Tairgim:—
Go ndeonfar suim nach mó ná £813,800 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfas chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31ú lá de Mhárta, 1954, chun Tuarastal agus Costas i dtaobh Foraoiseachta (Uimh. 13 de 1946), lena n-áirítear Deontas-i-gCabhair chun Talamh a Thógaint.
Tá meadú de £295,100 sa Mheastachán seo thar mar a bhí sa chéad mheastachán anuraidh. Nuair a cuirtear an fomheastachán i gcóir 1952/53 san áireamh tá meadú de £225,100 i meastachán na bliana seo thar an mór-shuim i 1952/53.
Faoi Fó-Mhírcheann A, tá breisiú de £3,000 de bhrí go bhfuiltear ag meadú líon na bhForaoiseoirí, agus tuairim's £7,000 i gcóir gnáth-bhreisiú tuarastal.
Tá meadú de £1,500 faoi Fó-Mhircheann B de bhrí gur méadaíodh na liúntaisí taistil i rith na bliana agus go ndéanfar tuille taistil i mbliana.
Bhí £130,000 ar fáil faoi Fó-Mhircheann C (1) i gcóir talamh a cheannach i gcóir 1952/53. Níor caitheadh £9,393 den mhéid sin agus fágann san go mbéidh thar £172,000 ar fáil i gcóir na bliana airgeadais seo.
Tá méadú de £123,100 faoi Fó-Mhírcheann C (2)—riarú agus forbairt na bhForaois, agus de £32,410 faoi C (3) i gcóir adhmad a ghearradh agus eile.
Béidh an tSuim Faoi Fó-Mhírcheann D (Deontaisí agus roimh-íocanna igcóir Crainnte a chur) ar aon dul leis an méid a bhótaladh i 1952/53.
In introducing the 1952-53 Forestry Estimate to the House I departed to some extent from the normal practice of detailed commentary on the individual provisions in the Estimate in order to give Deputies a more clearly defined general picture of the work which the Forestry Division would be doing during the year and which the Estimate as a whole was planned to cover.
In introducing this Estimate I would like to go into some of the individual figures in greater detail before commenting directly upon the forest work which it is proposed to undertake during the year and for which provision is made in sub-heads C (2) and C (3) (1).
The net Estimate at £1,220,800 shows an increase of £295,100 over the original Estimate for 1952-53. Even after allowance is made for the Supplementary Estimate for £70,000 introduced late last year there is an increase of £225,100. The gross Estimate excluding Appropriations-in-Aid, to which I shall refer separately later, shows an increase of £222,600.
There are increases in individual expenditure sub-heads of £10,222 on sub-head A—Salaries, Wages and Allowances; £1,500 on sub-head B—Travelling Expenses; £56,000 on sub-head C (1)—Acquisition of Land; £123,100 on sub-head C (2)—Forest Development and Maintenance; £32,410 on sub-head C (3)—Timber Conversion, and £168 on sub-head E (1)—Forestry Education. The only decrease is £800 on sub-head G—Incidental Expenses.
Of the increase of £10,222 on sub-head A—Salaries, Wages and Allowances, £3,000 is by way of provision for an increase in forester staff to meet expanding work requirements. Almost the entire remainder is due to the incidence of normal adjustments of salaries. The increase of £168 on sub-head E (1)—Forestry Education— is in the main due to the same cause.
Before passing from the Staff and Forestry Education heads I should refer to the progress made with plans for improving the facilities for the education of forestry trainees. Work on the adaptation of Shelton Abbey asa new forestry school has commenced. The initial contract for the removal of defective portions of the building has been almost completed and there is every reason to expect that the main contract will be placed and put through in time to enable the building to be utilised from the commencement of the 1954-55 training year in October 1954. That will enable the Department to restore the arrangement under which trainees spend two of the three years of the training course at the forestry school.
