LAND TEXUEES 283 



time for which capital must be locked up before any return can be 

 expected, the loss of rent and burden of rates over the whole period, 

 and the absence of security for continuous care and manaf^ement, 

 act as deterrents. None of these objections applies to the State, 

 whose corporate life and resources lend themselves in an especial 

 dc{2;ree to an undeitakinf;" of this character. If the State plants, it 

 will certainly reap, which the individual owner can rarely hope 

 to do." * 



" The success of forestry depends to a large extent on a well 

 thought out scheme of operations, with continuity of management 

 throughout the whole period of the rotation. On private property 

 sucii persistence is dillicult to secure. One owner succeeds another 

 at more or less short intervals, and the personal views or private 

 needs of the individual may over-ride the forest policy of his pre- 

 decessor. The State, on the other hand, never dies, so tliut a scheme 

 of operations can be inaugurated with every prospect of being carried 

 to a successful conclusion. In other respects, too, the State can 

 accomplish much that is beyond the power of the individual." f 



" Your Commissioners have no hesitation in recommending that 

 it is in the highest degree in the public interests that a beginning 

 should forthwith be made with a comprehensive scheme of national 

 afforestation. To accomplish this it will be necessary, at an early 

 stao-e, for the State to aciiuire suitable land, and at once the alterna- 

 tives arise of acquisition by negotiation or by compulsion, ho 

 doubt some progress would be possible along the lines of acquisi- 

 tion by negotiation, and considerable areas might be obtained 

 in this way. But as the essence of success lies in suitable land 

 being obtained in suitable places, and, furthermore, as scientitic 

 sylviculture demands that operations shall be carried out on large 

 compact areas, it does not appear to Your Commissioners pro- 

 bable that all owners of suitable land would be ready voluntarily to 

 sell on reasonable terms. We, therefore, recommend that compulsoiy 

 powers be obtained by legislative enactment, and that a general 

 survey should be made with a view of ascirtaining what lands are 

 available for the purposes of State afforestation. These lauds would 

 be purchased from time to time as required, the owner receiving in 

 compensation their full value iu all the circumstances of each parti- 

 cular case, following the precedent of the Small Holdings Act, 1907, 

 so far as it is applicable. Compensation should be paid also to 

 sitting tenants. 



" The com[)ulsory purchase of private property in the interests of 

 the State is no new idea, and is exemplified in the Small Holdings 

 and Allotments Act, and in the Army Act. Even such a compara- 

 tively small purchase as that of Salisbury Plain could not be accoui- 

 plished without the application of compulsory powers. In the view 

 of Your Commissioners the object is of no less importance in the 

 case of the acquisition of land for State afforestation, and they 



* Royal Conimissiou on Coast Erosion and AlTorestatiou, 1909, p. 12. 

 t Ibid., p. 33. 



