28 MARCH 1947, Page 17

More Trees On the subject of trees a wise petition

to U.N.O. has recently been acknowledged ; and is to be discussed at their summer meeting by "the Men of the Trees." It runs thus: " That, realising in face of the present world famine the dependence of Man on trees and forests, and, seeing the forests disappearing and the deserts encroaching on the remaining food sources at a rate of up to thirty miles per year on thousand-mile fronts in three Continents, this gathering of national representatives of twenty-four countries request the aid of U.N.O. in the preparation of a World Charter for Forestry." Perhaps the most important detail in this resolution is the allusion to the effect of trees on the preservation of water. Even with us water-levels are falling dangerously.