The total net Vote for the year is £154,439 which, it will be observed, is £76,071 below the sum provided last year. This reduction does not imply that planting operations, or the programme generally, is being curtailed. On the contrary, there is provision made for very considerable expansion. Last year it will be noted that we provided £109,500 for the acquisition of lands for forestry purposes and the unexpended balance of that amount remains in the hands of the Department and will, it is expected, prove adequate for our purchases in the current year. It may be well to explain that money provided under this sub-head is by way of grant-in-aid and does not revert to the Exchequer at the end of the financial year.
Over 15,000 acres were acquired during last year, which brings the total acreage available for State forestry up to almost 100,000 acres. This amount would have been considerably greater, but certain temporary difficulties of an administrative nature arose in regard to the clearing of title.
The number of forest units is now increased to 69, six new units having been established during the past year, viz.: Stradbally (County Leix), Dromore (Kenmare, County Kerry), Lough Derg (County Donegal), Stranorlar (County Donegal), Glenfarne (County Leitrim), and Baronstown (County Westmeath). It is hoped that it will be possible to establish an additional new centre in County Sligo during the current year.
Sub-head A, £11,719—Salaries, Wages and Allowances.—There is an increase on last year of £915 under this sub-head. During the year the post of director was filled, and five new posts were created for temporary assistant junior forestry inspectors. These appointees will work under the permanent forestry inspectors and, when they have acquired sufficient practical experience, it is hoped that they will qualify to be absorbed in our permanent inspectorate staff. Provision is made for the expenses of a short course of training abroad for any of them who may merit selection.
It may not be out of place to mention that these posts were created so that the Department might be in a position to assimilate those who had graduated in forestry through our home universities. The new director took up duties in November last and is now engaged in getting a detailed knowledge of all the operations of the forestry division and familiarising himself with all the areas, nurseries, conditions, etc., of these throughout the State. The director, I may say, was chosen by a selection board from about 70 candidates from 12 different countries, and his experience in the German State Forest Service, where he occupied a very important controlling position, should be valuable, not only in expanding forestry operations, but also in ascertaining what can be done in those areas in the west and south which present the real difficulties.
Sub-head B provides £2,000 for travelling expenses and subsistence allowance. The amount required under this sub-head is practically the same as last year.
Sub-head C (1), Acquisition of Land, £1,000.—This may be treated as a token Vote. As I have already explained, we retain within the Department the unexpended balance of this sub-head. It represents a Grant-in-Aid and as the accumulated funds under this amount to £118,931, we will have more than sufficient to meet all our needs for the current year.
Sub-head C (2), £142,581—Cultural operations, Maintenance, etc.—This sub-head is the really significant one of the Estimates, representing as it does the actual development and expansion of forestry operations. In the provision for this year, the increase is £32,847 above the amount voted last year. With the growth of operations there is, of necessity, a corresponding increase in the number of foresters and foremen and an increase in the amount of money required for supplies of plants, seedlings, fencing and other essential materials. It will be noted that increases have been made in the staffs of foresters and foremen, but further increases will be necessary and it is our plan to recruit these from our own trainees. At the present time we have five trainees in their third and final year; 12 in their second year and 12 in their first year, making 29 trainees in all. It is from these trainees of our own school that we will secure our future foresters and foremen. Proposals for further recruitment to be made by the Civil Service Commissioners during the coming year are under consideration. It will be observed that within this sub-head we estimate and have made provision for £102,500 to be spent on labour alone, of which £22,500 will be allotted to maintenance and the remaining £80,000 for cultural operations.
The amount required for the purchase of seeds, seedlings and transplants is £12,500, as against £9,000 provided last year. Whilst it is true that the main sources of supply for planting work are our own nurseries, and whilst these are being extended as quickly as possible, they are not yet adequate to meet the demands of the greater area now being planted. During the year about 2,000,000 transplants and 750,000 seedlings were ordered from Saorstát nurserymen who were, however, unable to supply all the requirements of the Department and purchases from outside the country were necessary. As a matter of fact, last year there was a general shortage of supplies and this considerably restricted us in our planting work. As a result we were only able to plant an area of 6,400 acres. This was an increase of 900 acres over the previous year, but was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1,500 acres less than we could have planted had plants and seedlings been available.
Though the Department's nurseries have been more than doubled and are being still further expanded, the effect of the expansion will not be felt for some time, as plants require on the average about three years in the nursery before they can be used in the forest. Still larger purchases of plants will, therefore, be necessary during the current year to meet the planting programme and plan that has been laid down. This programme will aim at the planting of 10,000 acres.
