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and unbumed because of the harbourage they give to the pine 

 beetle and the pine weevil. The Secretary for Scotland has 

 put at our disposal a sufficient sum of money to assist in 

 clearing and burning many thousands of acres in co-operation 

 with the owners of the felled areas, but, unfortunately, we are 

 being faced by the possibility of there being no labour for the 

 purpose. At the moment, it is quite possible that a large 

 number of men who are presently employed in forestry work 

 from labour battalions may be withdrawn, and if they are 

 withdrawn it is very difficult to see where we are going to get 

 the labour to carry out this work, and yet I understand, unless 

 this clearing and burning is done, the prospects of forestry are 

 very much in danger. If that is so it seems to me the first and 

 most important question which can be tackled, and we do not 

 propose to leave it alone. The funds are there; the thing is 

 to get the men to do the work. We are, of course, endeavouring 

 to organise schoolboys and women for this purpose. We have 

 this morning got an application from seventy schoolboys to do 

 some clearing in a felled area in Perthshire, and we have been 

 able to make arrangements for these boys to go there during 

 the Easter holidays. But, after all, that is a comparatively 

 small matter, and it ought to be done on a much larger scale 

 if it is going to be sufficiently effective. 



" I think you may have heard that we have in prospect one 

 or two schemes for the actual afforestation of land. Of course, 

 it is not necessary for me to point out how many and how 

 serious are the difficulties in the way of planting the land at 

 this moment. Labour is scarce, wire for fencing is almost if 

 not quite unprocurable, and there are other difficulties which 

 are very hard to overcome. Nevertheless there are certain 

 proposals made to us which we hope to carry forward to a 

 successful conclusion. And that reminds me that the recom- 

 mendation of the Forestry Sub-Committee as to proceeds-sharing 

 seems one which should be taken up with alacrity by the 

 landowners of Scotland. The Board some time ago, through 

 Mr Sutherland of the Forestry Division, issued a circular pointing 

 out the advantages of these proceeds-sharing schemes, and I 

 understand that, owing to the war chiefly, it was difficult to 

 take them up, but they appear to me to be on the whole a 

 fair and reasonable way of encouraging the private owner, 

 on the one hand, to afforest his property, and giving the State, 



