PRICES OF TIMBER 57 



one, because prior to the war, perhaps, in England, 

 forestry was more or less neglected, it was not the 

 business which we had to-day. In Scotland there 

 had been for very many years a fair demand for 

 home-grown timber, but this did not obtain to the 

 same extent in England, and the assistance which 

 they had had from foresters of the various land- 

 owners, who had so readily come to their help, had 

 been of great use to the Department, 



" Now, there was another point, and that was 

 what they had paid for the timber. The price 

 had been taken out up to the end of October 1917, 

 and the figures given to him by the accountant, 

 representing the quantity of timber which he 

 previously mentioned, showed that the average 

 cost to the Department was just over g^d. per cubic 

 foot. That included haftt' woods as well as soft 

 woods, but, of course, the major portion of the 

 purchase had been in soft woods. Owing to the 

 larger demand which had been made for home- 

 grown timber and the restriction of imports, there 

 arose a large amount of speculation in home-grown 

 timber and the purchasing of the timber in the 

 woods, and after consulting his -various Advisory 

 Committees — of which, as the meeting probably 

 knew, they had a good many — it was decided to 

 scrutinise the purchase of standing timber over 

 £300 in value, and the Order of July 4 was issued 

 to that effect. Briefly the Order was this : that 

 anybody purchasing standing timber beyond a total 

 value of £300 in three months had to apply to the 

 Department . for a permit, and that permit was 

 scrutinised, and provided that the purchaser had 

 the means of working — reasonable means of working 

 within a reasonable time — such permits were freely 

 granted. He might tell them that since the Order 