Though a quantity of seed is extracted at home, most of the seed used in the nurseries is imported. Last year's purchases were 12,512 lbs., compared with 6,876 lbs. in the previous year. Germany (5,180 lbs.), Holland (5,000), Denmark (690); Scotland (600); Canada (502); Austria (300) and United States (240) were our supply sources. Larger purchases of seed will be necessary during the present year.
Sub-head C (3), £2,718—Timber conversion.—There is a decrease in the amount required under this sub-head. The Department has two sawmills operating, one at Dundrum, County Tipperary, and the other at Emo, near Portarlington. The mill at Emo is very small, but the sawmill at Dundrum does a considerable amount of work. The question of reconditioning this mill is under consideration. As time goes on and our forests are producing standing timber the whole organisation for the proper and economical handling of the produce will require more and more attention. The Department is fully alive to this aspect of its work and the necessary plans and provision will be made.
Sub-head D (1), £600—Grants and advances for afforestation purposes.— This sum is required to meet the cost of the Department's scheme for grants for planting work by public bodies and private owners. Payment is made at the rate of £4 per acre, of which £3 is paid as soon as the work has been done to the satisfaction of the Department and the balance of £1 after five years, if the Department is satisfied that the plantation has been properly maintained in the meantime. The total amount has been growing slowly since it was started in 1931 and, though some public bodies have availed of the advantages of the scheme, it is felt that public authorities and private persons might have used it to a much greater extent than they did.
Sub-head D (2), £600—Arbor Day.— Arbor Day was held during the month of March, and the same arrangements were made for the supply of plants to schools as in the previous year, when the Arbor Day movement was revived. The number of schools participating was about 900. A difficulty which prevents many schools from participating in Arbor Day is that there is no ground available around the school where trees could be planted. The Department is satisfied that so long as interest in the care and preservation of trees can be stimulated amongst the rising generation the experiment can be justified.
Sub-head E (1), £1,201 — Forestry Education.—Under this sub-head money is provided (1) for a scholarship in forestry in the National University, (2) for the special courses held every year for foresters and foremen, and (3) for the cost of the school at Avondale. The forestry school at Avondale was reopened in July last year after having been closed for many years. The premises have been renovated and a household staff with a matron has been provided. The arrangements for the housing and care of the trainees and apprentices are very satisfactory and the Department is satisfied that the school will be in a position to give an adequate training in all branches of forestry. The school will have from 18 to 21 trainees when in full swing.
Sub-head E (2), £50—Exhibits at Shows.—This is a provision for occasional exhibits at various shows where demonstrations of proper methods of planting and occasional lectures on forestry may be given. Sub-head F, £10—Agency and Advisory Services.—This is merely a token Vote. Sub-head G, £200—Incidental Expenses.—The same amount is proposed under this sub-head as last year. It covers cost of telegrams, telephones, advertising of sales of timber, lettings and sundry expenses. Sub-head H, £8,220 — Appropriations-in-Aid. — This sum represents the estimated income from all sources, the principal source of income being the Dundrum Sawmill, sales of timber and grazing, shooting and cottage rents.
That covers the various activities of the Department and I am hopeful that the way has now been prepared for a rapid advance and expansion in forestry development. Whilst I had hoped that the acreage planted last year would have been greater, it will be remembered that, as indicated last year, the primary steps would begin in our nursery development. As I have already said, it takes a minimum of about three years before the expansion of the nursery results in an expansion of the forest. It was hoped to make up for this by purchases of seedlings and plants, and we purchased all we possibly could through our own commercial nurserymen at home and as much as we could of suitable plants even from outside the country. Last year seemed to indicate a general shortage of supplies.
I have conferred with the director and the technical staff of the Department, and they are reasonably satisfied that, assuming all goes well in our own nurseries and we are able to get the necessary additional supplies of suitable plants, an area of 10,000 acres of planting should be possible during the current year, though this would certainly mean extreme pressure on a staff which needs an increase of trained hands to deal in the ordinary manner with a 10,000-acre programme. From that on I see no reason why we should not gradually increase the annual planting programme to approximately 20,000 acres until such time as the necessary amount of national reafforestation is carried through. I feel that we are well on the way, that our foundations are being well laid, and that it is now a question of time—time for the nursery development and time for the development of our own technical and scientific forestry staffs.