[To rue Ernest or 7Z11 &scrams."' SIR,—May I, claiming to
be a qualified and unprejudiced observer, be permitted to add my testimony towards the attainment of sound views on this much-debated topic P For fifty years past I have been familiar, as myself a lessee of deer forests or as the guest of proprietors or lessees, with the sport of deer-stalking in the Scottish Highlands and with the various conditions under which it is carried on. Petting aside the tactics of partisans and electioneering statesmen, the main question for political economists is whether an excessive or undue proportion of the area of the Highland counties is, or is not, devoted to the sport. I think that the extent is excessive, and that it is much to be desired that the land specialized for deer-stalking should be restricted to about four-fifths of its present area, one-fifth being, as I understand, the proportion which inquiry has shown could be economically utilized for farming operations, arable or pastoral. There is little doubt that a still further area at present under deer forest and below nine hundred feet of altitude could be economically utilized for afforestation ; and the extent of this must be considerable, though it would be difficult to calculate it with any exactness, inasmuch as a large proportion of this afforestable area is already otherwise utilized. Many landowners are no doubt very ready to diminish their deer forest area not only for patriotic reasons, but because the demand for them by lessees is not what it used to be. In August of last year I was informed by a shootings agent that he knew of thirteen deer forests that were then unlet for last season. The demand for sheep farms has, of course, greatly diminished in the last twenty years, the truth, of course, being that the business has almost ceased to be profitable except in favourable localities, owing to the increased importation of fresh meat, to the unquestionable benefit of populous districts. Where then, except in afforesta- tion, lies the resource for the unfortunate landowner P In that expedient, in favourable localities and with the requisite experience and skill which are not difficult to acquire, the remedy apparently lies. Sir John Stirling Maxwell has demonstrated this, and his argument has not been contro- verted by evidence which applies only to districts more favoured than the Highland counties by climate and soil. The initial expense of afforestation, from £5 to £6 per acre, and the inevitable and prolonged postponement, for from thirty to seventy years, of the date for reaping the foresters' harvest, place it beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest proprietor. Objectionable though State aid may be, it is really the only available expedient.—I am, Sir, dc., CHARLES STEWART.
Alltenzum Club.
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