28 MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



5. Conclusion, 



It is not a fanciful problem which I have endeavoured to 

 indicate, but a scheme which is realisable if we really put our 

 shoulders to the wheel. Let us hope that the matter will not 

 be pushed aside with a light heart by those who can help to 

 realise it. 



For a period of eighteen years I have urged the subject 

 upon public attention, and a slight movement to take it up is 

 now on foot. May that movement increase in vigour, so that 

 at last something substantial is done, which, I have no doubt, 

 will prove a lasting benefit to the United Kingdom and its 

 people. 



A few weeks ago the subject was before the House of 

 Commons in connection with the question of the Unemployed. 

 Only a few days ago it came before the House of Lords, when 

 the Earl of Onslow spoke in a very sympathetic manner. He 

 announced "that the Treasury had promised assistance in the 

 foundation of at least two forest schools in England, one for 

 the instruction of young men who were likely to become land- 

 owners or land agents, and the other for woodmen. The 

 former he should prefer to see attached to one of the great 

 Universities. There was a strong feeling in the country that 

 we should not be behind foreign nations in our knowledge of 

 woodcraft, and that our resources ought to be made more use 

 of. This method of utilising the soil his Department was 

 most anxious to encourage, and by the training of young men 

 of both classes in the science of forestry they believed that by 

 making a small beginning now, they might be enabled to lead 

 up in the course of years to great results. The time might 

 come, therefore, when this country would be able far more 

 than at present or in the past to rely upon its own resources 

 for the production of forest timber." 



These are comforting words to me, after having struggled 

 for many years against adverse conditions. 



