AND FORESTRY COMMISSION 219 



United Kingdom, now almost waste, to be put to their best 

 economic use. They will also, if provision is made in time, 

 afford the means for settling discharged soldiers on the land 

 under healthy conditions.' 



(7) 'Forestry demands long views, but the first fruits are 

 not so long delayed as many imagine. The policy of State 

 afforestation which we recommend will begin to provide pit- 

 wood from the quicker-growing species on the better kinds 

 of mountain land from the fifteenth year onwards ; by the 

 fortieth year the plantations made in the first ten years alone 

 will contain sufficient timber to keep our pits supplied, in 

 emergency, for two years on the scale of present consumption.' 



(8) { The first essential is a Forest Authority equipped with 

 funds and powers to survey, purchase, lease and plant land, and 

 generally to administer the areas acquired, with compulsory 

 powers to be exercised, when needed, after due inquiry and 

 the award of fair compensation. The care of forestry, now 

 divided among several departments, should be centralized in 

 this body.' 



(9) ( We recommend that the Authority should be authorized 

 to make limited grants for every acre replanted or newly 

 afforested during the first ten years after the war by public 

 bodies or private individuals ; such plantations to be made in 

 accordance with approved plans and conditions.' 



(10) * We estimate the cost for the first ten years at 

 3,435,000. It may be necessary to invest 15,000,000 

 altogether in this enterprise during the first 40 years. After 

 that time the scheme should be self-supporting. The financial 

 return depends on prices, wages, bank rates, &c., which are 

 difficult to forecast. Forests are a national necessity ; the 

 country must have them even though they yield less than 

 the current rate of interest on capital invested. The whole 

 sum involved is less than half the direct loss incurred during 

 the years 1915 and 1916 through dependence on imported 

 timber.' 



