178 FORESTRY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



Minister. He says: — "In dealing with the settlement of 

 immigrants in Siberia, it will be necessar}^ to give special 

 attention to the forests, the actual condition of which 

 threatens Siberia with great perils in the future. Almost 

 everywhere the forests have either been totally destroyed or 

 devastated by the local people, so that they have almost lost 

 their value. Absence of supervision and the rise in the price 

 of forest produce, following the construction of the railway 

 and the development of steam navigation, are causes of the 

 exhaustion of Siberia's forest richness. The principal causes 

 of destruction are, however, forest fires. Year by year 

 enormous extents of the finest pine forests are ruined by fire. 

 In the arrondissement of Altai one can see every year tens of 

 thousands of acres of forest burnt, and these fires uncover the 

 soil which has already commenced to become moving sand. 

 In consequence of this enormous destruction of forests, the 

 climate of Siberia is actually deteriorating, and this is probably 

 the cause of the famine which reigns since two years in the 

 Altai. For these reasons, it is absolutely necessary to introduce 

 at once a proper forest organisation into Siberia." 



After such testimony by the Eussian Finance Minister, 

 Siberia may just as well be struck oft" the list of countries 

 upon which those relied, who have as yet doubts regarding 

 the coming shortness of timber supplies. Let us hope, 

 that matters are less serious in other parts of the Eussian 

 Empire. 



On the whole, there can be no doubt that the pressure 

 in Europe is increasing and is likely to continue doing so in 

 the future. This is indicated by the course which the average 

 price of timber has followed in Britain. From about 1870 

 to 1888 the price of timber fell, chiefly owing to the great 

 development of the means of transport by sea ; from 1888 

 to 1894 prices were steady, but in the latter year a gradual 

 rise set in which in 1899 amounted to 18 per cent. The 

 South African War brought some disturbance, but in 1902 

 a further advance occurred, so that the total rise during 



