SCHEME  OF  AFFORESTATION

*47

that  labour  farm  colonies  which  could  devote  themselves
to  the  production  of  these  goods  might  place  their  subsidised ­
  produce  on  the  English  markets  without  the  same
direct  injury  which  would  result  from  placing  manufactured
goods  on  town  markets.  But  even  here  it  must  not  be
forgotten  that  foreign  agricultural  produce  would  only  be
displaced  by  an  underselling  which  would  be  likely  to
injure  English  producers  of  the  same  classes  of  articles.
If  subsidised  labour  colonies  should  displace  Danish
butter  they  would  do  so  to  the  detriment  of  those  English
farmers  who  under  present  circumstances  produce  a  large
part  of  our  butter  supply.  There  are  very  few  classes  of
produce,  agricultural  or  other,  which  could  be  produced
by  a  labour  colony  and  which  are  at  present  exclusively
in  the  hands  of  foreigners.
§  75.  Scheme  of  A  fforestation.
These  economic  dangers  and  difficulties  do  not  of
course  apply  to  schemes  of  agricultural  improvement  with
or  without  State  assistance  which  are  conducted  on  purely
bond  fide  business  lines.  Of  such  schemes  the  simplest
and  most  entirely  unobjectionable  is  that  of  Afforestation.
If  the  estimates  of  Dr.  Schlich  and  other  authorities  are
correct,  that  England  contains  8,000,000  acres  well  suited
for  the  growth  of  timber,  and  that  6,000,000  of  these
would  grow  a  quantity  equal  to  our  present  imports,  that
the  industry  could  be  run  upon  an  ordinary  business
basis  and  would  provide  employment  for  large  quantities
of  unskilled  labour  during  nearly  the  whole  of  the  year,
we  have  here  a  scheme  which  would  satisfy  every  economic ­
  test.  There  is  no  economic  reason  why  capital
should  not  be  advanced  by  the  State  for  the  establishment