One year of the training course will continue to be devoted entirely to practical work. It has been decided to utilise Kinnitty Castle as a headquarters for this practical training year. The castle is situated in the middle of the Slievebloom Forest massif within easy reach of Kinnitty, Clonaslee, Mountrath and Ossory Forests which jointly total 15,773 acres. Seven thousand one hundred and twenty four acres are already planted and 2,456 acres are available for planting. This forest group includes plantations of all ages including some up to 40 years of age in Mountrath which is our seventh oldest forest. There is assurance of the steady planting of additional lands in the area for many years including lands where new techniques of mechanical preparation of ground will be applied and there is a nursery attached to Kinnitty Forest itself. The castle is in good condition structurally; its size and layout are generally remarkably apt for the accommodation of one year's trainees, i.e., 20 men with domestic staff etc., and it is estimated that the building can be made suitable for its new use at a cost apart from furnishing of £2,700. Authority for the necessary work has already been given and the aim is to have the castle available for occupation by the end of this year. The new arrangement will permit of much more effective practical training.
The increase of £1,500 on sub-head B —Travelling Expenses—calls for little comment. It allows for expansion of field staff and work as well as adjustments in rates of travelling expenses.
Under sub-head C (1) the Grant-in-Aid for acquisition of land, £100,000was provided in the original Vote last year and £7,000 in the Supplementary Vote apart from a balance of £23,268 carried forward from the previous year. That made a total of slightly over £130,000 available for last year. At the 31st March, 1953, £9,393 remained unspent and was carried forward into this year. The additional £163,000 now sought will make a total of over £172,000 available for the year.
Expenditure has grown steadily over the past few years, the net figures being:—1949-50, £32,268; 1950-51, £50,341; 1951-52, £126,903 inclusive of abnormal expenditure on the Shelton and Kinnitty estates; 1952-53, £120,875.
While variations in annual expenditure are to an extent attributable to the incidence of expenditure on buildings and woodland included in areas acquired, the figures I have quoted reflect a sustained improvement in the rate of acquisition of land, the plantable area acquired in the years mentioned being, respectively, 6,725 acres, 10,490 acres, 15,659 acres and 16,785 acres. The total area acquired in 1952-53 was 19,419 acres including only 2,634 acres or 13½ per cent. of unplantable land; this was the second lowest percentage of unplantable land in 12 years.
Acquisitions during the year resulted in the establishment of new forests at Mullaghareirk, County Cork; Killorglin, County Kerry; Gweebara, Raphoe and Kilcar, County Donegal; Lough Talt, County Sligo; Scotstown, County Monaghan, and Silvermines, County Tipperary. A further new forest was established at Rosscarbery, County Cork, by the division of Bandon forest.
At the 1st April, 1953, title was being, or had been, established to 23,260 acres which the Department had agreed to buy, compared with 17,231 acres at the commencement of 1952-53. Negotiations were in hands for the purchase of a further 31,577 acres, compared with 27,196 acres in 1952-53. These figures exclude areas likely to be transferred from the Land Commission amounting at the 1st April, 1953, to 2,255 acres, apart from 3,099 acres awaiting inspection. In the three months ended 30th June, 1953, possessionwas taken of 4,000 acres, while at that date 1,650 acres were ready for possession to be taken. There is clear basis, therefore, for anticipating that the rise in the rate of acquisition will continue this year. Expenditure is likely to be higher than in any previous year, but the sum of over £172,000 contemplated by the Estimate should be more than adequate to meet foreseeable expenditure. Any remainder will assist towards restoration of the standing balance on the Grand-in-Aid Suspense Account, which has diminished in recent years.
Accurate figures for the plantable reserve at the commencement of 1953-54 are not yet available but it is estimated that, after deduction of the area planted in 1952-53, slightly over 38,000 acres remained available, as compared with 31,700 acres a year previously. This improvement in the reserve figure is pleasing but we cannot yet view the reserve with complacency or relax in any way our efforts to improve it. The House is familiar with the principle that, for proper conduct of forestry, land should be available for planting before seed is sown in the nurseries so that plants of the proper species for that land may be raised.
