Afforesting the Wilderness
The report of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Health in January of last year to consider " the restoration of land affected by iron-working " raises some interesting questions of principle. The problem is relatively local, con- cerning only the iron-ore areas in Northamptonshire and two or three adjoining counties, about roo,000 acres in all being involved. The low-grade ores in this region are made accessible through the work of giant excavators which rip off the " overburden " to a depth of anything from 15 to 3o or 4o feet, and toss it aside in a series of vast ridges and furrows, leaving the surface a torn, unsightly and useless stretch of " hill and dale." What is to be done with this devastation, and at whose cost? Briefly, it has been decided that to level it for agricultural purposes would entail prohibi- tive expense, but that it could be afforested, preferably with larch, at about £12 ios. an acre. The Committee holds that the royalty-owners, not the mining companies, should make the chief contribution to the cost, and that the local authorities might also lend some assistance ; a proportion of 3, 2, l is suggested. That is likely to lay no undue burden on anyone, but legislation will be needed to make the payments obligatory, and since the work seems to lie within the sphere of no existing body the institution of an " Ironstone Areas Restoration Board," which will no doubt enlist the co- operation of the Forestry Commissioners, is proposed. Perhaps the Committee's most useful function has been to raise the general question of the limitations on the right of industrial concerns to make hideous the face of Britain.
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