I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £2,050 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1944, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Forestry (9 & 10 Geo. 5, c. 58, and No. 34 of 1928), including certain Grants-in-Aid.
The additional sums which the Dáil is now being asked to provide are in respect of travelling expenses, labour, and grants for private planting. A sum of £2,200 is required for the completion of a census of standing timber which the Forestry Division is conducting on behalf of the Department of Supplies and the Department of Industry and Commerce. The work, which involves the examination of every woodland in the country over two and a half acres in extent, has proved more difficult and laborious and has called for much more travelling than was anticipated, but it is now nearing completion and will furnish valuable information of the amount and quality of the remaining stocks of timber and firewood in the country. The provision under the sub-head involved—sub-head B.—for the current year was £5,100 and the expenditure to the end of December last was £5,771. It is estimated, therefore, that an additional sum of £2,200 will be required to meet the total expenditure for the year.
Under sub-head C (2) of the Vote, which provides for the planting of State forest lands and the upkeep of the plantations, an additional sum of £16,000 is required. When the original provision was made it was anticipated that, owing to the shortage of rabbit netting and other fencing materials, it would not be possible to complete a planting programme this winter in excess of 2,000 acres. It has, however, been found possible, by lifting old wire from plantations which are now reasonably safe from serious attacks by rabbits, to increase the planting programme to approximately 4,000 acres for the year. Furthermore, following the recent rise in the minimum wages of agricultural workers the rates of pay of forestry labourers have been increased as from 7th instant by 4/- per week and additional money is required to meet this extra charge. There are approximately 1,430 forestry labourers employed at present. The expenditure on labour during the current year over and above the amount voted last year is estimated at £19,000, but the balance of £3,000 will be found from savings on other sub-divisions of this sub-head of the Vote.
The third sub-head involved in this Supplementary Estimate is sub-head D, under which provision is made for the payment of grants to persons undertaking planting operations on their own lands. It is extremely difficult in framing the Estimate for this sub-head to forecast, with any pretensions to accuracy, the area in respect of which such grants may be claimed. Claims are paid in some cases in respect of lands planted prior to any application for a grant. In fact, the excessive expenditure which has been necessary this year is in respect of areas planted several years ago, and in respect of which claims were not made until after the commencement of the current financial year. As a setoff against the additional expenditure for which provision is now requested, it is clear that increased sales of timber and firewood will bring in considerably more than was at first estimated. These increased receipts will probably amount to about £17,000, so that the net additional amount which the Dáil is being asked to provide under the Forestry Vote for the year 1943-44 is only £2,050.
