40 



Chairman's Remarks. 



The Chairman said: — "The next item on the paper is the 

 Chairman's remarks. These will be very few, because I have no 

 particular subject upon which to address you this afternoon. I 

 would merely remind you how the war has necessarily interfered 

 with every scheme of social development. The Government and 

 the nation are so much occupied in considering how to bring the 

 war to a successful issue, that they are unable at present to give 

 very much attention to any of our social schemes. But the war 

 has given us a far stronger case for Government help in the 

 matter of forestry than we have ever had before ; and it is our 

 duty, therefore, in the meantime, to prepare for the end of the 

 war. I think the war must have made quite clear to every one, 

 even to all the authorities, to what a dangerous extent we have 

 hitherto been dependent upon foreign timber. When the war 

 began and the importation of timber was checked, the scarcity 

 was immediately felt. The price of every article in which wood 

 is required has gone up considerably. We have all had experi- 

 ence of this in our various ways. I might add one small example 

 to the many examples great and small that you are already 

 aware of. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association with 

 which I am connected have had lately to increase the grant that 

 they give for funeral expenses, chiefly because of the rise in price 

 of coffins. Then there is the question of pit-wood, the demand 

 for which has been so great that there has been much difficulty 

 in meeting it. Plantations have been cut down wholesale for the 

 purpose, and this has gone on to such an extent that the Board 

 of Agriculture has grown alarmed at the prospect, and has been 

 considering whether they should not give a bonus to landowners 

 to induce them to replant any area which has been cleared, so 

 as to ensure that the very limited acreage of woodlands in Great 

 Britain should not be further reduced. These things point to the 

 fact that the forestry question must come to the front almost 

 immediately. As soon as the war is over, the Government will 

 have, I think, to tackle the question, and they will tackle it far 

 more energetically than they have done in the past. Meantime, 

 it is for us and for all who are interested in forestry to be 

 considering what steps should now be taken with that end in 

 view. Perhaps there are some members in this room who would 

 be prepared with suggestions this afternoon. We have a 