This principle is usually referred to as the need for a three-year reserve on the basis that most forest trees are suitable for planting in their third year after sowing. As there is some common confusion as to the real meaning of the term "three-year reserve", it may be no harm to state the position in rather more detail. Ignoring hardwoods, for which only a small proportion of our available land is suitable, we should know when sowing seed in, say, the spring of 1954 the precise lands on which we hope to plant out the resulting plants in due course. The pinus contorta and a small proportion of the other pines, aggregating perhaps 30 per cent. of the total sowing, would be suitable for planting out in 1955-56, most other species in 1956-57, i.e., the third year after sowing, and the Norway spruce and a proportion of the sitka spruce, about 20 per cent. of the total sowing, in 1957-58. In other words, if we were conducting our nursery work properlywe should know when sowing in the spring of 1954 or better still, in the autumn of 1953, when ordering seed what land we would be planting with Norway spruce and some of the land we would be planting with sitka spruce as far as 1957-58 or about 20 per cent. of the probable total planting in that year. We should know all but 30 per cent., i.e., excluding contorta and some other pine ground, of the land we would be planting in 1956-57 and all the land we would be planting up to and including 1955-56. If the annual planting rate remained at no more than 12,500 acres we would thus need in the autumn to have in reserve and allocated to particular planting years nearly 49,000 acres. To allow for inevitable vagaries in the rate of development of nursery stocks and to permit of proper staggering of the planting of new areas attached to busy forests or large blocks in new forest districts an even greater reserve would be needed. I have gone into this question of the reserve in greater detail than has previously been attempted in the House to impress upon Deputies that our reserve is still utterly inadequate to enable proper planning and co-ordination of the work to be attempted and that even greater progress with land acquisition must still be a primary objective.
The increase of £123,100 in sub-head C (2)—Forest Development and Maintenance—is made up of increases of £6,150 for State forest nurseries; £80,750 for the capital expenditure head; and £76,400 for maintenance, offset in part by a reduction of £40,200 under the head of constructional expenditure.
The increase of £6,150 for State forest nurseries is attributable to the provision for labour which is up by £10,000, the net additional amount required for nurseries being limited by a reduction in the aggregate provision under other less significant items chargeable to the head. The reduction in the aggregate of provisions other than labour flows in the main from disappearance of an abnormal provision in 1952-53 for purchase of reserve stocks of tools, non-recurrence of a freight charge on an exchange of plants with the British Forestry Commission and areduction in seed purchases, due to increased home collections. The addition of £10,000 to the provision for labour is required to meet wage increases, there being no change in the quantum of work contemplated.
The nurseries will continue to operate on the basis I described in last year's Estimate debate, that is, on a production programme designed to enable the rate of planting to be increased to or towards 15,000 acres annually as soon as other circumstances permit of that advance. There has been a reduction in the extent of seed sowing this year, due to allowance for surpluses from last year's sowing, but the nurseries are still geared to a planting target of 15,000 acres.
The increase of £80,750 under the head of capital expenditure comprises increases of £50,000 in the provision for labour, £6,500 for materials, £16,200 for running expenses and repair of machinery, £4,000 for cartage and freight, £4,000 for the purchase and construction of buildings, and a nominal £50 for miscellaneous expenditure.
Wage increases would have involved an addition to the labour provision of £12,000 without change in the volume of work. The further addition of £38,000 is in respect of a much expanded road construction programme, the preparation and drainage of ground which is the other main aspect of work covered by the head being on the same scale as in 1952-53. I should explain at this stage that the acreage of land mechanically treated for preparation for afforestation amounted to 5,300 acres as against 7,000 acres manually prepared. As I have said, this year's programme will be somewhat similar.
The additional £6,500 for materials is required to cover more extensive purchase of new equipment than in 1952-53, the most notable item being additional light tractors for haulage work, additional rotovators for nursery work and some small rock drills and mechanical saws.
The increase in the provision for running expenses and repair of machinery allows for the use of the new equipment to be purchased, increased incidence of repair costs on machineryalready in use, including crawler type tractors which have already been in service for about two years, purchase of some spare parts, adaptation of equipment to meet particular types of work and road tax payments.
The increased charge for cartage and freight is complementary to the increased allowance for labour on road construction. The rise in cost would have been greater, were it not for economies to be secured from the use of additional tractors. In respect of buildings, allowance is made for speeding up the provision of official residences for foresters.
The provisions under the head of constructional expenditure on which there is a net reduction of £40,200 are, with the exception of the item for materials, framed on the same basis as last year. There is an increase of £5,000 under the head of labour to allow for wage increases. There is also an extra £1,000 allowed for under the item cartage and freight. There is, however, a reduction of £46,200 in the provision for materials. The principal expenditure covered by this item is the purchase of fencing wire. Notwithstanding that a reserve of about three years' supply of fencing wire was already in stock, allowance was made in the 1952-53 Estimate for the purchase of the major portion of the year's requirements. Fencing wire does not deteriorate rapidly in store, but prolonged storage can cause damage and the storage facilities available are furthermore inadequate for the proper protection of the quantity now held. It is therefore proposed to draw on reserve stocks to meet this year's requirements and to purchase only materials of which inadequate stocks are held.
