Forestry and State Control

Abstract

THE condition of private woodlands in Britain has been the subject of increasing concern ever since the British people.began to realize that their former complacent reliance on continuous supplies of timber from abroad is not so well founded as they supposed. The main part of the task of building up a reserve of softwood timber in the country for use in times of emergency has been entrusted to the Forestry Commissioners, but in assigning them their share in this work, it was assumed that through their encouragement and example private woodlands, both hardwood and softwood, would be restored to their pre-War area and their productivity improved. Unfortunately, it has become evident that this assumption was not justified and, as questions of national defence, economic self-sufficiency and political interferences with the flow of trade and commerce seem to be increasing rather than diminishing in importance, it is not surprising if the advisability of taking more intensive measures in regard to private forestry has come to the fore.

Forestry and State Control

By Prof. R. S. Troup. Pp. vii + 88. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1938.) 3s. 6d. net.