C—3

• Comparative statistics of staff for the past five years are as follows, the figures relating to the 31st March in each case :

(3) Honorary Staff. —Under section 18 of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1947 (amendment to section 10 of the Forests Act, 1921-22), all existing appointments of honorary forest rangers lapsed on 31st March, 1948. At the date of expiry, existing appointments numbered 268 During the current year, 119 honorary forest rangers have been appointed under the amended section of the Act. (4) Forest Employment. —A recruiting campaign during July resulted in an increase of over 200, and 110 immigrants from the United Kingdom were allocated to the Forest Service. Unfortunately, there are indications that approximately 60 per cent, of the immigrants electing to undertake forest employment in New Zealand will seek other avenues of employment before the expiry of their two years' term, but those who are content to remain with the Service are proving good employees. While there has been an improvement in the standard of those seeking forest employment, the large turnover continues to be an unsatisfactory feature. Over the twelve months under review, 2,876 commenced work and 2,670 terminated their employment, giving a net increase of only 206 for the year. The main reasons for the large turnover are probably the higher wage-rates and the opportunities for earning overtime in other avenues of employment, coupled with the isolated nature of forest work. Good forest management requires a relatively stable labour force, and it is obvious that this failure to hold employees is-a serious aspect of forest employment. There appears to be no easy solution to this problem, but a possible solution may be found in recruiting youths at school-leaving age and giving them an appreciation of the advantages of forestry as a career, but with emphasis also on the provision of a good standard of amenities and accommodation. The ultimate aim is to develop a stable forest staff against a background of tradition in employment. Comparative employment statistics showing a doubling of the labour strength over the past five years are as follows :

(5) Health and Safety. —Fully-equipped ambulances are now stationed at five of the major operations ; a registered nurse is employed full time at the Waipa State Mill; and instruction in first aid is included in the syllabus for training courses for leading

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Year. Permanent Staff. Temporary Staff. Total. 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 254 309 325 600 737 171 201 225 59 20 425 510 550 659 757

Number of Employees. Year. As at Average for 31st March. Year. 1944-45 989 992 1945-46 1,299 1,108 1946-47 1,631 1,513 1947-48 1,730 1,675 1948-49 1,936 1,881