CONCLUSION. 483 



inand of foodstuffs and necessary timber — the timber which 

 we can best grow (as being most congenial to our soil, climate 

 and the various positions concerned) being also — as has 

 been shown by expert judges, giving evidence before our 

 Forestry Committee — precisel}^ the kind of timber which we 

 most stand in need of, for our practical employment. And 

 we want land made more readily saleable without excessive 

 to-do, in great part as a relief to the large landowner. That 

 being done, it will not be difficult to graft upon our land 

 system greater facilities — such as exist and are highly valued 

 abroad — for raising money on the security of territorial 

 possessions at a cheap rate, whatever be the object of such 

 loans. The fact that the form of credit so provided would 

 at the same time bring benefit to capitalists by affording 

 them a handy, readily convertible and safe investment is, 

 of course, an additional recommendation. 



However both these measures, or groups of measures, 

 have a decidedly important and direct bearing also upon the 

 question of Labour and Small Holdings Cultivation. The 

 forests to be planted, as it has been repeatedly urged, would 

 provide most welcome employment, so far as it goes, for 

 rural Labour even after the land has been planted — which 

 latter will be a distinct occupation by itself. And metho- 

 dical, comprehensive reclamation of waste land has, at any 

 rate partly, been advocated on the ground that it will pro- 

 vide employment for small men, whether for the reclamation 

 itself, or for further cultivation, such as would not be practic- 

 able for large farmers. There is much land now lying waste 

 which, by reason of its peculiar situation or natural con- 

 formation, is cultivable only in small holdings. The facili- 

 ties for transfer and divisibility of land manifestly tend to 

 assist in the formation of such small holdings, by rendering 

 the separation of small parcels easier from the main block. 



It is rather a reproach to us, as establishing the fact of 

 past neglect, that the difficulties in the way of reclamation 

 and afforestation are esteemed so great as of necessity to 

 call for the interference of the State, not with its purse alone, 

 but also with its supreme power of administration and 

 expropriation. Landlords have " preferred rabbits to trees," 



