to 



for a large number of those at present unemployed. In regard to 

 these three points there will be practical agreement, and what we 

 have now to prove is as to whether there is sufficient land for a 

 State scheme of afforestation, whether such land could be profitably- 

 used for the purpose, and next, as to whether the unemployed 

 could with beneficial results be employed upon it. 



As to how muclj land there is available for afforestation, the 

 agricultural retiirns for 1906 give the following information: — 

 England has 2,371,000 acres of mountain and heath land used for 

 grazing, Wales 1,288,000 acres, Scotland 9,088,000 acres, and 

 Ireland 2,244,000 acres, giving a grand total of 14,922,000 acres 

 available for the purpose. In addition to this there is an additional 

 area in Ireland of bog, marsh, and barren mountain land, waste, &c., 

 of over 2,000,000 acres, fully one-third of which might be profitably 

 used for the purpose of timber growing. Great quantities of similar 

 land in England, Wales, and Scotland also exist. The land, there- 

 fore, abounds in plenty, and seeing that much of it is at present let 

 for sums varying from 1/- to 2/6 per acre, it will not be seriously 

 argued that it could not be more profitably put to a better use. 



As to the financial aspect of the question, much valuable 

 information exists to guide us in regard to this point. Whatever 

 might be said as to our climate in other respects, it is all right for 

 the growing of timber, and, therefore, what other countrifes have 

 achieved, we could equally do. In 1904 the capital value of the 

 forests in Saxony, the land, and the timber standing upon it, came 

 to £19,070,606, and calculated according to the outlay, with com- 

 pound interest at 3i per cent., it comes to £48 8s. Od. per acre. 

 Taking the forests of Saxony all round, good, bad, and indiffeirent, 

 there is a return equal to 2i per cent, on the present capital 

 value. Owing to the difference in climate, however, the production 

 of timber in these islands will be more rapid^than in Saxony, so 

 that if we take into consideration, by way or a comparison,, that 

 we can produce timber crops more rapidly, and possibly of more 

 valuable kinds, we might safely count on a return of from 

 3 to 3i per cent. The State or Crown forests of Hesse Darmstadt 

 cover an area of 175,700 acres, and the yield of timber per acre 

 is only 17 cubic feet, and the firewood represents 46 cubic feet 

 per acre per. annum. The actual receipts per acre are £1 3s. 6d., 

 and when 5/3 is deducted for preparation, you have a net receipt 

 from wood alone of 18/3 per acre. Though these returns are 

 satisfactory, much better results, as indicated above, could be 

 achieved in this country. Dr. Schlich, at a conference on afforesta- 

 tion, in l^ondon, on June 25th, 1907, gave particulars of a- larch 

 wood of 208 acres belonging to Sir Herbert Lewis, The 

 wood was cut down some years ago, the locality being a 

 Very steep hill side, and the soil light sandy loam, but 

 Hot deep. THe rental value of the locality was originally given 