The increase of £76,400 under the head of maintenance is constituted by increases of £80,000 for labour and £1,300 for building repairs offset by reductions of £4,500 in the provision for materials and £400 in that for protection.
About £27,000 of the additional sum for labour is related to wage increases, the balance of £53,000 being directly attributable to the increasing volume of work covered by the maintenance head. The increased provision for buildingrepairs is made in the hope of overtaking arrears of such work during the year. The reduction under the item materials reflects completion during 1952-53 of the purchase of extra stocks of various tools, etc. The lower provision for protection is not significant; the 1952-53 figure includes a sum of £400 provided in the Supplementary Estimate.
Sub-head C (3)—Timber Conversion —shows an increase of £32,410. This is made up by increases of £29.100 under the head timber conversion in State forests and £3,310 under the head sawmilling.
The increase under the head of timber conversion in State forests is distributed over the various items constituting the head. There is an extra £25,000 for labour, of which some £8,000 is by way of provision for wage increases, the remaining £17,000 being related to an increase in the volume of work. An increase of £2,600 in the provision for running expenses and repair of machinery is due to anticipated increased incidence of repair costs on older machines and the projected use for timber haulage and sawing of some of the new tractors, for the purchase of which provision was made under sub-head C (2). An additional £500 for cartage and freight relates to the increased volume of work anticipated. A sum of £1,000 for tools and other materials has also been inserted in the Estimate.
The increase of £3,310 under the head of sawmilling is due to a slight variation in the amount required for labour and an addition of £3,000 to the provision for equipment. The alteration in the labour figure allows for wage adjustments, the completion of reconstruction work on Cong sawmill, and the opening of the new mill there during the year. The altered figure for equipment and running expenses also allows for commencement of work at the new Cong sawmill, as well as payment for some outstanding equipment, electrical installation, etc. It is hoped to havethe new sawmill at Cong in operation in the autumn.
Sub-head D—Grants and Advances for Afforestation Purposes—is being retained at the same level as in 1952-53.
I have already mentioned sub-head E (1)—Forestry Education. Sub-heads E (2) and F are being retained at the same level as in 1952-53.
Sub-head G shows a decrease of £800, but if the proposed provision of £1,500 is compared with the original Estimate provision for 1952-53 it will be seen that there is allowance for an increase over that figure of £320, including £250 on the advertising head. After the 1953-54 Estimate was framed, it became apparent that considerably increased provision was needed to meet expenditure in 1952-53, especially on advertising, and an extra £1,120 was provided in the Supplementary Estimate for that year.
Higher advertising expenditure is, in part, due to an increase in advertisement charges, but in the main arises from more frequent and extensive warnings in regard to the danger of forest fires. Deputies will have seen from statements issued by the Department in recent months that there has been an exceptional number of dangerous fires this year and that a number, in fact, gave rise to considerable damage. As our plantations advance in age and value the destruction which fire can wreak is of increasing gravity, and the Department is energetically pursuing every available means of awakening public consciousness of the danger of fires.
I promised to refer in more detail to the operations to be carried on during the year under sub-heads C (2) and C 3 (1).
The forestry policy which it is intended to pursue remains based on the principles which I explained fully in introducing the 1952-53 Estimate and which I may summarise as follows:—
Firstly, to give priority of attention to the proper sylvicultural treatment of existing plantations even where such priority militates againstthe rapid establishment of new plantations on bare land associated with older plantations;
Secondly, to lay down new plantations at the maximum progressive annual rate within an immediate target of 15,000 acres annually sustainable without interference with essential care and development of existing plantations and without exhausting in one or two years the available plantable land in new forest areas; and
Thirdly, to maintain nursery production at a level which will permit of expansion in the annual planting rate towards the 15,000 acre target as soon as other circumstances permit.
Last year I informed the House that the maximum planting programme practicable was 12,500 acres and I quoted copious data to enable every Deputy to see for himself that any attempt on my part to secure a higher planting figure would have been contrary to the requirements of good forestry and to the ultimate objective of providing good quality commercial timber from our own resources. Despite the data some Deputies were obviously sceptical as to the volume of other work which I stated to be urgently necessary to secure the proper development of existing plantations. Any such doubts should have been finally set at rest by the information I gave to the House in connection with the Supplementary Estimate for 1952-53 —information which showed that a bigger labour force than was ever previously employed had to be taken on to cope properly with the amount of urgent work in hands.
