REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 137 



give the foresters within reach of their classes a serviceable 

 training, but they are the first to admit that, in the circumstances, 

 it has been next to impossible to provide a course in which 

 theory is suitably combined with practice. 



We propose, therefore, that there should be a school in the 

 Demonstration Forest where apprentices should enter for a two 

 years' course. The curriculum and arrangements might follow 

 those which experience has proved to work well in the Forest 

 of Dean (Appendix IV.). We have given much consideration 

 to the age at which apprentices should be admitted and the 

 qualification to be demanded of them. We are convinced that 

 these should at first be as elastic as possible, provided that no 

 apprentice-student is accepted who has not been employed for 

 two years on the forest staff of an approved estate, or in a State 

 forest when such comes into existence. In selecting the 

 apprentice-students regard should be paid to their ability, industry 

 and school record, but we think it would be unwise to lay down 

 any precise standard at present. We also suggest that they 

 should be admitted at any age from eighteen to twenty-five. 

 There is, no doubt, some advantage from an educational point 

 of view in taking them young, but men of twenty are not easy to 

 place when they leave, and for that reason the minimum age 

 for those entering at the Forest of Dean was, after a few years' 

 experience, raised from eighteen to twenty. Those who through 

 lack of proper facilities while at school, or of access to Continua- 

 tion classes after leaving school, are found to be deficient in 

 their general education should have the opportunity at the 

 Demonstration Forest of getting instruction in the ordinary 

 subjects of a Supplementary or Continuation course. Such 

 instruction may be provided by the local School Board. At the 

 end of the first year any apprentice whose record of work does 

 not show good progress should be weeded out. 



The apprentice-students should pay a fixed sum per week for 

 their board and lodging, if quarters are provided for them in the 

 forest (see 6). At the Forest of Dean they pay iis. per week 

 for board, lodging and washing, and their wages are 155.^ We 

 also suggest that they should pay class fees, and that these should 

 be met (where required) out of bursaries provided by their County 



1 We are informed that in practice some of the apprentices manage to make 

 both ends meet on this wage alone, but most of them receive a few shillings 

 a week from some other source. 



VOL. XXVL PART H. K 



