40 THE DEVKLOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



itself to the front in the United Kingdom, has hitherto 

 been regarded by the majority of our citizens as of too 

 abstruse a nature to enlist more than an academic sort of 

 interest. So long as the shoe does not pinch, people are 

 naturally not inclined to think too seriously about the 

 possible effects of a scarcity of timber some twenty-five 

 or thirty years hence. The practical man, however, is 

 aware that the question is too serious to be dismissed 

 with a shrug of the shoulders, and the following remarks 

 from the pen of one actively engaged in the timber trade 

 of the north of Europe, who has had ample opportunity 

 of forming a judgment as to the present condition of the 

 forests on the Swedish side of the Scandinavian Penin- 

 sula, may not be without interest. 



' Before expressing a definite opinion as to the condition 

 of the Swedish forests and the influence these may be 

 expected to exert on the financial result of the proposed 

 planting of denuded areas in the United Kingdom, it is 

 necessary to look back for some decades. It must be 

 understood that, prior to the reduction of the import 

 duty in 1842 in this country to 30s. per load for sawn and 

 24s. for hewn wood, growing wood in Sweden had a mere 

 nominal value as a realisable asset. The effect of this 

 was that very little care was exercised in its conservation. 

 The Swedish saw-mill industry as we know it may be said 

 to have had its inception after the reduction of the duty 

 on foreign sawn and hewn softwoods in 1851 to 10s. and 

 7s. 6d. per load respectively, a further fillip being given to 

 the industry when the British duty was reduced to a 

 nominal amount in 1860, prior to its total abolition in 

 1866. It was not till after the Crimean War that any 

 appreciable quantity of building timber was shipped to 

 European countries other than Great Britain, the price 

 then and for several years after being practically set by 

 the market in the United Kingdom. 