I am now able to give the House an approximate summary of the main works actually carried out during 1952-53 although the figures are necessarily at this stage liable to minor adjustment.
Fresh planting totalled slightly over the target figure of 12,500 acres and was spread over 119 forests including eight new centres where no planting had previously taken place.
In addition to this fresh plantingareas destroyed by fire etc., totalling about 630 acres were replanted during the year, an appreciable advance towards disposal of arrears of such work. Gratifying progress was also made with the replacement of failures in young plantations, some 11,500 acres being dealt with. The importance of progress on this side of the work lies in the fact that replacement of failures becomes impossible when the original plantation reaches a certain stage of development.
Increased work also had to be undertaken in the cleaning of young plantations.
Deputies might like some idea of the distribution of the new plantations over the country. Detailed figures for each forest or even each county would not readily show the general picture but I have had figures prepared for four main regions: The South-East, comprising Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow, and South-East Kilkenny; the South-West, including Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Tipperary and South-West Kilkenny; the West and North-West, i.e. Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon and Galway; and the remainder of the country which for convenience I shall refer to as the Midlands, comprising Laois, Offaly, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, Monaghan, Longford, Cavan, Louth and the northern portion of Kilkenny.
The new planting was spread over these areas approximately as follows:
South-East—2,250 acres,
South-West—4,700 acres,
West and North-West — 3,950 acres,
Midlands—1,600 acres.
These figures show the extent to which land availability considerations have switched the emphasis on new afforestation from the traditional southeastern area towards the western counties. At least half of the planting during 1952-53 was in the western half of the country although about two-thirds of our total existing plantations lie in the eastern half and one and a half times as many men are employed in the East as in the West.
These comparative figures reflect also the extent to which priority must be given to the management of existing plantations in the older centres, a higher labour force in the eastern half of the country being required because of the greater incidence of thinning, weeding and pruning, road construction, etc.
Thinning was the operation upon which I laid the greatest stress in the survey of our forest management requirements which I gave the House last year. I laid stress upon it particularly because of the serious retardation of proper growth and development which results from neglect of the regular thinning of plantations. Each year that passes brings additional plantations to the stage where thinning is needed. Once the need arises the operation must be repeated at regular intervals until the crop reaches maturity and the area of our plantations requiring thinning has been increasing progressively and sharply in recent years in consequence of the acceleration of planting in the decade following 1930. I emphasised last year my anxiety that the growing arrear of thinning should be given the priority it deserves and I was pleased to be able to tell the House in the Supplementary Estimate debate that up to or over 7,000 acres would be thinned during the year. The final figure was about 7,500 acres all but 700 acres being thinned by direct labour. The work is still in arrear and we cannot relax the efforts made last year to cope with it but last year's progress was nonetheless a substantial advance; the figures for the two previous years being 1950-51—4,059 acres and 1951-52—5,528 acres.
Considerable progress was made also with the elimination of arrears of weeding and pruning of plantations approaching the thinning stage, over 12,500 acres being completed. This operation is the first step towards thinning and marks the end of the long interval of sylvicultural inactivity between the cleaning of plantations during their first few years and the systematic removal of less promising stems by regular periodic thinning. The operation consists of the removal ofdeformed and useless stems and the pruning of the lower branches of the remaining trees to produce cleaner timber. It is sometimes accompanied by a light thinning of the remaining trees. The same criticism applies to neglect or undue deferment of weeding and pruning as to neglect of thinning itself and I am glad to be able to report to the House that good progress was made with this work simultaneously with the improvement in thinning progress.
I mentioned also last year the need for a more intensive programme of road construction to enable thinnings to be extracted. That work also was accelerated during the year, a total of about 50 miles of new roads being laid down.
Besides these particular operations readily capable of statistical summary, the usual round of routine management and maintenance work had to be handled in the forests and there was the normal annual increase in the volume of maintenance work due to expansion of the total area of properties and the total planted area.
