Commissioners have failed to make reasonable 

 provision out of the Funds under their control for the develop- 

 ment of Forestry in Scotland, and that it is therefore necessary 

 that the new Department of Forestry, when formed, should be 

 provided with a separate annual grant adequate for this purpose : 

 " 5. That the area of woodlands in Scotland previous to the 

 War was about 868,000 acres, or only about 4 per cent, of the 

 whole land area, being the lowest percentage of the countries of 

 Europe (except Ireland and Portugal), and forming a striking 

 contrast to other countries on the Continent having from 17 up 

 to as high as 53 per cent, of woodlands : 



" 6. That the Annual Value of the Imports of Timber into the 

 British Isles previous to the War was about ^^40,000, 000 ; that 

 between 80 and 90 per cent, of the timber so imported consisted 

 of Coniferous or soft woods of whicTi a large proportion could 

 have been grown in this country, and if so grown would have 

 provided healthy and remunerative occupation for a large rural 

 population, and have prevented the present timber famine and 

 the great shortage of tonnage from which the country is now 

 suffering : 



" 7. That the War in which the country is at present engaged 

 has directed particular attention to : — 



"(i) The dependence of this country on Foreign Countries 

 for timber of all kinds, but especially pit-wood and 

 railway timber ; 

 "(2) The greatly increased demand for all kinds of home- 

 grown timber — which owing to the widespread 

 devastation on the Continent is likely to continue 

 long after the conclusion of the war ; 

 "(3) The large areas of home woods that are being cleared 

 to meet that demand, including young, thriving 

 plantations, prematurely cut for pit-wood, for which 

 they were not intended ; 

 " (4) The improbability that all or even a large proportion of 

 these areas will be voluntarily re-planted, with the 



VOL. XXX. PART II. H 



