33 



Kajaani (Kajana) 9 520 hectares 



Tornio (Tornea) 5 430 



Kuopio 3 880 



Oulu (Uleaborg) 3 490 



Kokkola . . . ,, 3 150 



Four towns own areas of 2 000 3 000 hectares of forest, nine 

 own 1 000 2 000 hectares. The areas owned by the remainder are 

 under 1 000 hectares. 



The Forest Law of 1886 demands working plans for the muni- 

 cipal forests, which shall be approved by the Town Councils or the 

 Municipal Court, before which approval, however, the opinion of the 

 Board of Forestry must be asked, in case the area of growing forest 

 is 100 hectares or more. According to the same law, the supervision 

 of the care of the forests falls on the city administration. In the year 

 1915, 26 towns had working plans for their forests. -A couple of 

 towns have forest superintendents of their own and many have a 

 watchman for their forests. 



To illuminate the economic significance of the forests for the 

 towns themselves, it may be mentioned that in the years 1905 1914, 

 the forests of 14 towns satisfied a considerable portion of the munici- 

 pal consumption of wood, in the case of 16 towns the forest sufficed 

 for at least the fulfilling of all municipal consumption and in many 

 cases even larger sales of timber could be made. 



The Forests of the Rural Communi- 

 ties. 



The forest property of the rural communities is for the most a 

 product of quite recent times, being formed by the purchase of pri- 

 vate estates by the communities. The total area in question is about 

 170 000 hectares. In 1917, 63.5 % of the total rural communities in 

 the country owned landed property. Forest economy has as a 

 rule not yet reached any higher standard in the case of these lands. 

 Actually, the rural communities have not purchased their land for 

 use as communal forests, with a view to organized forest manage- 

 ment, at least, not in the beginning, but for the greater part for quite 

 other reasons: for use as poor-houses, elementary schools, hospitals, 

 etc. Now, at the present time, forestry has progressed so far that in 

 many rural communities a considerable portion of the communal 

 budget is covered by income from forests. The care of the forests 

 of rural communities proper is not affected by any regulations in the 

 laws now in force, a matter that urgently needs revision. 



1813-22 5 