The year's work as a whole may be summarised by saying that it followed closely and with a good measure of success the objective of putting the management and development of our existing forests on a proper basis by devoting to them the increased attention which they now demand while pursuing a policy of fresh planting on the maximum scale of which our resources of land, etc. and the requirements of good management would permit. The year's work made a more effective contribution to the ultimate national good than if higher planting figures had been achieved by neglect of our existing plantations and disregard of principles of proper forestry. In the process greater employment was given than in any previous year.
Turning now to 1953-54 it is intended to continue vigorously the same policy as that followed last year. Weeding and pruning may not have to be on quite the same scale as in 1952-53, but it is estimated that between 9,500 and 11,000 acres will have to be dealt with. Thinning, on the other hand, must be maintained at the same rate as in 1952-53 and, if possible, expandedstill further. The sharp increase to 7,500 acres in the area thinned last year made, as I have said, a notable contribution towards elimination of arrears of this work but the area to be handled annually will continue to grow with the steady development of additional plantations to the stage where periodic thinning is required. Long-term speculation as to exactly when thinning will become necessary in particular plantations is dangerous in so far as growth conditions cannot be forecast accurately, but such estimation as is possible indicates that the area of our plantations requiring thinning will increase steadily towards 20,000 acres a year over the next ten to 15 years. No interference with this work can be contemplated. In the present year the Department's aim is to treat about 8,000 acres.
Road construction must also continue to enjoy a measure of priority in the light of the increasing area to be thinned in future years. It is expected that about 70 miles of new roads will be constructed in the year, an increase of almost 50 per cent. over last year's expanded rate.
In the younger plantations, a further increase in cleaning is to be anticipated, an area of some 50,000 acres being due for attention, but there will be some reduction in the area of plantations in which replacement of failures will be effected, the probable total being slightly under 10,000 acres. Complete replacement of areas destroyed by fire, totalling about 750 acres, is also on the year's programme.
Fresh planting will again have to be limited to 12,500 acres because of the inadequacy of the available reserve of plantable land, its uneven distribution between forest centres and the other factors which I mentioned last year as militating against greater planting targets at many individual forest centres, principally the prior demands of thinnings, etc., at long-established forest centres and the undesirability of planting available ground in new areas at such a rate as to preclude the employment of a regular forest staff on a steady programme of work.
The planting programme will be spread over the regions I mentioned earlier in somewhat similar proportionsto those which obtained in 1952-53, the approximate figures being: South-East, 2,100 acres; South-West, 4,800 acres; West and North-West, 3,800 acres; Midlands, 1,800 acres.
I would have liked to be able to tell the House that the planting programme was being extended this year but there is as yet no room for extension without sacrificing good management. If satisfactory progress is made in the meantime with the acquisition of land I may be able to announce some increase in the planting rate in another 12 months.
The data I have given in regard to the year's work explain the changes made in sub-head C (2) and C (3) (1) of the Estimate which I mentioned earlier as attributable to increases in the volume of forest work. The increased road construction is covered by the enlarged provision under sub-head C (2) (2), additional thinning under sub-head C (3) (1), and weeding and pruning, cleaning and replacement of failures along with the general increase in maintenance work contribute to the rise in the provision needed under sub-head C (2) (4). The Estimate as a whole allows for the employment of an average of approximately 4,000 forestry labourers during the year compared with an average of 3,550 during 1952-53. The present number employed is 3,700 compared with 3,400 in the corresponding week last year and there will be the usual increase in employment later in the year.
To help Deputies to realise the amount of work which goes on in the forests and which absorbs all this manpower, I have had a summary prepared of the position at a typical long-established forest which I visited recently, Kilsheelan in County Waterford, which lies along the foothills between the Comeragh Mountains and the River Suir. The forest provides steady employment for about 70 men. Its total area is 4,718 acres including 350 acres of acquired woodland and 3,760 acres of State plantations. The acquired woodland consists of middle-aged stands of European larch, Douglas fir and Scots pine which need continuous sylvicultural treatment. Six hundred and thirty acres of State plantations have already reached the thinningstage and 570 acres are at the weeding and pruning stage, making in all 1,500 acres already needing regular sylvicultural treatment. Good shelter is provided on the northern slopes of the Comeraghs by the steep cliffs forming the summit and the plantations extend to the exceptional height of 2,000 feet.
