§ This brings me straight to the question of afforestation. There is a very general agreement that some steps should be taken in the direction, I will not say of afforesting, but of reafforesting the waste lands of this country. Here, again, we are far behind every other civilised country in the world. I have figures here on this point which are very interesting. In Germany, for instance, out of a total area of 133,000,000 acres, 34,000,000, or nearly 26 per cent., are wooded; in France, out of 130,000,000 acres, 17 per cent.; even in a small and densely populated country such as Belgium 1,260,000 acres are wooded, or 17 per cent., out of a total area of 7,280,000 acres. Again, in the Netherlands and Denmark, out of total areas of 8 and 9½ million acres respectively, over 600,000 acres, or between 7 and 8 per cent., are wooded. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, out of 77,000,000 acres, only 3,000,000, or 4 per cent., are under wood.
§ Sir Herbert Maxwell, who has made a study of this question for a good many years, and whose moderation of statement is beyond challenge, estimates that, in 1906, "eight millions were paid annually in salaries for the administration, formation and preservation of German Forests, representing the maintenance of about 200,000 families, or about one million souls," and that, "in working up the raw material yielded by the forests, wages were earned annually to the amount of 30 millions sterling, maintaining about 600,000 families, or three million souls."
§ Anyone who will take the trouble to search out the Census Returns will find out that the number of people directly 492 employed in forest work in this country is only 16,000. And yet the soil and the climate of this country are just as well adapted for the growth of marketable trees as that of the States of Germany. I am disposed to agree with those who contend that afforestation is not particularly well adapted to the provision of employment on any large scale for the kind of labourer who is thrown out of work by the fluctuations of trade in the towns, and that its real utility will be rather found (to use the phrase of the hon. Member for Merthyr) "in the extension of the area of employment." It will be serviceable in providing employment in the rural districts during that inclement season of the year when work is least abundant. It would also afford an excellent adjunct to a system of small holdings and allotments.
§ Recently we have been favoured with a striking Report of a Royal Commission very ably presided over by my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff. A perusal of the names attached to that Report will secure for it respectful and favourable consideration. It outlines a very comprehensive and far-reaching scheme for planting the wastes of this country. The systematic operation which the Commission recommend is a gigantic one, and, before the Government can commit themselves to it in all its details, it will require very careful consideration by a body of experts skilled in forestry. I am informed by men whom I have consulted, and whose opinion on this subject I highly value, that there is a good deal of preliminary work which ought to be undertaken in this country before the Government could safely begin planting on the large scale indicated in that Report I am told that experiments ought to be made, so as to test thoroughly the varying conditions of climate and soil and the best kind of trees and methods of planting to meet those variations. I am also told that we cannot command the services in this country of a sufficient number of skilled foresters to direct planting. I am advised, and, personally, I am disposed to accept that counsel as the advice of prudence, that the greater haste in this matter will mean the less speed, and that to rush into planting on a huge scale, without first of all making the necessary experiments, organising a trained body of foresters, and taking all other essential steps to secure success when you advance, would be to court disaster, which might discourage all future attempts.