24 MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



various local industries, all of which will, I feel sure, make 

 the people the friends of the forests, and not their enemies. 



c. Municipalities as Proprietors. 



What I am now about to place before the reader will, no 

 doubt, remind him of the controversy regarding municipal 

 trading. Whatever the ultimate result of that controversy 

 may be, I hope that an exception niay be made in the case of 

 municipal forests. I need scarcely remind you that the City 

 of London already possesses such a forest, the Epping Forest, 

 so that the ice is really broken. That forest is, no doubt, 

 managed .with a view to its serving as a recreation ground for 

 the inhabitants of London, and not for economic reasons. I 

 do not know how the finances of the forest stand, but from 

 what I have seen during various visits to the forest, I am 

 certain that it could continue to serve its present purpose, and 

 yet yield a revenue, provided excessive sentimentality were 

 somewhat curbed. 



There is, however, another matter which, year by year, is 

 becoming of greater importance to all our large towns, and 

 that is the question of the " Unemployed." It is well known 

 how serious the matter becomes every winter, how special 

 efforts are made to deal with it, and yet how much remains 

 to be done. I maintain that afforestation offers one of the 

 means of solving the question. The bulk of forest work can 

 be done at those times of the year when the question of the 

 unemployed is most pressing, that is, in winter. Now I ask, 

 why should the great City of London, yea one or other of the 

 City Companies, not buy a few tracts of. mountain land, where 

 forest work could be given to the unemployed during winter ? 

 It is true that extensive tracts of surplus land cannot be found 

 in the immediate vicinity of London, but railway communica- 

 tion is so complete that a moderate distance does not make 

 much difference. I have gone over the agricultural returns 

 and picked out the following information as bearing specially 

 on the question under consideration, and showing that there is 



