I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £19,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1948, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Forestry (No. 13 of 1946), including certain Grants-in-Aid.
Unforeseen expenditure has arisen from the considerable increase (approximately 20 per cent.) in the wages rates of forestry labourers which took effect on the 19th May, 1947, and further unforeseen expenditure on labour under the head of Cultural Operations in sub-head (C. 2) of the Vote is being incurred in the preparation of firewood logs for sale to Fuel Importers Ltd. It is now anticipated that, while the other labour provisions in sub-head (C. 2) will prove adequate to meet anticipated expenditure for the full year, an additional sum of £49,000 will be required for labour under the head of cultural operations.
Under the arrangements made for the supply of firewood timber to Messrs. Fuel Importers, the Department is also paying the cost of freight on the firewood to Messrs. Fuel Importers depots, and this additional heavy expenditure is chargeable to the head, cultural operations—cartage and freight. It is anticipated that an additional £12,000 will be required under this head to met the full expenditure for the year.
The Department is also supplying to Messrs. Fuel Importers a quantity of firewood blocks being prepared by portable cross-cut saws, and this work will involve the expenditure on the head—preparation of firewood etc. by portable cross-cut saws—of an additional £2,000 over the original Estimate provision for labour and an additional £3,000 over the original Estimate provision for cartage.
It is not anticipated that there will be any savings on other heads in sub-head (C. 2) of the Vote available to defray these additional items of expenditure and a total additional provision of £66,000 is therefore required for sub-head (C. 2). Savings on other sub-heads will however, it is estimated, amount to £3,500 and a gross additional Vote of £62,500 is therefore necessary.
Additional appropriations-in-aid can, however, be made available under the heads of "Large Sales of Timber", "Small Sales of Timber and Thinnings", and "Receipts from Portable Cross-cut Saws." When the main Estimate for the year was prepared it was anticipated that there would be a reduction in the abnormally high receipts from sales of large lots of commercial timber and provision was made for receipts totalling £10,000. It is now expected that the receipts for the full year will amount to about £23,000, so that £13,000 more can be taken into account as Appropriations-in-Aid in the Supplementary Vote.
Receipts from small local sales will also probably realise about £8,000 more than the original Vote provision and there will fall to be credited to the same head a sum estimated at £18,000 in respect of the partial discharge by Fuel Importers within the financial year of their liability to the Department in respect of firewood logs supplied. A similar payment by Fuel Importers in respect of firewood blocks is estimated at £4,500 and will fall to be credited as additional receipts from portable cross-cut saws.
Provision has been made accordingly in the Supplementary Estimate for additional appropriations-in-aid totalling £43,500, so that the net supplementary sum required is only £19,000.