82 



FORESTRY IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



It is obviously impossible to deal with the forest question 

 of such an Empire in a wholesale fashion ; that question must 

 be studied and answered for each country separately. In one 

 respect, however, the Empire may be considered together, 

 namely, as regards the timber requirements of the whole. 

 The statistical records laid before Parliament show the imports 

 and exports of timber to have been approximately as follows 

 during a period of sixteen years : — 



Net Imports and Exports into 



Total Increase in the 16 years, £10,809,000. 



This table is not quite complete, because some of the smaller 

 colonies have been omitted, as well as the lately acquired 

 territories in Africa. In some cases, certain quantities of 

 timber were included under railway materials, so that their 

 value could not be ascertained. On the whole, however, the 

 table shows clearly that the British Empire, although it is said 

 to possess more extensive forests than any other country, 

 pays every year something like 22| million pounds sterling to 

 foreign countries for timber, and that the imports during sixteen 

 years have increased by lOf millions of pounds, or on an 

 average by ±'675,000 annually. Apart from timber, there are 

 considerable imports of other articles, such as wood pulp 

 estimated at about ±"2,000,000 a year and caou.tchouc estiuuited. 



