§ Mr. Hoosonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what amount of hardwood trees has been felled in Wales in the past 25 years; and to what extent new planting has repaired these deprivations.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsThere are no complete statistics for the felling of hardwoods in Wales during the last 25 years. A census of woodlands taken in 1938 indicated that there were then about 82,000 acres of hardwood forest in Wales; the corresponding figure for 1963 is probably of the order of 84,000 acres. During the same period the area of hardwood coppice, scrub, and woodland already derelict in 1938 has probably fallen from about 102,000 to 86,000 acres. There is no information about the extent to which hedgerow or other isolated trees have been felled and not replaced.