FOREST WORKERS 103 



Accommodation for this population does not at 

 present exist in these districts. How is it proposed 

 to provide it ? Small holdings, which will be alluded 

 to later, are one of the ways the chief, in all prob- 

 ability. But how are these to be located ? It will 

 not suffice to jot them down promiscuously at vary- 

 ing intervals apart, and in such a fashion that the 

 occupants are debarred from enjoying modern-day 

 amenities of life the social conditions now de- 

 manded, and justly demanded, by the worker. It 

 might have been attempted before the war, but its 

 success would have been doubtful. But the men 

 and women who will be returning to the soil from 

 the war or from the industrial centres throughout 

 the country where they have been engaged on war 

 work, will require the amenities of life to be available 

 in the areas in which they undertake future employ- 

 ment. The forest worker, whose life at the best 

 is a more lonely one than that of other industrial 

 workers, will want to have within reasonable distance 

 of his centre, church or chapel, shops, school, cinema, 

 and other recreations, or he will never be retained. 

 He will demand decent surroundings, and to be able 

 to bring up his family properly. 



The provision of these present-day necessities in 

 the life of the worker requires to be definitely 

 recognized in the afforestation scheme. Equally 

 definitely must recognition be accorded to the point 

 that a living wage throughout the year must be 

 forthcoming for the forest worker as for the agri- 

 culturist. The difficulties of providing a whole-time 

 wage for all the workers required in agricultural 



