76 PRIVATE FORESTS. 



are not always capable of determining the most suitable 

 system of management, because the latter is not a fixture, 

 but subject to changes from time to time. As a consequence, 

 supervision is liable to be harsh and unjust. It destroys the 

 desire on the part of ^jrivate owners to take up forestry. It 

 may lead to serious financial loss by insisting on the main- 

 tenance of too large an area of forest, thus actually stimulating 

 extravagance in the use of forest produce. State supervision, 

 if efficient, is necessarily very expensive, otherwise it exists 

 only on paper. 



(c) Instead of obstructing private forestry in a one-sided 

 manner, while fields are free from such interference, the State 

 should try and stimulate it by removing all obstacles to it which 

 now exist,* by encouraging and facilitating the construction of 

 means of communication, the establishment of forest schools, 

 providing good laws for the protection of forest property, 

 the commutation of forest rights, and advances at rates of 

 interest equal to that at which Government can borrow money. 



If, after that, private forestry does not attain the desired 

 standard, the State should acquire so much forest that no 

 endangering of the common welfare is to be feared. Under 

 any circumstances, wherever a fair extent of forests already 

 belongs to the State or communities, private forestry may be 

 released of all State interference. 



3. Manner of Supervising Private Forests. 



The measures provided in forest laws and regulations as 

 regards private forests partly tend towards an increase in the 

 quantity and quality of forest produce, and partly to guard 

 against extravagance in the consumption of such produce. 

 They refer to : — 



(a) Prohibition to convert forests into fields or meadows, 

 or to use them for other purposes. 



* Amongst the most serious impediments to successful private forestry in 

 Britain are the preferential railway rates for foreign timber and the danger 

 from fires lighted by railway engines. 



