The Dáil was informed last year that 17,500 acres would be planted in that year, that it was intended to provide for a planting programme of 20,000 acres in 1957-58 and for two further increases of 2,500 acres each in the next two years. Sub-head C (2) of the Estimate now before the House was prepared on the basis of that programme but I should mention that the labour provisions throughout this sub-head and in Part 1 of sub-head C (3), are based on the average wage level operative when the Estimate was prepared in December, 1956. It has been standard practice in recent years to allow in Forestry Estimate preparation for the anticipated incidence of wage increases occurring during the year. No such allowance was deemed necessary this year because of the appeal which the former Minister for Finance had made for a general restraint in the matter of wage claims. So far there has been little increase in the December, 1956 forestry wage-level. Provided that position is maintained for the rest of the year all will be well, but, if there should be a significant wage rise and additional moneys cannot be found to meet it, we may be forced to reconsider the planting programme. The alternative of neglecting existing plantations would be most unwise.
Part 1 of sub-head C (2)—the provision for State Forest Nurseries—has had to be increased by £35,000 to enable nursery stocks to be built up to the level necessary to maintain a planting programme of 22,500 acres in 1958-59 and 25,000 acres in 1959-60. The increase is mainly in the labour head and would be sharper were it not for economies secured by extension of the use of new methods of weed control introduced last year and found successful.
Under Part 2 of the sub-head—the Provision for Capital Expenditure—a sum of £644,550 is sought. This sum comprises, roughly, £237,000 for preparation and drainage of ground preparatory to planting; £306,000 for road construction; £20,500 for buildings, and £81,000 for purchase, repair and running of machinery used for various forest operations.
The figure of £237,000 which I have just mentioned for preparation and drainage of ground plus the provision of £253,050 under Part 3 of the sub-head—Constructional Expenditure—represent the actual immediate cost of the planting programme of 20,000 acres for 1957-58, apart from costs relating to machine aids, on the drainage and moulding of land for planting. The planning of a 20,000 acre planting programme for a year at the commencement of which the available plantable land was under 50,000 acres is not easy. A considerable portion of the reserve is comprised in large blocks at a comparatively small number of centres at which the existing plantations are all of recent date. An example of this is Meenirroy Forest with a productive area of 2,418 acres. Planting commenced in 1951-52. A total of 1,430 acres has already been planted, the average annual planting programme being 238 acres. If the 988 acres still remaining to be planted is handled at too fast a rate, a really difficult problem of management will be presented in another 15 years when the plantations reach the thinning stage.
To avoid an excessive planting rate at such forests as Meenirroy, we will have to rely on some of the areas actually acquired in the current year to make up about 1,000 acres of the total planting programme for this year. It seems to me that the Forestry Division has been pressed rather too hard in this matter of speeding up the planting rate. With this difficulty of the paucity of plantable reserves and during a period of simultaneous rapid expansion in management work in the existing plantations, it is indeed a matter for congratulation that the forestry service has each year completed in full the successive enlargements of the annual planting demands by one Government after another.
I understand that in no year since the end of World War II, which interrupted the steady progress being made in the immediate pre-war years, has the service failed to achieve the preordained programme of new planting for the year. This year's planting programme will bring the total of State plantations to 247,000 acres, of which 142,500 acres represent the post-war plantings.
The high percentage of our total plantations laid down since the war is in large part attributable to the new mechanical aids to afforestation of peat areas which were developed post-war. My predecessors have informed the Dáil on numerous occasions that some of the additional planting rendered possible by these new techniques was on extremely unpromising areas and that some of this experimental work was far in advance of any similar experimentation in other countries. I have not yet had an opportunity of examining fully this whole question of experimental planting of doubtful sites. I understand that, so far, the young plantations have not suffered any serious checks and that there is an increasing probability that growth will continue unabated. There are still other problems associated with these areas, however, including the particular vulnerability to wind and snow damage of rapid-growing species in wet bog areas, and the whole question of the value and economics of this type of afforestation requires careful and constant examination.
