BRITISH FORESTRY, PAST AND FUTURE 17 



power to survey and schedule all land that is more suitable 

 for afforestation than for other purposes. An upper limit 

 of value of, say, 3s. per acre of rent, or 3 of capital value, 

 might, in the first instance, be taken as a general guide, and 

 this would certainly embrace several million acres. Expe- 

 rience in the past has unfortunately shown that the Govern- 

 ment is apt to seize on any excuse for delaying action, and 

 the country must see to it that directly the survey has re- 

 vealed a single area, afforestation shall proceed. While it 

 is not expected that private afforestation will do much to 

 relieve the situation, the owners of scheduled areas should 

 in all cases be given the opportunity of performing the work. 

 Where the land defined as afforestable forms only a small 

 proportion of an estate, and especially if it is completely 

 surrounded by and intermixed with the estate, the owner 

 will probably, in most instances, make an effort to comply 

 with the conditions of statutable afforestation, and thereby 

 retain possession of the land. In some cases he would find 

 the necessary capital, while in others the capital would be 

 provided by the Government in the form of a loan. In 

 other instances it may be necessary for the State to secure 

 the land on long lease, in which case the owner would have 

 no control of the woods or interest in the area, except that 

 of a rent-charger, unless, as has been suggested by some, a 

 proportion of the timber receipts were reserved to him. 



While individual effort should everywhere receive en- 

 couragement it is not to be expected that private action 

 will do much to clothe with trees the wide stretches of poor 

 pastoral land that constitute the bulk of our afforestable 

 area. There, purchase outright by the State would appear 

 to be the only practicable procedure. As an alternative, 

 which is not materially different from purchase, the owner 

 might be given the option of granting a perpetual lease to 

 the Government, receiving an annuity in name of rent. In 

 this way he would enjoy a secure income, while the State 

 would be spared the necessity of finding a corresponding 

 amount of capital. 



