1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 161 



3. As the present act is worded, work against gypsy or 

 brown-tail moth caterpillars cannot be made compulsory 

 either in the case of cities or towns or on private estates. 

 The omission of the word "caterpillars" in the act, doubt- 

 less the result of oversight, should be remedied, since other- 

 wise the purpose of the act may be defeated. 



4. The superintendent is of the opinion that the act 

 should be so amended as to clearly place the appointing 

 power of the local superintendent in the hands of mayors 

 of cities and selectmen of towns. As the matter stands at 

 present, the legal right of selectmen to appoint local super- 

 intendents without calling a special town meeting is not 

 clearly established. 



5. It seems advisable to extend the provisions of the civil 

 service act to all those engaged under chapter 381, Acts of 

 1905, in the work of suppressing the moths. A practical, 

 competitive examination should result in securing a list of 

 employees possessing good eyesight and physical ability to 

 climb trees, both qualifications indispensable in the field 

 work . 



6. Finally and most important, it should be said that if 

 the purposes of the act are to be carried out throughout the 

 greatly enlarged infested district, an additional appropria- 

 tion equal to that of 1906 will be necessary. The funds 

 available are about sufficient to keep street and public trees 

 free from the moths. With the present appropriation but 

 little work can be done on private estates in excess of the 

 owners' liability and practically none in the infested wood- 

 lands,- which are the chief source of danger. 



Respectfully submitted, 



A. H. KIRKLAND, 



Superintendent. 



