964 



Editorial Notes. 



[JAN., 



and educational work relating to forestry ; conduct inquiries, 

 experiments and research ; and take such steps as they think 

 necessary for the purpose of securing an adequate supply of 

 timber in the United Kingdom and of promoting the production 

 of timber in His Majesty's Dominions. Other powers the 

 Commissioners hold are for the prevention of damage by 

 rabbits and vermin ; the appointment of Assistant Com- 

 missioners, and the compulsory acquisition of land. A Forestry 

 Fund is estabHshed out of moneys, amounting to £3,500,000, 

 to be provided by ParHament, and to be expended during the 

 first ten years. Any simis received by the Commissioners from 

 the sale of timber or any transactions carried out by them in 

 the exercise of their powers and duties will be credited to 

 that Fund. Commissioners will present an Annual Report of 

 their proceedings to both Houses of Parliament. 



H: ^ ^ Hi H: 4: 



The Commissioners were unable to present their Interim 

 Report by 30th September as requested, but they reported on 

 the loth of December last, limiting their 

 Interim Report of views to the question of whether the 

 the Royal guarantees given to farmers under 



AgS"re'!'' P^^^ I- C^^^ Production Act, 1917, 



should be continued or not, and if con- 

 tinued, whether any alteration is required either in their 

 amount or in the conditions attached to them. The Report 

 (see also p. 967), though brief, contains an interesting review 

 of agricultural conditions since 1870, and some account of the 

 Committees set up by Lord Selborne, then President of the 

 Board of Agriculture, in June, 191 5, and July, 1915, together 

 with the Report of the Committee appointed by the Prime 

 Minister under the chairmanship of Lord Selborne in August, 

 1916. It may be remembered that the Committee of July, 

 191 5, expressed the opinion that as a result of the War the nation 

 might decide that " national security demands a substantial 

 increase in the agricultural output of this country.'' The 

 Committee over which Lord Selborne presided recommended 

 in January, 1917 (i) that certain minimum prices for wheat 

 and oats should be guaranteed ; (2) that a minimum wage for 

 agricultural labour should be established and an Agricultural 

 Wages Board set up ; and (3) that the Board of Agriculture 

 should be empowered to supersede owners temporarily or even 

 dispossess occupiers of land which was being badly managed or 

 cultivated. Upon this last Report the Corn Production Act 

 of 1 91 7 was based. 



