demand for laborers, has induced a great move- 

 ment of Italian workers to the Dominion since 

 the beginning of the present century. In the 

 past thirty years approximately 145,000 Italian 

 immigrants have entered Canada. During the 

 first decade of the century 55,500 entered the 

 country and in the last decade of the previous 

 century probably 20,000, so that approximately 

 75,000 Italians had been added to Canada's 

 population in the twenty years prior to 1911. 

 It is rather disappointing, therefore, to note 

 that the census of 1911 returned only 34,739 

 Italians as resident in Canada. Allowance 

 must of course be made for a seepage towards 

 fellow-countrymen in the United States, for 

 inevitable inaccuracies in recording nationalities 

 in the census, and also for the fact that the 

 casual, changing work so many immigrant 

 Italians follow, makes their inclusion in the 

 statistics sometimes difficult of ensuring. 



Thriving Agricultural Colony in Alberta 



However, granting the 1911 statistics as 

 being more or less accurate, growth of Canada's 

 Italian population in the ensuing ten years has 

 been fairly healthy, the estimate made by the 

 Italian Consulate General being 48,000 at the 

 present time. And here must also be taken into 

 account the war period, in which immigration 

 not only dropped to a minimum but many 

 Italians resident in Canada returned to their 

 native country. 



The tendency is undoubtedly for Canada's 

 Italian population to stabilize itself, and whilst 

 there must always be a certain amount of move- 

 ment among mine workers and laborers, some 

 being lost to the country in the fluctuation of 

 industrial and economic conditions, the fact 

 that many Italians are going on the land is the 

 best evidence that the people are letting their 

 roots down in Canada and losing that tendency 

 of the alien Italian to continually look back at 

 the country he has left behind. There are many 

 prosperous Italian farmers in the western prov- 

 inces, the colony of Venice, on the shores of 

 Lake La Biche, in Northern Alberta, settled in 

 1914, being an outstanding example of successful 

 achievement in pioneering effort. 



The Italians, particularly the inhabitants of 

 Lombardy and Northern Italy, are fine agricul- 

 turists, and there would seem to be authentic 

 evidence that the eyes of many of these, with 

 sufficient capital for comfortable establishment, 

 are being drawn, in the stress of European con- 

 ditions, to Canada and its agricultural oppor- 

 tunity. The Royal Italian Commissioner for 

 Immigration, investigating conditions in this 

 country, on the announcement of the inaugu- 

 ration of a direct Canadian steamship service 

 to Italy, prophesied boatloads of good Italian 

 immigrants landing once more in Canada, and 

 the arrival of the first consignment would seem to 

 bear out the accuracy of his vision. 



e sons 

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resent 

 g sons 



New Colonization Area 



The agricultural population of Quebec province is 

 staple; it is more than this, for the rural population of 

 Quebec shows a steady rise. In the trend evidenced in 

 many of the older farming areas to desert the profession 

 of farming and leave the land for the cities and industrial 

 centres, it is gratifying to note that there is no such move- 

 ment at work in Quebec, that the province's agricultural 

 population successfully resists the lure of urban life and 

 remains satisfied and undisturbed upon the lands their 

 forefathers tilled. There exists, with an inherent love of 

 the native soil, a deep realization and conviction of that 

 security which lies in the land, and consequently the sons 

 of farmers largely remain farmers and the agricultu 

 followers of Quebec never dwindle. 



Gratifying as this situation is, it is apt to pre 

 difficulties. The process of subdividing land among : 

 cannot go on indefinitely if the subsections are to remain 

 of sufficient dimensions to ensure their tillers competent 

 returns. That this system still obtains merely from the 

 desire families have to remain together is evident from the 

 fact that whilst the total land area of the province of 

 Quebec is 218,723,687 acres, there are only 24,571,330 

 acres occupied, of which 12,095,120 acres are improved. 

 These figures suggest at once the latitude there is for 

 expansion and the opportunities existing for those already 

 settled within the province as well as for new settlers and 

 repatriated French-Canadians. 



Forty Thousand Miles of Road 



The Quebec government has of late been making 

 vigorous efforts to colonize its vacant lands, to move the 

 young men from the older lands instead of continuing the 

 subdivision of farms, and inducing fresh immigration of 

 an agricultural nature. Forty thousand miles of roads 

 have been built in the province at a cost of $55,000,000, 

 and the program of the present year calls for a further 

 expenditure of $7,500,000. The fine condition of these 

 roads may be gathered from the fact that they sustain 

 the travel of 54,000 provincially owned cars as well as 

 countless thousands brought up each summer by tourists. 

 Though these highways coyer the entire province, many are 

 colonization roads built into the northern areas of the 

 province, penetrating new agricultural districts and 

 opening up new farming tracts to settlers. 



This summer a particularly choice new section of 

 Quebec province is being opened up by the extension to 

 Les Quinze of the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 running from Mattawa to Kipawa. This line passes 

 along beautiful Lake Temiskaming, not far from the 

 Ontario boundary, piercing Temiskaming county with 

 its twelve municipalities and twelve towns and villages, 

 with such settled communities as Ville Marie, St. Placide 

 and Lorraineville. The farming area is an old established 

 one, with a population of 10,500 which has been success- 

 fully farming for years, taking its produce across the lake 

 and exporting it by way of the Canadian Pacific main line. 



A Splendid Settlement Opportunity 



In the district so penetrated there are 216,216 acres of 

 good arable land, of which only 78,603 are in pasture and 

 63,919 under tillage. The balance of 73,694 is at present 

 unproductive and available for settlement. The land is 

 of excellent fertility, as has been proven by the high degree 

 of production, and is similar to that which has produced 

 the famed agricultural districts of Northern Ontario on 

 the other side of the boundary. Cheese, eggs, dressed 

 meats, livestock and hay have for years been sent in 

 quantities from this district to Ontario points. Many 

 cars of livestock are annually shipped to the Montreal 

 market. Hay exports amount to about 12,000 tons per 

 year and peas to 200 tons. Wheat, oats and barley are 

 successfully grown and exported. 



The opening of this new area to finer and more adequate 

 railway communication affords unique opportunity for 

 Quebec land settlement either on the part of French- 



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