C—3a

The last day in Norway was occupied mainly with visits to museums where .the uses of wood through the history of Norway were demonstrated. At night we caught the train to Halsingborg, in Sweden, and the following morning we were met at Halsingor by Professor Howard Gron and officials of the Danish Forest Service. After breakfast we were taken to the forest area of Nodebo, about forty kilometres north-west of Copenhagen. The forest studies under Professor Gron's leadership were the most interesting and profitable of the tour to date. Prom Nodebo we went to the Jaegersburg Porest district. Here we were shown beeches about three hundred years old and oaks up to eight hundred years old. In the Dyrehaven or King's Deer Park, which is under the control of the Forest Service, we were regaled with an exposition of plans for a three-hundred-year rotation of forest. We had dinner at the beach resort of Klampenborg on the outskirts of Copenhagen and were then driven to our hotels. The following day we were taken to privately-owned forest areas on the Stevns Peninsula, south of Copenhagen. Here the method of management was explained to us ; also we saw the measures taken by the State to promote sound management. On 29th July I returned to Sweden. I spent the week-end at Halsingborg, and then travelled to Malmo to meet some trade-union officials to whom I had introductions. I was unable to make my way back to the main timber-producing areas of Sweden. The itinerary arranged for the delegates by the Scandinavian Forest Union had taken me too far away from the districts which I would particularly have liked to visit. However, I made the most of my opportunities in meetings and discussions with representative workers to discuss the state of industrial relations in the countries, visited. My outstanding impression of Finland, Sweden, and Norway was that the problem of improving industrial relations and maintaining harmony in industry was being faced by responsible sections of workers and employers. Government legislation for better working-conditionsj industrial conciliation and arbitration, social security, and similar provisions followed along much the same lines as in New Zealand. In Finlandconsiderable strides had been made in recent years. I found workers and employers who were convinced that social and economic change, however desirable and necessary, were not the whole answer to the problem. These measures were not entirely effective in combating the ideology of class warfare' which was the root cause of much industrial unrest and upheaval. The strikes in the timber industry which broke out shortly after our departure from Finland demonstrated that fact. In all of the Scandinavian countries I found evidence ,of the good work being done by Moral Re-armament in promoting unity between management and labour. It presents an ideology of change in human relation as an alternative to class hatred, racial and national enmity. A few months before the World Forestry Congress an M.R.A. force had visited the main industrial centres of Finland presenting their message of unity on the basis of absolute moral standards through the medium of a stage play called " The Forgotten Factor." Mr. Antikainen, secretary of the Agricultural Workers' Union, which organizes the forest workers in Finland, spoke very enthusiastically on the effect of the play and of the general work of the M.R.A. teams. While I was in Helsinki, preparations were being made to send a delegation of workers, employers, farmers, students,, teachers, and professional men to Switzerland, where the World Assembly for Moral Re-armament was being held. Professor Saari, who presided over the Forestry Congress,was to accompany the delegation, as was also Mr. Antikainen.

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