16 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



Probably a safe principle for any country to adopt when 

 determining its forest policy is that which will ensure 

 the domestic, or normal consumption of timber being met 

 by the home supply. An industrial country manufactures 

 goods which can be sold or exchanged for other commodi- 

 ties in different parts of the world, and there is no genuine 

 reason why timber should not advantageously constitute an 

 import in return for some other produce exported. It 

 appears to be a well-established law in economics that any 

 country which produces more of any particular com- 

 modity than is needed for the requirements of its popula- 

 tion must possess certain natural advantages which are 

 not found universally over the world's surface. These 

 natural advantages may be represented by minerals, fertile 

 land, good climate, surplus natural supplies of timber, or 

 even skilful workmen and inventive genius. In all cases, 

 however, they eventually lead to a surplus production of 

 some kind or another, and an increase in national wealth 

 above the bare necessities of the people. Without such 

 advantages a country can be little more than self-support- 

 ing, and it becomes imperative that all commodities of an 

 indispensable character should be produced at home to 

 avoid national bankruptcy or a shrinkage in population. 

 Few civilised countries at the present day produce all the 

 staple commodities consumed in them, chiefly because 

 certain goods can be produced at a cheaper rate else- 

 where, and the land or capital otherwise employed in 

 producing them be more advantageously put to other uses. 

 But it is evident that any article of commerce which 

 cannot be profitably produced by the individual manu- 

 facturer or cultivator of any country must sooner or later 

 become scarce, unless the State, or some equivalent ad- 

 ministrative body, decides to produce it at a comparative 

 loss, in which case its use will be limited or reserved for 

 home consumption as a matter of urgency or expediency. 



