FINANCE 95 



or the substitution of metal work for timber, 

 may enable the supply of timber to satisfy the 

 demand. Any invention which reduced the cost 

 of transport would open to the commerce of the 

 world enormous forests in America, Russia, and 

 Siberia. Even if for the sake of argument it 

 is admitted that the supply of timber will 

 diminish and a rise in the price follow, it would 

 remain uncertain, how far this rise will be 

 counteracted by the tendency of modern legis- 

 lation to increase the taxation of land, and how 

 much of any increase in price will be taken by 

 the feller, the hauler, and the timber merchant, 

 and what will be left for the grower of the trees. 

 The conclusion to be gained by a consideration 

 of all the probabilities seems to be that a serious 

 fall in the price of timber is improbable, and 

 that a planter may, without being unduly 

 sanguine, entertain some expectation of a rise. 



But even a large rise in price does not neces- 

 sarily mean a large increase in the profits of a 

 timber grower. In February 1917 the Govern- 

 ment paid 6s. or 7^. per cubic foot for sawn 

 oak planks, and Is. 9d. per cubic foot for oak 

 trees identical in size and quality with the 

 trees from which the planks were sawn. From 

 this example a planter can see that the grower 



