As regards the question of labour, Mr. Elwes is entirely
seeptical as to the capacity of casual or unemployed townsmen. Again, suitable areas of waste land in England can only be obtained in districts remote from the habitats of the unem- ployed, thus involving the necessity of providing accommoda- tion on a large scale. He also notes that cheap or waste land will not produce high-class or large timber; alleges that the Report omits to allude to many dangers certain to diminish Profits ; and points out the disastrous results on private enter- prise of " the knowledge that sooner or later Government timber to the enormous value estimated by the Commission Would be thrown on the market and sold for what it would fetch." Mr. Elwes cordially supports the establishment of a Beard of Forestry to experiment on selected areas in existing Government forests or new areas of really good land, and would encourage private planting by exemptions from rates and taxes in the case of young plantations and unprofitable woodlands. But he has no hesitation in condemning the suggestions of the Report as a revolutionary experiment based on very imperfect evidence.
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