86 



THE FOKEST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



AUSTRALASIA. 



There is a difference of opinion as to whether poor condition result- 

 ing from abuse or inaccessibility is the cause of the insufficiency of 

 Australasia's forests to supply home needs at present. In any case, 

 the imports are sure to continue to increase for some years, and it is 

 very unlikely that any surplus timber for export will ever be pro- 

 duced. The following table gives the net exports or imports of each 

 of the colonies for the period 1894-1899: 



Value of net exports and imports by colonies. a 



a From A. A. Radzig, loc. cit. 



HAWAII. 



Hawaii, with only about 1,175,000 acres of forest, and developing 

 industries, can export only a trifling amount of timber. 



THE PHILIPPINES. 



The Philippine Islands contain about 49,000,000 acres of wooded 

 land, and the estimate per acre given is 2,500 board feet, which gives 

 a total of 122,500,000,000 board feet of merchantable timber. The 

 Philippines import timber for two reasons the inaccessibility of 

 their own forests at present, and the need of light, easily worked 

 wood. In time, as transportation is developed and the forests are 

 made accessible, the native forests should supply nearly all the home 

 consumption, and leave enough over for export to equal or surpass 

 the quantity imported of certain classes of timber which are not 

 found in the islands. But owing to the small amount of total stand, 

 and the fact that there are only about 2 acres per capita in commer- 

 cial forest, the increase in consumption with development of indus- 

 tries and increase in population will prevent the timber export 

 from ever being an important factor in supplying the United States. 



SUMMARY FOR ASIA. 



A brief summary of Asia results in the following conclusions: 

 (1) China and Australasia are import countries; the imports of 

 the former will increase rapidly, while Australasia will probably not 

 increase the amount of her import much; (2) Japan and India 

 export valuable woods and import structural timber; (3) these coun- 

 tries will be buyers of saw-log timber, and can not be counted on as 

 possible sources of supply for the United States, but must be regarded 

 rather as possible competitors; (4) the Philippines, though now an 



