THE NATIONAL SAFETY MARGIN 25 



conformity with the requirements of the markets 

 of those days. The small material of the coppice 

 was readily disposed of for the requirements of the 

 people. The standards, which had to grow at a 

 certain distance the one from the other in order 

 to give sufficient light for the development of the 

 coppice beneath them, consequently produced large 

 crowns containing knees and crooks which were 

 in demand for the shipbuilding yards from which 

 emanated the old wooden ships of our Navy and 

 mercantile fteet. The watchful care of the Parlia- 

 ments of this period, and their enactments to ensure 

 the proper management and protection of the 

 British woods, were solely due to a recognition that 

 the upkeep of the country's fleets was dependent 

 on the maintenance of a sufficient area of British 

 woods managed on the Mnes most suitable for the 

 production of the national requirements. In fact, 

 the Government realized that the national safety 

 depended on this margin, the national safety margin, 

 being maintained. It was this factor, and this one 

 alone, which kept the question in the forefront 

 for something like two and a half centuries — down 

 to the time in fact when, early in the nineteenth 

 century, having obtained the command of the seas, 

 timber imports began to make their presence felt on 

 the home markets, up to then supphed from home 

 woods. In this long period there were ups and 

 downs of course. A markedly critical period owed 

 its origin to the action of Henry VIII. in seizing 

 upon the Church lands in the year 1535. These 

 lands contained fin^ woods, many of which were 



