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44survive. They do not appreciate that that capital has been built up oV,era long period of years by successive small iricreases. They donot concernthemselves as tu 'where the forests and the timber of 'the futureare to come from. It is men with that outlook who must be held responsponsiblefor the immense trail of devastated forests which covers agreat part of both hemispheres.We find that the~ ignorant people suggest that there is plenty oft.imber still available for distributIOn in the world. That is not quitethe case. Nor is it only timber merchant~ dlone Who ignore thi8 firstprinciple of forest management. I regret to have" observed that evenSGme foresters have been advocating that Germany, should she lose thewar, couid very well be made to repay some of its costs, at 'least, byvigorous exploitation of her fcrest. The exploitation contemplated canonly mean severe over-cuttir;g or even clear-cutting of some of the 'bestmanagedforests in the world, WltJo. very serious consequences to forestryin general. This is a course of action which should be resisted stronglyby every true forester. It is not a,.reduction of well-managed' foreststhat is wanted, but an increase.It is interesting, on the other hand, to read that 1he South AfricanForestry Department have recently taken one of the most drastic stepspossible in harmony with the principle of the sustained yield. Theyhavedecided that certain natural forest areas in Cape Colony which have beendevastated and over-exploited for nearly 60 years, are to be rested' forabout 200 years to enable the area to recover some of its originalstate. In this way and over that long interval of time the over-cuttingis to be made good. This plan is a very far-sighted.on0 and based ona faith in the ability of foresters to ensure that sound forestry principlescan be applied and maintained in future. It is, in fact, based on a faithin the future of our profes&ion. It is that attitude of mind which wehave not only to develop here but also to induce in all those who havea responsibility in respect of forestry.There is always, of course, the type of person who carries his objectionto over-cutting of trees to the opposite extreme and whu refuses,for one reason or another, to cut old tret:s which have not only reachedcommercial maturity, but have reached and passed biological maturity.He, or she, refuses to fell over-mature timber and to take the nece'ssarysteps to replace it with younger trese. The ultimate result of such apolicy inevitably leads w the disappearance of woods and the policydefeats its own object because trees are unfortunately not immortal.Many of the members who attended Gur first excursion to the Clonmeldistrict will recollect that we had an interesting di5cussion on thetreatment of a certain stand of mature hardwood, and that it, was theunanimous view of members that it was time the wood was opened outto allow the younger generation of self-sown trees to develOp, if thewood was to be preserved. This has recently been done and it is -to beregretted that a measure taken in the best interests of the wood and ofthe local amenity should have led to ill-considere(l criticism and used asa peg on which to hang a general warning that the Forestry Service ofthis country is not to be trusted with the care of its own wood~, . let "lonewith that of all woods throughout the country. Nothing could . be-furtherfrom the truth, as the appearanCe and condition of the country's woodsafter five and a half year of severe strain, :Jmply testify. It is a warning,however, to all professional foresters that they must always be ready tocombat the views and opinions of persons inexperienced in forestry.There are a great many people wh() think that a nodding acquaintancewith a tree or the reading of a book on forestry or an occasional walkthrough a wood raises them to the rank of forestry specialist.What is desirable is that as many people as posssible should have adirect ir.tetest in owning and maintaining woods, in producing timber audother fore~t produce and in replanting their woods as and when necessary,and they certainly have a strong inducement to do all this bbth bythe operatIOn of the Forestry Act and by the financial encouragementoffered by the new scale of grants under the Planting Grant scheme.They would also, I believe, find it some advantage to become' membersof this Society.On th3 motion of Mr. T. Ryan, seconded by Mr. T. McCarthy, theAbstract of Accounts for the year ending 31st DeCember 1944 whichap~ears below, and which had been ,sent to all members aiong v{ith thenohce calling the meeting, was approved, without question. ,