DISAFFORESTATION IN GERMANY
Sm,—It was pleasing to read Mr. E. J. Bryce's letter in The Spectator of September 24th about the over-cutting in German forests. Most English people who have recently served in or visited Germany seem utterly ignorant of this problem, and, through their indifference, have given the Germans one of the strongest lines of complaint against us. Unlike the average Englishman, the average German knows something about forestry, and is passionately fond of his country's magnificent woods. He can recognise over-cutting, and is quick to listen to the whisper that it is all for reparations. The Control Commission have been slow to grasp this and to explain the true facts, which are that 10 per cent. approximately of recently felled timber is exported, and that all exports are credited at world prices. (Incidentally, the British Government is prepared to fix prices for, German timber far in excess of the maximum which the British grower of similar home-grown timber is allowed to receive.) Germany, of course, has little to export in order to balance her trading account, and there is nothing particularly unjust to the vanquished in such over-cutting as in thaory has been prescribed for a few years—for export to help our acute need. It is far worse, as Mr. Bryce says, that the domestic fuel ration is so trivial that heavy over-cutting has been
necessary to meet this demand which has caused fantastic waste of much timber of building quality. Finally, our officers in touch with the German Forestry Service in Germany have not always been qualified for the job. There have been too many examples of men who do not know what the word " silviculture " means, and whose best claim to justify their appointment has been some earlier connection with the timber trade. Every German forester can see through this pretence, and once again we can hardly complain that our efforts in Germany have been thoroughly
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