86 FORESTRY IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



several sources of supply may not dry up quite as quickly as 

 some people believe, there are suspicious signs of a prospective 

 falling off in the supply. Under these circumstances, the 

 British Empire as a whole should endeavour to safeguard 

 against a calamity which, if it has once set in, can only be 

 remedied after a considerable lapse of time. Although some 

 of the dependencies have made great progress in this direction, 

 others are as yet in the very beginning, and many of the 

 colonies are still "playing" with the forest question. Tlie 

 reason for this is to be found in the constitutional aversion of 

 the Briton to State interference in the case of anything which 

 partakes of the nature of an industry. Whenever the forest 

 question was taken up, whether in India or in the colonies, 

 the usual cry was that the matter might safel.y be left to 

 private enterprise ; then, when people began to feel uneasy as 

 to the result, feeble attempts were made to interfere by half- 

 hearted measures which had for their object to check the 

 further destruction of the forests and the waste of valuable 

 material, without, however, inconveniencing anybodj'^ engaged 

 in the business of destruction. It was only when matters had 

 gone from bad to worse that more energetic steps were taken 

 — in other words that, after all, the State did interfere. 



Another product of the forest, india-rubber, has become of 

 the first importance. We import rubber annually valued at 

 six million pounds, and we produce only about 5£300,000 

 worth in the Empire. Here, then, is a large field for enter- 

 prise, considering that many of the tropical colonies and 

 dependencies are admirably suited for the growth of rubber 

 and gutta-percha plants. A commencement of laying out 

 plantations has been made, but operations must be conducted 

 on a considerably larger scale, if the rubber plants destroyed 

 by reckless tapping are to be replaced. 



It has been shown in Parts I. and II. of this volume that 

 State interference is more called for in the case of forestry 

 than in most other industries, and it has been explained in 

 what manner this can be effected. The Government of India 



