- RAILWAYS AND LAJt^DOWNERS 35 



to the absence of any continuity in the supply from 

 definite areas of woods in Britain ; whilst the rail- 

 ways refused, and the refusal is scarcely surprising, 

 to carry the material at reduced rates, since it could 

 not pay them to make the necessary arrangements 

 required for the transport of such a bulkj^ elass of 

 material as timber unless a continuity in the supply 

 from a particular district was forthcoming. And 

 the existing management precluded such con- 

 tinuity. 



Now, what was the reason for this state of affairs ? 

 It was obviously merely a question of the ordinary 

 laws of supply and demand. We all of us buy the 

 articles we require in the best and cheapest markets 

 we can find, and this tendency was influencing the 

 timber markets. The proprietors of woo^s were 

 naturally aggrieved at the state of affairs, which to 

 the majority was an enigma, and was so to mg.ny 

 when the war broke out. A few had, however, begun 

 to grasp the true position — a very few. For the 

 greater number their estates were worked almost 

 entirely by their agents and factors, the management 

 of the woods being either in the latter's hands or, in 

 the case of estates having considerable areas of woods, 

 more directly in the hands of the foresters. The 

 owner for the most part neither knew, nor pre- 

 tended to know, anything about forestry. He 

 liked his woods to look at and to shoot in. In the 

 hard times of agricultural depression, which were 

 hitting him so severely, he may at times have wished 

 wistfully that his woods could be made to bring 

 him in a stable income on which he could depend ; 



