Abstract
ONE of the problems to which the Imperial Conference has been devoting attention is the present position of forestry within the British Empire. A sub-committee was set up, which dealt with this matter on broad lines. It is a hopeful augury for the future that the question of a forest policy common to the Empire as a whole, with especial reference to the world's timber supplies, should have been examined in some detail. It is an accepted fact that the avail able virgin supplies of the soft woods (pines and firs) are giving out, Canada and north Russia and Siberia containing the chief remaining stocks. About eighty per cent, of the wood used for industrial purposes consists of the soft woods. As regards the hard woods, the available supplies of these from temperate climates are not regarded as satisfactory, and their replacement by tropical hard woods offers difficulties which are very far from solution. Apart from the question of the availability of the existing supplies to meet demands, there exist social and economic problems which make it necessary that each country, and perhaps more especially the British Empire, should formulate a policy which shall maintain a sufficient forest area under a conservative forest management. At the present day a large proportfon of the Empire forests have little that can be termed a scientific conservative management in being; the Imperial Conference will have made a long step forward if, as a result of the deliberations and recommendations of the sub-committee, a consistent forest policy is formulated and adhered to. Other matters given consideration were Empire settlement and its connexion with forestry, the meeting of the Empire Forestry Conference in Australia and New Zealand in 1928, forest products research work, and the proposed inauguration of an Imperial Forestry Bureau.
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News and Views. Nature 118, 777–782 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118777a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118777a0