FORESTRY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18900, 15 January 1927, Page 17

FORESTRY.

BRITISH EMPIRE CAMPAIGN. RESEARCH WORK AT OXFORD. t.FTvOU OCR OWS COKRESroSDEKT.) LONDON, December 4. .The Imperial Forestry Institute, University of Oxford, has brought out its second annual report, which shows how much that work is being helped forward by the programme of training and research laid down by the Institute in the two years of its existence. It is realised that there should be a thoroughly capable staff to administer the vast forest property of the Empire and prevent wasteful exploitation. Tu that end the Institute is assisting byundertaking the higher training of forest officers for the Empire, and byacting as a centre for research on the formation, protection, and care of forests. It is estimated that there is a total area of 1.837,000 square miles of forejt in 'the British Empire, of which some C 55,000 square miles arc at present accessible and marketable.

Lord Clinton (chairman of the-Board of Governors) stated that, now the preliminary period of organisation is largely over, marked progress has been made both in instructional work and in research. During the first year 22 students attended; during the" second year that number had been doubled, and the number of new entries at the beginning of the third year, together with the applications for further admissions, indicate that there is likely to be a steadily increasing number of students in the future. It is pointed out that the Institute is not intended to take the place of existing schools of forestry, but aims at supplementing general training by more advanced or specialised work. The situation of the Institute, within easy reach of Continental forests, which have been managed along scientific lines for centuries, is an important matter, and the happy connexion which has been established between the Institute and some of the foremost Continental authorities on forestry augurs well for the future development of practical training in Continental forests, as well as possible collaboration in solving some of the difficult problems with which the forestry sciences arc confronted. The location of the Imperial Forestry Institute at a great University which already possesses a flourishing School of Forestry and has always shown a deep interest in the progress of scientific forestry is another asset, Lord Clinton remarks, the importance of which can hardly be overrated. Study and Travel. ■ ' During the year the subjects dealt with have been sylviculture, forest management, the economics of forestry (including forest .policy), mycology, entomology, systematic forest botany (mainly tropical and sub-tropical), the structural and oilier properties of wood, surveying, and ioresi engineering. Tours have been organised to selected forests on the Continent, a liasion has been established between the Institute and the British Forestry Commission, and iilso botwecn the Institute and the British Forestry Commission, and. also between the Institute and the Forest Products Research Laboratory, and it is hoped that the Institute will extend its activities in the direction of arranging special courses of instruction in other centres. One instance is that of two forest officers deputed fjtom Nigeria for training in sylvicultural research methods with special reference to. tropical conditions, who, after several months' instruction and practice at Oxford, proceeded, under arrangements: made by the director of the Institute, to the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, India, and studied tropical sylviculture in certain selected forest tracts in India.and Burma. In tlio course of a few months these officers will return to Oxford ■; and complete their course of training, when they should be in a position when they .goback to Nigeria to initiate experimental work on scientific lines. . Students From All Parts. : The forty-four students who attended courses during the yca'r were made up of nine post-graduate probationers irom the Colonial Services- and five from India, together with 14 forest officers on leave from the Colonial Services, nine .from.the Indian Services, two private students, arid five research students from the Department of Scientific and Industrial: Research. Students already admitted for the year 1926-7 are representative of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Burma, Nigeria, Gcylon, British ' Honduras, Malaya, Nyasaland, and Cyprus. In order to take part in experimental work under actual forest conditions, a new experimental garden has been started on the outskirts of Oxford. Thirty-one students attended the Continental Forest tours, and a provisional arrangement has been como to with L)r. F ' Heske, of the Vienna University staff, whereby he will undertake the organisation and conduct of tours and practical work on behalf of the Institute in Central Europe. Identification of Species. Systematic forest botany is another important subject, and the report mentions that of 172 distinct species ot trees which pass under the name ot mahogany only ..two are true mahoganies of the genus Swietania. The identification of 439 specimens has been carried out, and approximately 20 species which appear to be new and undescribed have been brought to from the bold Coast, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. Considerable work has been done in regard to forest diseases and iuscct attars, while some 200 books have been added to the library. Appeal for Funds. Attention is drawn to tho fact that the existing accommodation of the Institute is already inadequate, that the work is hampered, and that the full cost of the buildings required is not less than £75,000. The University is prepared to offer * sHe, nod * D"bbe appeal for.funds will be issued shortly. With the financial help already promised it is hoped that a sufficient sum I will be available to carry out the ob- j iect in view. Forestry Campaign. j •'The Times" expresses the opinion that as a centre of training and research the Institute has definitely proved its value, and there is an increasing disposition, especially on the part oi forestry officers of the Empire, actual or prospective, to avail themselves ot the facilities which it provides. He would be a bold man who would deny the urgency of the need for a wide and practical extension of knowledge in every department of the science of forestry. The report come s as a useful supplement to the recommendations on the subject of forestry resulting from the deliberations of the Imperial Conference.

