664 CANADA 



It was, however, provided by Order in Council that access to the Bay should be provided 

 for the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, a line belonging to the Ontario 

 government. For this purpose Ontario is to be given a strip of land five miles wide, 

 running from the new Boundary of Manitoba to the Nelson River, and terminating in a 

 half mile strip along the east shore of that river. Should the Dominion government 

 decide to extend the Hudson's Bay Railway to Fort Churchill, Ontario is to receive an 

 additional strip 200 feet wide from the Nelson River to the nearest point on that railway, 

 and to have running powers over that line to Hudson's Bay. On April 21, 1912 it was 

 officially announced that the new district of Ontario is to be known as " Patricia." 



Agriculture. The details of area, yield, and value of the principal crops for 1911 were 

 as follows: Wheat 10,373,958 acres, 215,851,300 bushels, value $138,567,000; oats, 

 9,219,920 acres, 348,187,600 bushels, value $126,814,000; barley, 1,404,352 acres, 40,- 

 641,000 bushels, value $23,004,000; hay, 7,903,242 acres, 12,694,000 tons, value $146,- 

 596,000. The total estimated wheat production of Canada for 1912 was 205,685,300 

 bushels, oats 381,502,000 bushels, and barley 43,895,300 bushels, the quality of these 

 three crops being above the average of the two preceding years. 



At the close of the fiscal year 1911-12, fifteen government experimental farms and 

 stations were in operation throughout the Dominion, in addition to sub-stations. 

 While much of the work done has been a continuation of years past, some of the features 

 are practically new, especially in connection with the encouragement of mixed farming. 



Conservation. In February 1908, an international conference on the conservation 

 of the natural resources of the North American continent was held at Washington, when 

 the United States, Canada, Newfoundland and Mexico were represented by delegates. 

 A declaration of principles was adopted respecting the use, development and conserva- 

 tion of land, water, forests, minerals and game, and the conference advised the estab- 

 lishment in each country of a permanent commission for the conservation of natural 

 resources. The question having come before the Canadian parliament, a Commission 

 of Conservation was created by statute. This body consists of thirty-two members, 

 including the Dominion Ministers of the Interior, of Agriculture and of Mines respective- 

 ly, and the member of each of the nine provincial governments who is charged with the 

 administration of the natural resources of the province, together with twenty other mem- 

 bers appointed by the Governor in Council. Of these twenty appointed members at 

 least one from each province must be a member of the faculty of a university (if any) 

 within the province. It is the duty of the commission to take into consideration all 

 questions which may be brought to its notice relating to the conservation and better 

 utilisation of the natural resources of the country, to make inventories, collect and dis- 

 seminate information, and frame recommendations. The first annual meeting of the 

 Commission was held in Ottawa in January 1910. Seven committees of the Commission 

 were formed for lands, water and water powers, minerals, forests, public health, fisheries, 

 game and fur bearing animals and press and co-operating organisations. A staff has 

 been appointed and constituted as a department of the government at Ottawa, and 

 in addition to the work of the Committees, numerous important subjects have been 

 investigated and reported upon. One instance of a recommendation acted upon is that 

 of setting aside the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains as a forest reserve. This has 

 been embodied in an Act of Parliament, and some 14,600 square miles will be reserved 

 and protected. An exhaustive work containing the various regulations in force through- 

 out Canada bearing upon lands, fisheries and minerals has been compiled and published 

 under the auspices of the Commission, and a report has been issued dealing adequately 

 for the first time with the extensive water powers of the country. Other reports bear 

 on agriculture, insanitary housing, etc. 



Fislieries. An amendment to the Fisheries Act, R.S. 1006, c. 45, provides for the 

 licensing in British Columbia of salmon canneries, and manufacturers of oil from sea 

 lions, hair seals, sharks or dog fish, and alterations are made in the method of calculat- 

 ing the license fees to be paid by lobster canners. 



Commerce. The value of the total exports, imports and goods entered for consump- 



