58 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February), 1919 



Canada's Sales to the U. K. 



Over this great imperial question the states- 

 men of the Empire should lay their heads to- 

 gether. It is a disquieting fact that the timber 

 exports of Canada have for obvious geographic- 

 al and economic reasons been steadily diverted 

 in recent years from the Mother Country to the 

 United States. The present present time when 

 the United States is curtailing its consumption 

 of timber and increasing its exports is favourable 

 for stemming this tendency by friendly arrange- 

 ment with that country. It is the policy of New- 

 foundland not to export unmanufactured timber. 

 That policy appears to be well justified by the 

 conditions of the island and will no doubt be 

 continued, though it was generously waived 

 during the war. In Canada the conditions and 

 the policy are wholly different. Yet the export 

 of timber to the United Kingdom declined in 

 volume by nearly a half between 1 899 and 1913. 

 In the latter year it represented less than an 

 eleventh part of the British consumption. This 

 state of things ought not to be allowed to con- 

 tinue. It cannot be remedied without some 

 modification of British policy. Besides making 

 every effort to cheapen and hasten transport, this 

 country would, in the writer's judgment, be justi- 

 fied in making a substantial contribution towards 

 the development of fire protection in Canada and 

 in levying such duties on imports from Russia 

 and Scandinavia as may be necessary to place 

 Canadian imports on an eg lal footing. Inci- 



dentally these duties would smooth the path of 

 afforestation in the British Isles. The writer, 

 though a free trader in principle, holds that the 

 question of the country's future timber supplies 

 is sufficiently important to transcend this or any 

 other doctrine. To lose the chance of putting 

 future supplies on a sure basis through reluct- 

 ance to forego the cheap but uncertain supply 

 from Northern Europe would, in his opinion, be 

 an act of short-sighted folly. 



The suggestion here made from the British 

 point of view is commended to the consideration 

 of readers. It is assumed that the Dominion would 

 on its side spare no effort to further this trade 

 with the Mother Country. The facilitation of 

 transport within the Dominion might well form 

 part of the bargain. The return flow of British 

 goods to Canada would also have to be con- 

 sidered. 



An arrangement under which the United 

 Kingdom came to depend on Canadian timber 

 would reach far beyond the immediate objects 

 aimed at. It would form a real bond of mutual 

 interest and bring the Dominion nearer to the 

 British Isles. For these isles the only sane alter- 

 native is afforestation up to the hilt and afforest- 

 ation carried beyond its economic limits, whether 

 it encroaches on land fit for agriculture or is 

 driven to barren and stormy heights, means a 

 heavy drain on the Treasury without adequate 

 return. 



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