IV 



FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS 



The finance of the afforestation problem may be said 

 to have been the chief stumbhng block to progress in 

 the past — finance plus the ignorance and apathy 

 exhibited on the subject by Government and public 

 alike. Reams have been written on this matter of the 

 cost of land, cost of planting, and so forth, but not a 

 single tree has been planted as a result. In fact, since 

 it is always possible to juggle with figures, the affores- 

 tation question has over and over again become safely 

 buried beneath masses of statistics. It is therefore 

 proposed to treat of this part of the subject extremely 

 briefly. 



In this matter of financing planting operations it 

 may be contended that money will be harder to get 

 now than before the war ; interest will be higher ; 

 5 per cent, will be now asked instead of 3 per cent. 

 Granted. But with a return of prosperity this per- 

 centage should drop and may even reach 3 per cent, 

 again before the completion of the work. And it must 

 be remembered that the additional cost should be well 

 repaid by the excess price of the wood, which will be, 

 so far as can be foreseen, some 25 to 30 per cent, 



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