TO BRIDGE THE INTERVAL 77 



It appears to be inadvisable to depend on the possibility 

 of obtaining the materials to any great extent from the 

 forests of the Central Powers. We have got to beat 

 them first. No one doubts that we shall, but no one 

 knows how long the war will be prolonged. We should 

 face the position as it now is and make arrangements 

 which will depend for their fulfilment on the Allies alone 

 and on their resources. A brief outline of a suggested 

 scheme is only attempted here. A perusal of the 

 following three articles will, it is trusted, indicate that 

 it is based upon some considerable foundation. 



We now come to the second point which requires 

 consideration : 



(2) An arrangement under which our timber require- 

 ments during the next forty to fifty years may be assured. — 

 If Great Britain takes up the afforestation question 

 on the scale now so urgently demanded we shall have 

 to wait thirty-five to forty-five years (save in exception- 

 ally favourable areas when the period may be shorter 

 for some species) before we obtain a yield of pitwood 

 and a longer period for timber of larger dimensions. 

 To bridge this interval therefore we should make 

 suitable arrangements in order to ensure supplies reach- 

 ing us at a price at which, economically speaking, it 

 will pay us to take them. A survey of the regions from 

 which such supplies are likely to be available during 

 the next forty years is by no means reassuring. It is 

 scarcely possible to credit that some of the countries 

 on whom we have drawn so largely in the past or are 

 so heavily indenting upon at the present moment, 

 and to whom we are paying preposterously high rates 

 for the materials received — it is scarcely possible to 



