I do not propose to take up the time of the House very much longer on this motion, inasmuch as, in effect, the Minister has accepted the annual target of 25,000 acres per year, provided that that target could be reached over the next three years by an annual increase in the present plantation rate of 2,500 acres. As I explained when introducing the motion, those who have been working and pushing forestry ahead for a great many years have been doing so in the belief that it provides one of the simplest methods and one of the surest methods of expanding production and at the same time of providing employment, as well, of course, as providing the production of the raw material on which a great many industries can be based. We have felt that this aspect had been neglected and that it was essential to reach the stage when we could, at least in a simple sector of our economy, plan for definite progress.
I would much rather see a higher annual plantation rate than 25,000 acres, but I am prepared to accept this, and when we reach this target, to examine whether we should expand still further or not. It has been the practice of those who did not really believe in afforestation to suggest that men like Mackey and others who have advocated afforestation, and that I and those who have been associated with me in pushing forestry forward, were idealists, idealists who lived with their heads in the clouds and who did not know what they were talking about. I challenge that. I think that the many thousands of people who are deeply concerned about afforestation are not merely idealists but realists who realise that, by forestry, we can make a concrete contribution to our economic development. Supposing we are idealists as well, is there anything wrong with being an idealist? I readily confess that I am an idealist about many things. I am an idealist about my religion and about my Church; I am an idealist about my country; I am an idealist, too, because I believe that, with proper economic development, this nation can be rendered prosperous. Those, I think, are good ideals to have. In regard to forestry, I believe in it as a practical proposition and, because of that and because of its value to our economy, I am an idealist and I make no apology for being an idealist in regard to forestry.