AFFORESTING AND THE UNEMPLOYED 



and sailors could also find healthy employ- 

 ment at the various lighter works which go 

 hand-in-hand with afforestation, such as clear- 

 ing the ground of rough-growing vegetation 

 and lifting and distributing the young trees. 



Several suggestions have been made for 

 providing employment for our returned 

 soldiers and sailors, but much of this proposed 

 work is, so to speak, created, and would prob- 

 ably never be entered into but for the exi- 

 gencies of the case. Now, I am quite of 

 opinion that afforesting waste lands offers a 

 sensible system of employment, for it is now 

 generally admitted that a greatly increased 

 area of our woodlands is imperative and a 

 pressing necessity, and, what is of equal im- 

 portance, the undertaking, if wisely entered 

 into, would not only increase the value of 

 such lands fourfold, but form the nucleus of 

 an ever-increasing revenue of the State. 



The war has brought home to us in no un- 

 mistakable way the requirements of a nation 

 in order to carry on hostilities, and should act 

 as a timely warning to we islanders regarding 

 future home supplies of timber. 



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