64 TIMBER SUPPLIES DURING THE WAR 



sideration by all the authorities concerned. It 

 was a very difficult question. People hauling 

 timber were liable to be called upon by various 

 authorities under the Highway Acts in the shape of 

 claims, and he might tell them that, so far as the 

 Timber Control was concerned, they had been shot 

 at perhaps more than anybody else. The public 

 roads in this country, like the railways, had been 

 suffering by reason of the curtailment of the usual 

 repairs. In some cases he was informed that the 

 usual rates which obtained prior to the war for 

 the annual renovation of these roads had not 

 been made, while in other cases some of the authori- 

 ties, he thought, had laid aside certain amounts, 

 so that the repairs could be dealt with as and when 

 they arose. 



' But it was not only the timber side of the 

 story which affected the roads. There was the 

 other, and, in his judgment, the equal wear and 

 tear brought upon our roads by the enormous 

 haulage which took place for the Ministry of Muni- 

 tions, the Air Board, the War Office, and so on, 

 so that to search out and adjust reasonable damage 

 on a claim for damage to any particular party was 

 a pretty difficult job. He thought and it had 

 been his view for a long time that we ought to 

 come to a much more simple conclusion on the 

 whole matter. He looked upon this question of 

 road damage perhaps more as one of the necessary 

 consequences arising out of the circumstances of 

 the war, and as such, in his judgment, it required 

 to be specially dealt with. He did not see there 

 was much benefit in wasting our money in litiga- 

 tion as to what should be paid. While he could not 

 tell them anything definite, he might mention that 

 the matter was receiving not only the attention 