Planting has gone ahead steadily for many years but the area available for planting is now only about 300 acres of which over half is likely to be planted this year. Apart from a considerable volume of work in a nursery attached to the forest, the programme for the six months ending 30th September next includes the preparation of ground for this season's planting; grass cleaning of 700 acres; cleaning of coppice shoots, furze, etc., over 750 acres; weeding and pruning of 272 acres; thinning of 60 acres; felling of 500 tons of mature timber; provision of 1,300 yards of new fencing; repairs to 2,000 yards of fencing; construction of 800 yards of new roads; repair of 880 yards of existing roads; erection of a bridge and repair of another, and other routine maintenance work such as the cleaning of firelines and rides and extermination of vermin. There is a heavy local demand for forest produce of all kinds from light poles to commercial timber. The thinning of the middle-aged acquired woodlands provides commercial timber, E.S.B. and telegraph poles, while thinning of State plantations provides fencing poles, stakes, pit props, etc. There has also been a steady demand for firewood, but the supply is drying up. The total gross revenue from the forest during 1952-53 amounted to over £4,200.
Mention of revenue brings me fittingly to the last sub-head to which I have to refer, sub-head H—Appropriations-in-Aid. There is a net decrease in the allowance for Appropriations-in-Aid of £2,500 attributable to a reduction of £10,000 in the allowance for receipts from sales of timber in the forests offset in part by an increase of £7,500 in the allowance for sales of sawn timber in the departmental sawmills. Under the head, Sales of Timber,receipts in respect of the sale of mature commercial timber, thinnings and firewood are credited. The forest service is still too young to have any appreciable receipts from the sale of commercial timber from State-formed plantations and revenue of that nature derives mainly from woods and plantations taken over from private owners. So long as that situation continues, and certainly over the next ten or 15 years, there will be no question of a steady upward trend in receipts from the sales of commercial timber, and in the meantime revenue is liable to rise and fall somewhat erratically in relation to the vagaries of both supply and demand. In 1952-53 there was some falling off in sales and it is possible that this trend may continue in the current year.
Some of the produce of thinning is absorbed by local demand for fencing stakes and so forth, and departmental requirements of a similar nature. Much of the remainder is suitable either for pitwood or pulping. Here again there was a reduction in sales during 1952-53 due to instability of the pitwood market and a falling off in demand for material suitable for pulping. The demand for pulpwood material was exceptionally high in the previous year because the Athy Wallboard Company were accumulating initial stocks of material.
Total receipts from sales of timber during 1952-53 were of the order of £158,000 as compared with £172,000 in the previous year, and in view of the difficulties I have mentioned as affecting estimation of receipts under this head it was decided to frame the Estimate for 1953-54 on the basis of allowance for receipts falling as low as £140,000, whereas allowance had been made in the 1952-53 Estimate for receipts totalling £150,000.
The increase of £7,500 in the allowance for receipts under the head of sales of sawn timber is related to the prospect of having the new sawmill at Cong in operation for part of the year. Receipts at present are almost entirely in respect of Dundrum sawmill as the old sawmill at Cong is unable to continue production at its full previous rate.
Finally, I would like to refer to the control of tree-felling on privately owned land under the Forestry Act 1946. There has been little change in the number of felling notices received in 1952-53 as compared with the previous year.
Last year, I pointed out that the replanting conditions attached to felling licences under the 1928 Act were due for fulfilment by the 31st March, 1952, and that in spite of repeated warnings many licensees had failed to fulfil their planting obligations. I warned that it would be necessary to undertake proceedings in many of these cases. I have since taken legal advice as to the form of prosecution and am having particulars prepared of all unfulfilled obligations with a view to the institution of proceedings in the near future. Any person who wishes to avoid such proceedings would accordingly be well-advised to communicate at once with my Department stating the circumstances which have prevented him from fulfilling his obligation and submitting reasonable proposals regarding the fulfilment thereof at an early date.
I am glad to see that there has been some reduction in the number of illegal fellings reported last year as compared with the previous year. The number of cases so reported amounted to 124 as compared with 169 in 1951-52 and is still far too high. Proceedings were instituted in 77 cases and convictions obtained in 71 of these. Those convicted included eight timber merchants, who were found guilty of offences arising from the purchase of trees which the owner was not entitled to fell. As I have previously pointed out, purchasers of timber can easily obtain evidence of authority to fell from the vendor or the nearest Garda station. All timber merchants or other persons engaged in the purchase of timber should by now be fully familiar with the provisions of the Forestry Act, 1946.