PLANTING PROPOSALS 169 



to enable the planting to be done, and it takes from 

 three to four years to grow them, it becomes neces- 

 sary to fix upon the area it is possible to undertake 

 during the first period of ten years. The Committee 

 have adopted the correct policy in drawing up their 

 planting recommendations for this period only. 



This is the planting plan before the country which 

 has been provisionally accepted by the Government, 

 and will come up for final decision in the present 

 House of Commons. 



Will this scheme give you the advantages which 

 should be reaped from the afforestation of the waste 

 lands in the country ? Will it satisfy the needs of 

 the nation eighty years hence ? And can it have 

 anything like a decisive effect on the rural life of 

 the large areas of sparsely populated districts in the 

 country ? Is the plan at all commensurate with the 

 possibilities, which could be made practical realities 

 in so wealthy a country as Britain ? If we contrast 

 it with the expenditure on forestry undertakings in 

 the past in small European countries, such as 

 Belgium, for instance, is the contrast in our favour ? 



Answers are required to these questions before we 

 commit ourselves to an afforestation scheme upon 

 which great hopes are based hopes which may not 

 be realized. 



The position of a critic is always an unenviable 

 one unless he can support his criticisms with some 

 alternative or supplementary suggestion which at 

 least merits consideration. 



I propose, therefore, to offer a supplementary 

 suggestion on this matter of an afforestation scheme, 



