a—3.

3. Unemployment Relief. The arrangements made with the Unemployment Board last year in regard to the employment of relief workers again obtained during the year under review, and at the height of the planting-season in August 1,208 relief workers were employed in the various plantations controlled by the Service; this included a number of married men for whom employment was found. During the summer months the services of 670 men were retained and they were employed on road and firebreak construction, thinning operations, and the preparation of land for the 1934 plantingseason. With the addition of a semi-permanent complement of 180 men engaged throughout the year, the Service has greatly assisted in the alleviation of the unemployment problem. 4. Issue of Free Trees and Seeds. In co-operation with the Unemployment Board the issue of trees to local bodies, at a charge covering packing and carriage costs only, was continued during the 1933 planting-season. Seventythree orders were supplied with 751,025 trees, valued at £3,754. Fewer local bodies availed themselves of the opportunity of obtaining free trees, and the number supplied was less than half of the 1932 total, the number of individual orders, seventy-three, also being considerably less than last year's total of 127. This was largely due to the limited range of species available. During the past two tree-planting seasons most of the trees issued have been absorbed by those local bodies carrying on afforestation as a regular activity, which indicates that the trees were necessary to supplement their own nursery stocks to meet the requirements of increased planting programmes undertaken to provide additional relief to the unemployed in the various localities concerned. Schools.—lt is estimated that 250 schools received free grants of 26,808 trees, valued at £157, while 141 lb. of tree-seed of sixteen different species, valued at £142, was issued gratis to 450 schools! 5. Recreation in State Forests. The popularity of tramping, mountaineering, &c., still continues, and it is known that the active membership of clubs organized for this purpose throughout the Dominion now runs into four figures. The improved roads and access tracks to and within our native forests have encouraged visitors to explore parts which, but a few years ago, were terra incognita to all but the adventurous few, and during the summer months especially, forest field officers report that campers in increasing numbers now spend their annual recreation in the healthful environs of mountain, bush, and stream. A case in point is the new access road to Fglinton Valley, Southland, which was visited last summer by upwards of one thousand motorists. The presence of these visitors necessitated increased vigilance on the part of fire patrols, but very few cases of careless fire-lighting, acts of vandalism., &c., were recorded ; the good will and co-operation of the general public in this respect are gratefully acknowledged. 6. Honorary Forest Rangers. During the period under review six new appointments were made, bringing the total number of honorary forest rangers to 146. The Service is pleased to accord again its appreciation of the voluntary help and co-operation tendered gratuitously by honorary forest rangers. The officers concerned are largely appointed for specific localities, and their supervision over State forests situated in remote parts of the Dominion is an important factor in the protection of those forests from fire and the suppression of vandalism and trespass. Certain local authorities have also taken the opportunity to enlist the provisions of the Forests Acts, 1921-22, to protect their areas from fire, and, for that reason, certain members of the authorities concerned have had to be appointed honorary forest rangers, as the authority for the issue of permits to light fires in fire districts is vested in forest officers by that Act.

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