I have mentioned already that under Part 2 of sub-head C (2), allowance is made for an expenditure of £306,000 on the construction of new forest roads. That figure does not include any allowance for the cost of departmental machinery employed on road-work. Road construction requirements have grown rapidly in recent years with the approach of larger areas to the thinning stage. The total mileage of new roads dealt with run from 66 miles in 1953-54 to 90 miles in 1954-55, 118 miles in 1955-56 and 192 miles in 1956-57. The fact that the allowance of £306,000 for work on this head in the current year's Estimate is an increase of 50 per cent. on last year's figure is a sufficient indication that this rapid growth will continue.
Road construction costs have been getting considerable attention in the last year or so and certain economies have been effected, inter alia, more intensive efforts are now being made to secure the supply of road materials on a contract basis as an alternative to direct labour quarrying and handling of the materials. In some districts it has been found that economies can be secured by contract working and, of course, the availability of materials from outside quarries is an aid towards more rapid progress. Further attention is being given to this whole question of road construction costings.
The allowance of £81,000 for purchase, repair and operation of mechanical equipment includes a sum of £37,500 for purchase of new machinery, mainly additional bulldozers and compressors for road work and additional heavy tractors and ploughs for mechanical preparation and drainage of planting ground.
Moving on to Part 4 of sub-head C (2), the provision for maintenance of plantations at £577,300 is £77,000 higher than in 1956-57. The increase is attributable in the main to the growing total area of plantations but is swollen by the need for more intensive extra drainage in some existing plantations to secure a continuance of healthy growth.
Part 1 of sub-head C (3)—Timber Conversion in the State Forests—at £139,020 is considerably reduced from the 1956-57 Estimate level. The bulk of the expenditure in this head is incurred in the thinning of plantations. The fall-off in expenditure is not due to a slowing-down of thinning activity but to a change in standard practice as to the sale of thinnings. Formerly it was the universal practice to carry out the felling of all thinnings by direct labour and to use direct labour also for the extraction of most of the material to roads or ride-lines. A detailed investigation over the past two years of the costs of these operations, and review of the extent to which these costs were recovered from the purchasers of the timber, showed conclusively that the net profit would be greater if the thinnings were sold standing in the wood, leaving it to the purchaser to carry out his own felling and extraction.
Under the former direct labour method, the total handling costs were increased where the purchaser required to sort the material for different end-uses, unprofitable extraction costs were incurred on inferior poles to which the purchaser might attach no value, and cross-cutting to facilitate extraction might not be to the sizes at which the purchaser could secure the fullest utilisation of the material. In some cases, the felled poles were deteriorating in value while being listed and advertised for sale. After a series of test sales of standing thinnings to condition the market to this new method, the Department finally switched over last year to standing sale as the normal method except in certain particular circumstances where the former system would be more practicable or more prudent in relation to the general welfare of the plantations. The new system has worked well and has increased appreciably the net profit to the Department from the sale of thinnings. The new arrangement also affords a valuable opportunity of holding back for further advertisement lots of timber which do not attract as high a price as they should command on first advertisement; under the old system, delay in completing a sale involved loss through deterioration of the timber.
The switch-over has not involved any dislocation in the rhythm of thinning progress. Original expectations were that a total area of 13,000 acres would be thinned in 1956-57. Final figures of actual out-turn are not yet available but provisional figures show an area of over 7,000 acres thinned by direct labour and an area of over 5,500 acres prepared for standing sale. Forecasts for 1957-58 allow for a further increase in total area to be thinned; it is expected that about 8,000 acres will be handled by direct labour, and the Estimate provision is conditioned to that expectation.
It is most encouraging that in 1956-57, despite securing an economy of approximately £130,000 on this part of sub-head C (3), receipts from the sale of timber realised £30,000 more than originally anticipated. This encouraging note is carried into the Estimate for 1957-58 in which allowance is made in sub-head H for a further rise in receipts from the sale of timber although expenditure on sub-head C (3) (1) will be only of about the same extent as in 1956-57.
