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the Flax Plan Industrial Committee (which was appointed by the Hon. the Minister of Industries and Commerce to prepare plans for the rehabilitation of the riax industry) has appointed a sub-committee, representative of the various thTaref De P artments involved, to submit plans for the development of Early m December all available men from Scheme 13 were transferred from r oxton to the work of nng-barkmg willows on the Moutoa Estate, and 36 acres of grasslands have been ploughed and are being planted with pedigree varieties of flax. Plans are now under way for the clearing and other developments of part of the area which will eventually supply the full requirements of fibre for woolpacks. Land-Clearing. In many parts of the Dominion some of the best dairying and cropping land was originally covered with timber forests, and the clearing of this land of stumps ogs, and second growth after the timber had been milled presented a work of considerable magnitude, and often required a generation of labour to bring it into a satisfactory state of production. Although very large areas of our most productive land of this type have already been reclaimed, considerable areas in Westland, Southland, and the central districts of the North Island still require clearing. Ihe usual methods of clearing are primitive and involve the expenditure of labour at a cost varying from £15 to £40 per acre, and it was thought that the introduction of high-powered modern plant would obviate this vast expenditure oi labour and at the same time reduce the cost of clearing to a reasonable figure that would prove economic as a farming proposition. With this end in view " <* machinery on wo* Tl ' 6 rCS w 0f t ]ILS demon stration was very promising, and in consequence it was arranged to utilize some of the Department's heavy construction machinery on a general land-clearing scheme. This decision was timely, as on the outbreak of the war it was soon apparent that increased production was one of the best means of helping the nation. Further demonstrations were held at Ohakune and Oh?W a T q 7 tS e 7 -T ear tte Scheme Was in °P eration Westport, hakune, and Southland and further arrangements have been made to operate at Murchison Rotorua, Makerua, and Dannevirke. The estimated cost of the work to l T' ai l? a , GtUally ranges from £3 P er acre in Southland per acre in Ohakune, where the largest stumps are encountered. is not mt ® ntlon to °° ntl f ue this work as long as the demand exists, but it is not possible to undertake the development of light scrub lands on private property where the cost of the present methods is well within the range of farming S£KS&E£r be U " deltaken b7 fermerS 01 contractors with thS • t the curtailment of the usual departmental activities due to war conditions may be possible to release a limited number of small tractors should they be production 7 01 contractors to cope with the extra work of increasing SETTLEMENT OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS. At the commencement of the year the Department was ' developing for settlement by the Small Farms Board three blocks of land in the Wellington Land District, comprising a total area of 6,321 acres. ' As the operations on these blocks had become largely of a farming character it was found desirable to transfer control to the Superintendents of Land Development (attached to the Department of Lands and Survey) who are now in charge l a n?tr^rof d th v etr ent these distncts - The transfers were V ° te year WaB £613 ' 242 ' but it must be own control W * S mcurred b 7 the Small Farms Board under its Slst deTel °t >ment the **■■» Board at the DepUr„fo?TiL h in^:r Board are fully reTiewed m the iepoit of

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