22 MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



a suitable addition by way of a sinking fund. Such advances 

 should cover the actual outlay for planting, and the plantation 

 would remain mortgaged to Government until the advance 

 has been paid back. Let us take an example : A proprietor 

 wishes to plant 1,000 acres at a cost of, say, 5 an acre. 

 This would involve an outlay of 5,000, a sum which he may 

 be unwilling, or unable to raise except at a high rate of 

 interest. Under the plan suggested above, he would have to 

 pay about ,150 to 175 a year, which he may be able to 

 afford. After some twenty years (and frequently sooner) the 

 thinnings would commence, when he would be relieved of the 

 payment to the State, and from that time forward the planta- 

 tion would give him an increasing income. The State has 

 just agreed to pay a large sum of money for the benefit of the 

 Irish cultivators. "\Vould it be too much to ask such a small 

 consideration as that just indicated for another set of loyal 

 subjects ? 



Then, there is the manner in which rates and taxes are 

 assessed upon woodlands. The late Forestry Committee was 

 of opinion that it could be improved and made more just, but 

 it is a difficult subject, and I must refer those who are interested 

 in the matter to the report of the committee. 



Another serious matter is the question of the rates charged 

 by railway companies for the carriage of British timber. These 

 rates are higher than those charged on foreign timber. The 

 Forestry Committee also dealt with this subject, and it is to be 

 hoped that the complaints of timber merchants may be taken 

 up at an early date. There is, however, one point to which 

 attention must be drawn. It was given in evidence before the 

 committee that in most cases the foreign timber was easier to 

 handle and packed better in the trucks, so that the railway 

 companies were bound to charge something for British timber 

 over and above the amount charged for foreign timber. This 

 drawback will disappear when we begin growing cleaner 

 timber. 



Finally, it should be mentioned that some county councils 



