CAUSES OF INACTION 37 



invested in 3,000,000 acres of land have been allowed 

 to depreciate to the extent it did depreciate year 

 after year without its owners making an effort in its 

 favour ? The reason, I think, may be attributed to 

 two causes. The first, the absence of forest educa- 

 tion. A specialised education it is true, education 

 in the principles of scientific forest management. 

 Why did not this truth present itself with over- 

 whelming force to the landowners ? It did not do 

 so ; had not done so, not to proprietors as a body, 

 when the war broke out. It may have been due to 

 the firm belief held by the average landowner that 

 his woods could by no possibility be made to pay. 

 His agent told him so ; his gamekeeper looked 

 upon them, and treated them, as a mere adjunct, 

 a necessary adjunct, to his job ; and the forester, 

 with the market obviously supporting the agent 

 and gamekeeper, the market which would not take 

 his produce, could only curse the foreign materials 

 and yearn for the old days back again. For the 

 forester, no more than his proprietor, understood 

 the real reason for the position he was up against ; 

 nor was the remedy at any time in the hands of 

 the former. The second cause which militated 

 against the woods being treated and worked as a 

 commercial proposition was the fact that, with 

 certain exceptions, they were chiefly regarded 

 from their usefulness in affording sport or amenity. 

 When viewed from this aspect, the owner may be 

 considered to have got some return before the war 

 on the capital invested. 



To return to the position in the eighties, if the 