" 'A review of tho forestry, situation throughout the world leads to the conclusion that available supplies of the principal timbers of commerce are rapidy approaching. exhaustion.' By

this- uncompromising, statement (continues 'The Times'), the opening words of ihe first appendix to the report of tho Forestry Sub-Committee of the Imperial. Conference—Mr Eraser Story exposes in a single sentence tlio grave danger which theatens not only the Empire but the world. The figures upon which it is based are not open to question. It might be supposed that an Empire with an estimated total forest area of 1,837,000 square miles—about a third, of what is at present accessible and marketable—sha|fld be able to supply its needs from its own resources. As matters stand it cannot. A large part of this area has been de-. pleted by wasteful methods of working, and the most, carefu) management and organisation will be required before the waste of the past can be made good. . . If the supply of soft woods is to be safeguarded the need for remedial action on the part of the Empire, is urgent. Within a quarter of a century, unless both Empire and world timber supplies are largely increased, a soft wood famine, together with u corresponding • rise in timber prices,* cannot possibly be-avoided. Something no doubt may be done to meet the coming emergency, by more extensive use of the Empire's wealth of tropical hardwoods (and perhaps also of other alternative materials) as a substitute for the more readily serviceable kind of timber. But these could only be palliative measures'. of very limited extent. Lord Lovat and the other members of the Forestry Sub-Committee of the Imperial Conference have much larger ideas and schemes in view. Valuable opportunities for concerted .action will be supplied by the next two Empire Forestry Conferences, to be held in 1928 in Australia and New Zealand, and five years later in South Africa, on the invitation of the Governments of those Dominions. In the interval, and at the two Conferences, a determined Imperial effort k being, and will be, made-to place the whole question of the national use and development of the Empire's forests on a more satisfactory footing. j

"As one means towards the end the Sub-Committe© have decided to refer to the Forest Conference of 1928 the question of establishing an Imperial Forestry Bureau, to act as a clearinghouse for information. While recognising the usefulness of tho Standing Committee on Empire Forestry, the Imperial Forestry Institute, and the Empire Forestry Association, and also of the research and training work which is being carried on by the Imperial Forestry Institute at Oxford, as well as in Montreal, Vancouver, Pretoria, the University Colleges of Auckland,' Wellington, and Canterbury, in Western Australia and Victoria, and at Dehra Dun, and other stations in India and Burma they express the opinion that there> is much need for further development and for co-opera-tion between the various organisations engaged in research into forest products. They consider also that there is a distinct possibility of developing schemes of settlement in connexion with State forestry and afforestation—on the lines already adopted in this country by the Forestry Commissioners —and they have communicated their views on this subject to the Sub-Com-mit tee of the Imperial Conference on Overseas Settlement. The whole report, together with its appendices, conveys the idea that this Empire campaign for a proper system of forestry, built up on the organisations already in existence, vwill.be'a solid and intelligent reality."