THE PRODUCE OF FORESTS. 175 



the toys and games, of which we imported in 1902 to the vahie 

 of £1,240,840. Again, there are imports of 



£. 

 Wood pulp boards .... vaUie 256,903 



Matches ,, 419,099 



Brooms and brushes . . . ,, 317,665 



Baskets and basket ware . . . ,, 262,116 

 Other sorts of wood, inckiding wood 



ware, etc ,, 1,320,520 



If all these items are added up we find that we now pay for 

 imports of timber and the above-mentioned articles the sum of 

 twenty-seven million pounds, all of which could be produced in 

 this country. Imagine for a moment, what an amount of labour 

 it would require to produce these articles at home, and all 

 the time we do not know what to do with our " Unemployed." 

 Is it not time to wake up and do something ? 



We have, for instruction and as an example, to glance only 

 at the beech woods in the Chiltern Hills, the existence of which 

 caused the development of an extensive chair industry. Tens 

 of thousands of workmen are employed in that industry, which 

 would never have seen the light of day without these forests. 

 The industry has now developed to such an extent that it 

 consumes the beech and other timber from the surrounding 

 counties, as well as large quantities imported from al)road. 

 There can be no doubt that similar industries will spring up 

 in other parts of the country, if we create the necessary wood- 

 lands and thus produce the raw material. 



r. Uncfirlainfy of Fulurs Supplies of Tiniler. 



If we sit still and do nothing, can we rely for any length of 

 time on getting the necessary timber, in fact, as long as we 

 can pay for it ? The reply is, " By no means." 



To begin with, Britain is not the only importing country in 

 Europe, As a matter of fact, most European countries import 

 and only a few export timber. This is illustrated by the 

 following statement : — 



