16 AN INTRODUCTION 



present demands, all the timber required by the 

 whole of Europe, in addition to Canada's domestic 

 requirements. 



(3) The forest area of Siberia is immense, and must in 

 future generations help to prevent any shortage in 

 the world's timber supply. 



(4) The majority of waste lands in this country are far 



removed from all consuming centres, and, owing to 

 the fact that the transport of timber must generally 

 be by rail or road, the cost of marketing home- 

 grown timber will, in many cases, exceed the cost 

 of marketing in Great Britain that which is grown 

 in foreign countries. For instance, Swedish timber, 

 grown within two miles of the banks of one of the 

 rivers flowing into the Baltic, will probably not have 

 cost in transportation, from the place where the log 

 was felled to any large British port, more than about 

 4d. to 5d. a cubic foot, and sometimes even less. 

 But on the other hand, British grown timber will 

 often have cost twice or thrice that amount before it 

 can be delivered at a large consuming centre. For, 

 often, the British grown timber has to be hauled 

 6 to 8 miles to a station, and then perhaps 50 to 

 60 l miles to some large town ; whereas the Swedish 

 grown timber, as instanced, would be taken on 

 sleighs to the river's edge, or perhaps shot down 

 a timber slide into the river, and then it would be 

 floated down the river to the saw-mills, at an almost 

 infinitesimal cost, and then shipped direct to a 

 British port. 2 



So again, timber can be felled near the coast of 

 British Columbia, or in parts of Vancouver Island, 

 and can be delivered at a British port at a cost for 



1 It should be noted that if large areas were afforested, any small local 

 markets would soon be glutted, and the large consuming centres at a 

 greater distance would have to be sought. 



2 Timber can be shipped from a Baltic port to London at about 

 2d. to 2|d. per cubic foot. 



