BOY FORESTERS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21219, 16 September 1940, Page 2

BOY FORESTERS

TIMBER CUT AND STACKED (Times Air Mail Service.) LONDON, July 30. The future forests of England are being tended by public and secondary schoolboys, says the Evening ( Standard. j Four thousand of the boys, work- ■ ing under the Forestv Commission • from now until the middle of Sep- | tember. will not only fell, cut and stack timber, but will be educated in the industry of afforestation. An official of the Foresty Commission said to me: “We have laid down that boys under 16 must not be | worked too hard. “ In the last war afforestation was ' a negligible industry. These boys ! are becoming acquainted with one of the most important developments in this country. They will weed nurseries and plantations, and gain an excellent knowledge of trees. “ Although the boys will not be i overworked —great care will be seen ! to that—the camps will not be in I the nature of holiday camps. The boys will be under the care of a master, and their working days will be supervised by officials of the For- ! estry Commission.” I The official told me of the work * done by undergraduates of Oxford. Cambridge and Bristol, many of whom now have to leave their forestry jobs to join the Forces. A team of six undergraduates can stack 200 nine-feet logs a day for pit props, and make 115 cuts in three hours. In many cases, wages, paid according to age. have been pooled, so that all members of the camps have been paid an average of 30s a week. After camp dues for food and equipment | have been paid, Is a day has been left as pocket money.