102 FORESTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



of timber was due to the disorganised state of the home timber 

 market in the past. This must be changed in the future ; there 

 must be close and systematic co-operation between growers and 

 dealers, and the State should assist and encourage them in every 

 possible way. Producers should ensure regularity, continuity and 

 uniformity of suppUes, so that dealers and consumers may know 

 when and in what quantity and shape timber is coming into the 

 market. The prejudice against home-grown timber will then 

 gradually disappear, and it will be used for many purposes for 

 which it has been rejected in the past. In the latter respect, 

 Government departments have much sinned. The Sub-Committee 

 was of opinion that the Forest Authority should include in its 

 organisation an Intelligence Branch, to deal with questions 

 relating to the organisation of the home timber trade, the 

 methods of improving the utihzation of forest produce, and 

 generally the issue of information which would be useful to owners 

 of woodlands and to users of timber. 



14. Encouragement of Woodland Industries. 



The Sub-Committee has quite rightly drawn attention to the 

 importance of industries which use wood for their raw material 

 and especially those parts of wood growth which cannot be 

 classed as timber in its narrower sense. They are principally the 

 produce of coppice woods and the small pieces which remain over 

 in the process of timber conversion. Such industries, if properly 

 organised, provide a considerable amount of remunerative work, 

 and they prevent the wastage of a large percentage of the 

 wood increment produced in the forests. Industries of this kind 

 existed before the war in various parts of the United Kingdom, 

 as, for instance, in the Chiltern Hills, the Tintern Crown forests 

 and in other places. Wood distillation was carried on which 

 yielded a variety of produce ; tools of various kinds and shapes 

 were manufactured, but the greater part of such articles were 

 imported from Germany, Austria and the United States. An 

 effort should now be made to produce them at home, preferably 

 by private enterprise and, if necessary, assisted and encouraged 

 by State action. The care of the woodland industries should 

 be committed to the Intelligence Branch of the new Forest 

 Authority. 