The heavy annual capital investment liability of forestry and the long period which elapses before produce is obtained makes it imperative that the utmost possible revenue be derived from thinning produce. In any forest economy, thinning produce is assuming a rapidly-growing importance in present day financial conditions—an importance enhanced by the usability of thinning produce in the production of paper, wallboard and other timber derivatives which are fast replacing sawlog timber as the keynote to successful forest exploitation. Ours is a young forest economy and it will be some considerable time yet before our availability of material for pulp and similar processes approaches its maximum level but we are entering the phase in which thinning produce will rapidly increase and we are already at the stage at which we can plan ahead. We have, in our very newness to this field of industrial production, a magnificent opportunity of ensuring that the fullest value is obtained from modern experience elsewhere to develop an industry which will combine all the efficiency which up to date methods will give with the advantages to be derived from a proper blue-printing and co-ordination of its different aspects to give us the maximum possible and most remunerative possible utilisation of our forest produce. This matter has for some time been engaging the active attention of my Department, the Department of Industry and Commerce and the Industrial Development Authority.
We are most anxious that the development of this industry should be on lines which will contribute in significant degree not alone to the forest economy but also to the wider national economy by assisting the solution of balance of payments problems. The extent to which full utilisation of thinning produce can aid in rectifying balance of payments difficulties will be apparent when I say that the thinning produce of the 20,000 acres annual planting level operative this year, fully exploited for paper production, could alter our present position of importing £4,000,000 worth of paper and cardboard more than we export to one of having an export excess of an order exceeding £5,000,000 while our present imports of £6,500,000 worth of mature timber should be replaced by exports in value somewhere between £10,000,000 and £20,000,000—assuming present world price levels and an increase in home consumption.
That is the attractive future gain to the country from a steady planting programme of the order now being undertaken. An annual turnover of 20,000 acres of forest could also provide permanent employment for 28,000 men in the forest apart from the many others who would find employment in the processing and transport of forest produce. But to-day we are still many years away from that situation.
The planting of 20,000 acres of forest this year will, with the expansion of other forest work, bring total employment in the forests for the year up to . an average level of over 6,000 men excluding persons engaged in transport or processing of timber. That itself is attractive as a contribution towards the immediate employment needs of the country. The figure I have just quoted includes a direct labour force for the current year averaging 5,550, the balance being estimated employment of labour in the forests by purchasers of timber. The average number employed on direct labour work in 1956-57 was 5,048 and the figure at the beginning of April was 4,937. This projected rise in forest employment for the year is reflective of the increase in the total of the gross Estimate, 80 per cent. of which is for salaries, wages and payments to carters.
This singularly high proportion of expenditure which is directly devoted to the giving of employment is the only immediate gain from the heavy capital outlay which our afforestation progress entails. It is unfortunate—but in-escapable—that the employment given in new planting gives no immediate return in terms of increased national production. In that respect, it is questionable whether this small country, with limited capital resources, with problems of a considerable excess of imports over exports and a plethora of other economic difficulties can really justify a steadily increasing annual capital investment in afforestation which is already close to the level of £2,000,000 a year.
The capital being devoted to afforestation could, if wisely spent in other spheres of national economic development, produce almost immediate results in productivity gains. Devoted to afforestation its immediate economic effect is purely inflationary. Wealthier countries, countries with more highly developed economies and greater facility for long-term investment, have considered it prudent to steer a course of moderation in this matter of afforestation. Our inherited paucity of woodland has led us, however, to undertake afforestation on a scale which is quite phenomenal in relation to our resources and our needs.
The expenditure which we are incurring to-day in this afforestation drive is undoubtedly a tremendous contribution towards the economic and national wellbeing of future generations. Viewed thus as part of this generation's sacrifice for the ultimate good of the country, capital investment on the present scale in afforestation is eminently commendable but if there is to be a real ultimate gain we must be ever mindful of the interim harmful effects which this type of long-term development without immediate productive gain can have on the economy of the country. That mind fulness must be translated into a sensible determination that economic rather than social objectives must guide our forestry endeavours and that our forestry undertakings must be so managed as to give the maximum contribution towards economic wealth from the minimum practicable consumption of man-power and money. If the main need of this country to-day is an increase in production—or, in other words, more output from man-power and capital employment—in all sectors of our economy, we must especially make high output and cost limitation the basis of our approach to an aspect of our economy from which there is no immediate productive return.
