MANUAL LABOUR. 189 



sufficiently numerous to form a regular enrolled gang constantly 

 employed in the forest, and with a common insurance fund to 

 which the forest owner contributes. Such a labour-gang is 

 strengthened from time to time, as necessity arises, by tempor- 

 arily engaging other men. 



(d) Contractors' Men. — Sometimes the legal act of agreement 

 is made by the forest owner with a contractor, who undertakes 

 to supply all the men required for any definite piece of work in 

 the forest. 



Contractors are frequently active, influential and fairly wealthy 

 men who have considerable tact in managing woodcutters. 

 Their assistance simplifies matters for the forest owner, as the 

 contractor has all the worry and trouble of managing and 

 supplying the labour-gang, and of paying them in detail for the 

 work done. 



In extensive forest districts, insufficiently supplied with 

 experienced foresters or forest-guards, or where the woodcutters 

 are very experienced and trustworthy and the work can be 

 largely left to them without much supervision on the part of the 

 forest staff, it is often better to leave the conversion of the 

 timber to an experienced contractor who thoroughly knows the 

 capacity of individual workers, and can give full security to the 

 forest owner for good work. This system has however its shady 

 side, as contractors sometimes defraud their men. 



The contractor is often obliged to bring his men from a 

 distance (as in the case of Italians employed in Germany), and 

 he then requires pecuniary advances and concessions which are 

 not necessary under ordinary circumstances. Timber-work is 

 largely done by contractors in the Black Forest, Alps, Hungary, 

 Galicia, and in many extensive forest districts of the North 

 German Plain. In the Alps the contractors are frequently 

 mayors of villages. Although, strictly speaking, the contractor 

 is responsible for the conduct of his men, the forest-manager does 

 not abstain from direct supervision over them, and it is evident 

 that the contractor must be legally bound by conditions covering' 

 all the interests of the forest owner. 



In the case of extensive damage to forests by wind, insects, 

 snow, &c., when there is an extraordinary amount of material 

 to be converted, it is generally necessary to entrust the work to 



