The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-12-27
ENeLAND's TIMBER FAILING.
Enormous Consumption and Small Pro-
 duction Fastening Crisis.

From the London Standard.
 The question of our timber supply was discussed at considerable length in MT J. Clarke Harkshaw's address to the Institution of Civil Engineers. Though the present, far more than that of Hesiod, deserves to be called an Iron Age, there is yet an enormous demand for timber in our own country alone, especially from engineers. For mining purposes last year nearly 1,SSo,o0O loads Of wooden fitprops were imported. About 9,0ooOOO wooden sleepers are in use on our railways. and about s,75o00O are annually consumed for renewal. while vast quantities of timber are employed for temporary work of all kinds.
 On the Alexandra dock, at Hull, thls amounted to 100000 cubic feet, while about third of that quantity also went into permanent works. On railways alone the total value of the timber annually used for all purposes is probably about Gl, 250,0O0 But 1t may be asked, Why not use metal sleepers if wood threatens to become scarce? This has been done to some extent in France. Germany and oth- CT countries but on the whole wood Is preferred, and the life of timber sleep tISs WHICH SDdkeu W1lH CIGQSOkc, IS IWGn- ty-three or twenty-four years. At pres ent prices they are cheaper, more com fortable to travel on, less destructive to the rolling stock, less liable to accidents from broken rails and more easily re- paired and altered.
 Mir. Hawkshaw, in fact, thinks that the number on all the railways O. me world cannot be very much under 1500, GOO, ,000, and their value, at a low estimate, would be f1S0 GOO. Is the supply of timber likely to remain equal to the demand2 Ex- perts have considered the matter, and their reply is not encouraging We i'm port on a great scale, absorbing about one-half by weight of the amount taken in Europe, and we have a smaller area under forest than any other country ex- cept Portugal. Only five European coun- tries, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Austria and Roumania-export timber, and they fall short of satisfying the demand of the continent by about 2750,000 tons. Though large districts of Belgium, France and Germany are under forests they are un- able to supply their own wants Canada at present can help, but her supplies are not inexhadstible, and the United States is taking large quantities from her
 India requires her own forests; Aus tralia imports and must continue to do so Siberia indeed, is as yet unworked but it is too far away; and the vast forests in the tropics, for more than cne reason, will avail but little. Other countries have taken alarm, and are attending t1 forestry in a scientific spisit. The United States awoke from it's lethargy about ten years ago. Only ger cent of the land in Great Britain is utilized for grow ing timber Some may say that 1t is more profitably employed Doubtless much was, and a good deal still Is, not withstanding the agricultural depression, but there is not little land now utterly waste which would produce a good tim Der crop. Something is, no doubt, ae lnst being done, but we are moving slowly. As MT. Hawkshaw says. it is time we began to realize the po7i.iun into which we are drifting in rssard to our imber supplies. With proper management and on this point the President speaks from personal knowledge-we might grow most of our pit props and ootain large supply of wood fuel, thus economizing our coal.