I have referred already to the high labour content of forestry work. In forestry, output and economy desiderata call particularly for strict limitation of man-power consumption to operational activities directly contributing to ultimate timber yields, elimination of inefficient staff, sound costing control and full use of mechanisation techniques. I am glad to say that I have found a ready responsiveness to these needs amongst those officials of the Forestry Division with whom I have already come in contact. I understand that certain steps have already been taken over the past few years to secure improved outputs and cost economy and that an even more intensive drive to step up labour outputs was initiated last year. The full benefit of new costing methods then introduced will not accrue immediately, but already substantial gains have been secured over a number of operational cost heads. I have assured the officials of the Department that their efforts in this sphere will have my full support and I want to take this opportunity of telling the House that I intend, in particular, to seek an adequate standard of work performance as a qualification for retention of any worker in forest employment. Incentive bonus schemes may be a help towards securing good work outputs and their possibilities will be fully explored. In our present economic circumstances, any growth in our trade will place a tremendous demand on capital. This means that the retention of an inefficient worker will be preventing another efficient worker from securing employment elsewhere. I am sure that the whole staff, including the vast majority of the workers, will appreciate the truth of this statement.
It is by this increasing cost-consciousness that I hope we can continue indefinitely the really excellent progress which is being made in the State afforestation programme. It seems to me, however, that it is a great pity that more is not being achieved by way of planting on privately-owned lands. Sub-head D of the Estimate now before the House provides for an increase of almost 50 per cent. in expenditure on grants for such planting. The increased sum to be devoted to this work is, however, a mere £5,000—a tiny fraction of our total forestry expenditure. It is small because there is still no real progress in this matter of private planting.
In the year which has just ended, only 625 acres were planted. That is, I think, quite tragic. Privately-owned woodland rarely achieves the same level of overall productivity as State forests and it is quite clear that in our own country the pattern of land tenure, the predominant importance of agriculture and the density of our rural population preclude reliance on privately-owned woodland as a main source of timber supplies. It is equally true, however, that there are patches of land of varying size all over the country which would give greater productivity if they were put under timber but which cannot readily be absorbed into the State afforestation project. Some of this land is not, at the moment, being put to any use. Some of it is devoted to grazing but could be released from that use without loss of mutton or wool if increased recourse were had to fertilisers to step up the productivity of other grazing lands on the same holdings. An overall national plan aimed at maximum production from all the resources at our disposal demands that these potential woodlands be planted.
I have been giving this matter quite a lot of thought since I became Minister for Lands a month ago. I am determined that there must be a really active campaign to secure more private planting. At the moment, I am still awaiting the results of some of my inquiries into the factors which may be deterring people from under-taking such planting, and I am reluctant to say anything as to the form which the campaign should take until I have completed my study of the matter, but the House may rest assured that one of my main objectives, as the Minister in charge of forestry, will be to secure a big increase in private planting.
It is my hope that, if we can secure the increase in private planting which I consider feasible, we can frame our future forest policy on the basis of a definite reliance on private endeavour for the fulfilment of a specific part of our total planting requirements. Only if we can secure that measure of co-operation from private landowners will I, personally, feel convinced that our people want forestry and are prepared to share the task of fulfilling their desire. To-day's position where we have an insistent clamour for more and more afforestation but no significant attempt at planting by the many hundreds of owners of suitable land is, to my mind, a symptom of our economic malaise. If we are to become a prosperous people, self-reliant in a well-balanced national economy, we must find the cure for that malaise in every form in which it is endemic amongst us.
It is useless to talk of pride of race or pride of country if our people are so frightened of long-term faith in our country that they will not be prepared to share the task of providing not merely against the needs of the moment but rather for greater prosperity in the more distant future. That is the test of faith which afforestation demands. Even approaching it on the family plane rather than the national one, the planting of portion of a farm which has little agricultural value is surely an excellent form of investment to provide a worthwhile dowry for a son or a grandson. In no country in Europe can the landowner be sure of the same natural aid towards rapid growth which, translated into monetary values, means a tremendous growth in value of the woodland in which he has invested his money. Any of the conifers suitable to our soil and climate can confidently be expected to come to maturity in time to form a dowry for a newly-married couple's first grandchild and the development of fast-growing species, and in particular the poplar, holds out the prospect of planting for a dowry for the farmer's newborn child. It is only by the spirit which will prompt such an approach to private planting that we can hope to survive as a nation.
