degrees throughout the civilized world. 
The able writer of the article on Forestry 
in the last edition of the “Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,” after a brief survey of the 
world’s failing stock of timber, points 
out that three countries, Russia, Scandi- 
navia and Canada, have practically to 
supply the rest of the world with pine 
wood, and as the management of their 
forests is by no means satisfactory, 
“the question of the supply of light pine 
and fir which form the very staff of life 
to the wood industries, must become a 
very serious matter before many years 
are passed. Unmistakable signs of the 
coming crisis are visible to all who wish 
to see, and it is difficult to overstate the 
gravity of the problem when it is re- 
membered that 87 per cent. of all the 
timber imported into Great Britain is 
fir and light pine, and so for most of the 
other countries.” This was written in 
1901 and the demand has certainly in- 
creased faster than the supply since 
then, Dealing with the same subject in 
1903, Professor Schlich, probably the 
most eminent living authority on For- 
estry, points out that between 1894 and 
1899 the average price of imported 
timber had risen about 18 per cent. and 
that there was every indication that it 
would rise further. So far as Great 
Britain’s demand for timber is concern- 
ed, Professor Schlich held ten years ago 
that it was becoming more and more 
problematical then where the required 
material was to come from. “It is all 
very well to say that we can pay for 
the timber we need; but that will not 
meet the case. When the supplies from 
outside fall off the rise in price may 
become prohibitive, and the effects of an 
insufficiency of material would be dis- 
astrous.” The chief difficulty, as I have 
said, les in the direction of the soft 
woods and Professor Schlich admits that 
“a deficiency of supply in the materia] 
would be a real calamity for the popu- 
lation of these islands.” As to the pos- 
sibility of substituting iron or steel, or 
any other material for timber, Professor 
18 
Schlich holds that past experience gives 
very little hope of this solution of the 
problem. In spite of extraordinary ef.- 
forts to find some means of replacing 
timber by iron and steel for structural] 
purposes, very little progress has been 
made either in England or France or 
the United States. As the President of 
the Institute of Civil Engineers said jn 
1903, the engineers cannot possibly do 
without a great deal of timber, and he 
pointed out that after thirty years’ ef. 
fort they had not yet succeeded in sub. 
stituting steel for wood as sleepers and 
railway ties. When we consider that a 
genuine shortage of timber would not 
only stop railway building, but would 
practically bring mining everywhere to a 
standstill, and would at the same time, 
throw millions out of employment in 
the building and other allied trades, we 
begin to realise that the threatened 
timber famine which unimpeachable evid- 
ence seems to show is rapidly approach- 
ing, may prove a terrible menace to the 
progress and prosperity of the world at 
darge. 
IS THERE A REMEDY? 
Anyone who considers earefully such 
evidence ag I have compiled must be 
driven to the conclusion that the risk 
of a timber famine is imminent and real, 
and that it is the positive duty of all 
civilised States to face this situation 
promptly and boldly. I may remind you 
at once that many European Govern- 
ments have long since attempted to 
grapple with this problem in a practical 
way. But the proof of the inadequacy 
of their efforts is that, for example, 
France, with 18 per cent of her area 
under forest, Belgium with 17 per cent 
of her area under forest, and Germany 
with 26 per cent of her area under forest, 
are all compelled to import timber largely 
to satisfy their local needs. This fact 
is sufficient to show that countries like 
our own, which have so far done little 
or nothing to cope with the constant 
drain upon their own natural resources, 
can expect little aid from abroad when 
the crisis at last comes. The sole interest 
