P.D. 123 19 



In all these CWA projects it was very apparent that certain supervisory and 

 expense items would have to be met by the department or board acting as 

 administrator. Therefore, it was deemed advisable to reserve the small balance 

 from the 1933 state relief appropriation for tools and expenses, and thus was 

 made possible the employment of approximately 1,000 men on the CWA pay 

 roll paid from federal funds. Under these projects, a varying number of men 

 was employed from November 30, 1933 to May 3, 1934 on this mosquito control 

 drainage work, mostly confined to the salt marshes, although in one project 

 drainage and clearing was done on fresh water areas in North Attleboro, and 

 in another project fresh water areas in Norwood, Canton and Dedham were 

 ditched. The same methods which were in practice in former years were em- 

 ployed on these CWA and FERA projects, and even though the winter was 

 a severe one and the percentage of efficiency far below that of a favorable sea- 

 son, there was an appreciable gain made in the amount of marsh or wet lands 

 ditched, and many small areas were brought to completion. Federal payrolls 

 to the amount of $150,384.43 were expended on this work of mosquito control 

 in Massachusetts under the supervision of the State Reclamation Board, from 

 November, 1933, to May 3, 1934. 



The regular appropriation for the expenses of the Reclamation Board for 

 1934 was $10,822.00, from which total expenditures were made to the amount 

 of $10,821.92. Of the various reclamation districts still in existence in the state, 

 the Salisbury Reclamation District was the only one which did construction 

 work of any significance. This District, under its local commissioners, secured 

 approval first of a CWA and later an FERA project for the purpose of erect- 

 ing dikes and dam at the Blackwater River in the town of Salisbury. The clos- 

 ing of this stream had been contemplated for a long period of years, but the Dis- 

 trict could never secure a majority vote in acreage and value to appropriate the 

 money necessary to accomplish this purpose. With the prospect of having all 

 labor paid for from federal funds, the District finally voted, in February, 1934, 

 an appropriation of $1,500 to furnish material for the dikes and dam, and work 

 was started late in February. One of the commissioners was appointed admin- 

 istrator of the project by the CWA authorities, and the engineer, supervisor 

 and all laborers were paid for from federal funds. Thus, the State Reclama- 

 tion Board had no control of the details of this work, and its authority was con- 

 fined to approval of the general plan of closing the stream, which approval had 

 been granted long before the formation of the CWA project; and the final 

 approval of all such bills as were to be paid for out of the appropriation made 

 by the District, namely $1,500. 



The ERA authorities finally called a halt on this work in Salisbury in No- 

 vember, 1934, and declared that further federal funds would not be expended 

 for labor on the project until sufficient money from the District, or from some 

 other source outside of FERA, was assured for adequate materials to accom- 

 plish the successful closing of the stream. 



During the fiscal year 1934, there was no state appropriation for mosquito 

 control work as an emergency relief measure, and, outside of the CWA and 

 FERA activities, the only construction work was on such private projects as 

 Cape Cod, Nantucket, Belmont, and Natick. 



The maintenance work on the state projects was carried on as in former 

 years. Most of the towns appropriated the amounts assessed by the State 

 Reclamation Board in accordance with Chapter 112 of 1931, and these funds 

 were sent in to the State Treasurer to be spent under the direction of the 

 Board. Of these maintenance funds from the cities and towns of the common- 

 wealth, there was spent during the year 1934 the sum of $23,468.87. In all 

 the various mosquito control projects, both state and private, including main- 

 tenance work, the number of men employed in 1934 was 345. This is in addi- 

 tion to approximately 1,000 men employed on CWA and FERA activities under 

 the supervision of this Board. 



In the period from April 1, 1930 to November 30, 1934 there was constructed 

 throughout the commonwealth, under the supervision of the State Reclamation 



