8 



the people from our rural areas to our great towns and cities would 

 in a great measure be thus checked. This I know is a small matter 

 in so far as grappling with the great unemployed army, but yet it is 

 a point worth bearing in mind. When looked at from a national 

 standpoint, however, greater possibilities present themselves, and 

 we are better able to grasp the amount of additional labour that 

 would be required for a State scheme of Sylviculture. 



In spite of the enormous increase in the manufacture of steel 

 and iron, and the pr^iction that steel and iron would take the 

 place of timber in many ways, there is an increasing use of timber ' 

 the world over. The use of timber for a multitude of purposes in 

 industry and art has brought a timber famine within measureable 

 distance, while in this country little or nothing has been done to 

 provide against it. Timber has risen rapidly in va:iue during recent 

 years, and is still rising, with every prospect of it continuing to do 

 so. The home production of timber probably does not exceed two 

 million tons, and we import more than ten million tons. The in- 

 crease in our imports since 1864 has been at the rate of about 

 190,000 tons a year, and we have got to ask ourselves — presuming 

 we are going to sit still and dq nothing — as to whether we can rely 

 for any length of time on getting the necessary timber we require. 

 Prof. Schlich, one of the best knowfi authorities on afforestation, is 

 of the opinion that we cannot. Most of. the European countries 

 import, and but a few export timber. The countries that import 

 timber to-day are : — Great Britain and Ireland, Germany, France, 

 Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Spaiii, Holland, Switzerland, Portugal, 

 Bulgaria, Greece, and Servia. The exporting countries are : — 

 Roumania, Norway, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, and Russia. In 

 fact, if we draw the balance for the whole of Europe, we find an 

 annual deficiency of 2,620,000 tons. Europe has not been able for 

 many years to supply, from within its own limits, the timber required 

 by the several nations. This deficiency is on the increase, and goes 

 to prove that prices will be higher in the future than they have 

 been in the past. Our main supplies come from the Baltic, Canada, 

 and the United States of America, and it is estimated that the latter ' 

 country is at present consuming five times more timber than she is 

 producing. Mr James Wilson, the Secretary of the Agricultural 

 Department of Washington, in a pamphlet entitled the " Timber 

 Supply of the United States," points out that the area of all forests 

 in the United States is about 700,000,000 acres. The annual cut- 

 ting is 400,000,000 tons, which is equal to the increment of three 

 years. As only one-fifth of the area belongs to the Government, 

 and four-fifths are private property, the result is that the pressure 

 for supplying the United States is increasing every year, and they 

 must more and more fall back tlpon imports from Canada. - This 

 will seriously affect us in this eouiitry, and Is to my mind conclusive 

 proof as to the growing scarcity of timber, and the high prices that ' 



