§ Mr. LYLEasked the President of the Board of Trade how much woodland acreage purchased before the Armistice, but not cleared, he is now cutting down or has still to cut down; whether his Department has considered on the one hand the disastrous clearage of trees under stress of war and on the other hand the need of conserving what remains; whether he is aware that, while his Ministry is cutting down trees for which there is no urgent requirement, another Department is busy re-afforesting; whether his Board has received any representations, and, if so, what from the Ministry of Agriculture on these methods; and whether he is aware that the official policy of continuing to fell wholesale is exciting local criticism?
§ Sir R. HORNEThe acreage of timber acquired by the Timber Supply Department before the Armistice, but still standing, is approximately 9,000 acres, of which 3,000 acres are in Scotland and 1,000 acres in Ireland; the answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative and to the third part in the negative; no representations on this matter have been received from the Ministry of Agriculture, and any local criticism such as that referred to in the last part of the question must arise from misapprehension, since the Department have no alternative to felling the timber, in accordance with the terms of the contracts under which it was purchased, unless they can resell it standing to the original vendors. This has been done in every case where the seller was willing.