VILLAGES PROPOSED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 31, Issue 9, 11 December 1945, Page 3

VILLAGES PROPOSED

HOUSING BUSH WORKERS SEEN AS AVENUE FOR ESSERVICEMEN In the past men undertaking forestry work had been placed in camps way in the backblocks without any amenities in life, and as a result it had been difficult to hold them. It was' now to provide them with more of those amenities give them good living quarters and establish electrically r lit villages from which the. men J would be transported to and from work every day. This information was conveyed by an official of the Forestry Department to the conference of rehabilitation officers, at present sitting in Wellington. Conference delegates were considering ways and means of attracting suitable ex-servicemen to bush work to help increase the supply of timber vitally needed for liouse-building. The main difficulty seen was the unattraetiveness of living conditions in the bush especially for married men. Forestry work offered an excellent avenue to ex,-.servicemen for refitting them for civilllifte t it was stated, and although many of them might remain in such employment only while going through this transition period there was plentv of important work they could do even during that time. Apart from actual bush-felling and there was considerable silva-cultural work to be done such as thinning out in native forests and tree. prun. ing and planting. The Forestry Department estimated that it could employ a further 2000 mcn ; including more than 70 disabled men for .specialised jobs. Should these, men at the end of their five-year term wish to enter some other industry they would be able to do so. The Dominion's forests had extended so much in recent years (accentuated by war-time arrears in work) that all those men could easily be absorbed . Attention would first be given to preliminary development bywwar3 r of putting up bii'klings constructing roads and fire breaks, establishing nurseries, the clearing of scrub and getting forest ready for actual planting. The building programme envisaged 900 cottages for married Avorkers 200 oneman huts 40 staff houses 18 hostels for single men and 270 other buildings. The bulk of the men would be employed in the Rotorua which! was the country's biggest district for exotic forestry. In order to increase national timber production by another 70,000, } 00(> board feet a year during the next five years, the milling/ industry would require 2400 more men j including about 070 bushmen and 940 mill hands it was; stated. The method of carrying out such a largescale recruitment was shortly to be discussed bj r the Timber Production AdA'isory Committee.