4 Practical Forestry 



The question, then, before the nation is :. How, and by 

 whom, is afforestation to be carried out on a scale com- 

 mensurate with our necessities as by far the largest timber- 

 importing country in the world ? larger, indeed, than all 

 the countries of Europe put together. In answer, and 

 without the slightest hesitation, I would say that the 

 State should acquire and plant suitable lands at the rate 

 of 40,000 acres annually for a period of twenty-five years, 

 or 1,000,000 in all. 



When we consider that the total area of woodlands in 

 this country is only a little in excess of 3,071,000 acres, 

 that fully 17,000,000 acres of waste lands exist, and that 

 we annually import over 10,000,000 tons of timber at a 

 cost of about 25,000,000, the necessity for an increased 

 area of woodlands, so that a portion at least of this vast 

 sum may be kept at home, will be apparent to all, the more 

 so as a dearth of timber is imminent and outside supplies 

 are being rigidly conserved, while our home demands are 

 ever on the increase. 



In order to carry out my proposed scheme of planting a 

 million acres during the next five years, at the rate of 200,000 

 acres annually, profitable and healthy employment would 

 at once be found for several thousand workmen. The 

 question of transporting, housing and otherwise dealing 

 with these workmen has been brought forward as the most 

 serious drawback to the scheme, but, personally, having 

 had to deal with such cases I can see no insuperable difficulty 

 in the undertaking. Surely, if our railway and water 

 companies, as also private landowners, can deal with 

 hundreds of men in remote mountain districts that are far 

 removed from road and rail, the Government could make 

 the necessary arrangements for the various bodies of work- 

 men that would be employed for afforesting purposes. 

 Nor must tree planting be considered as a new departure 

 for unemployed labour, as in the formation of a large 

 plantation on a dreary exposed hillside in Wales, the whole 

 of the work, including clearing the ground of rough surface 

 growth, draining, pitting and planting, was most successfully 

 carried out by detachments of the unemployed. 





