THE STATE AND PRIVATE OWNERS 257 



form in which assistance can be given, as they enable an 

 owner to plant with the smallest immediate outlay, and a 

 subsequent annual payment of interest and sinking fund 

 is not so much felt as the payment of the total sum at 

 the outset. 



In Great Britain provisions are already made under 

 the Improvement of Land Acts, etc., by which loans 

 are granted to companies for periods of twenty-five or 

 forty years, repayable by annuities varying from 5 to 

 7 per cent, respectively, and bearing interest at 3| to 4 

 per cent. Similar loans are granted by the Board of 

 Works in Ireland. Little advantage has, however, been 

 taken of these loans for planting purposes, not quite 

 £100,000 having been advanced since 1864 in England, 

 and a much smaller sum in Ireland. Whatever the 

 reason for this may be, there is little doubt that the 

 interest charged is too high, and the period of repayment 

 too short. No private owner can afford to pay 4 per 

 cent, interest on capital invested in his woods, and obtain 

 a profit at the end of the rotation, and while he may 

 possibly borrow for shelter-planting, or to produce game 

 cover, it is scarcely probable that he would burden his 

 estate with a dead-weight charge of possibly 10s. 

 per acre in perpetuity, assuming that the annual 

 loss incurred on the capital outlay amounted to that 

 sum. 



To plant by means of these loans is, therefore, bad 

 finance, if nothing more. No loans for forestry pur- 

 poses should bear interest at a higher rate than 2^ per 

 cent., with an additional ^ per cent, for sinking fund. 

 This would spread the loan practically over the life of 

 the crop, and however impossible loans at such rates 

 might be to a private money-lender, they are certainly 

 possible to the State. If a little loss Avere involved in 

 making them, it should be regarded as a premium 



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