EMPIRE 79 



resources sufficient to supply all our requirements of 

 sawn fir. They point out that at present she produces 

 no more than Germany, which possesses only a tenth 

 of her timber. The supplying of this vast amount of 

 material to us by Canada resolves itself into a question 

 of the provision of the necessary transport and labour. 



Pulp. — The pulp at present imported into the 

 United Kingdom comes almost entirely from foreign 

 countries, but the Commissioners report that New- 

 foundland will in future become one of the most im- 

 portant contributors to the world's supply. Although 

 it is only in the last eight years that this industry has 

 been introduced into that country, the possession of 

 suitable water power has enabled the trade to make 

 great strides. 



Props. — A separate Commission sent to Canada and 

 Newfoundland during the war reported that these 

 countries were capable of satisfying all the requirements 

 of the Mother Country in pit props. 



It appears, therefore, that Canada and Newfoundland 

 are capable of providing all the sawn firs, pulp, and pit 

 props for the United Kingdom, and thus satisfying 

 twenty-three millions out of the thirty-four millions of 

 imports of wood into the United Kingdom. 



Sugar. — None of the three Dominions sends us 

 sugar. Canada has long grown sugar-beet, and has at 

 present a cultivation of 20,000 acres under this sort of 

 sugar ; Australia has as much as 150,000 acres under 

 sugar-cane ; but neither of these countries has any 

 surplus of sugar for export. With such extensive areas 

 under sugar cultivation each of these Dominions has 

 proved its capacity for sugar production. Countries of 

 limited population, however, cannot carry out every 

 cultivation on a large scale, and for Canada and Australia 

 to supply the United Kingdom with her requirements 

 in sugar becomes a matter of being furnished with the 

 requisite population. 



