LAND SETTLEMENT 



The public lands in Canada now available for settlement are a 

 decreasing quantity. There are none at all in Prince Edward 

 Island, and there are only about one and a half million acres in 

 Nova Scotia, and seven million acres in New Brunswick, a consider- 

 able portion of which is unsuitable for cultivation. There are still, 

 however, great stretches in the other provinces which may be ac- 

 quired on the fulfilment of certain conditions. In Quebec, most 

 of the public lands are sold at figures ranging from thirty-five to 

 sixty cents per acre. The price is payable one-fifth on the day of 

 sale, and the remainder in four equal annual instalments, the un- 

 paid balance bearing interest at six per cent. The purchaser must 

 take possession within six months of the sale, and occupy the land 

 within two years, and he must within four years erect a dwelling- 

 house at least sixteen feet by twenty feet, and clear and have under 

 crops ten acres for every 100 acres of land he holds. In Ontario, 

 an unmarried man over eighteen years of age can obtain a free 

 grant of 100 acres of land suitable for cultivation. The male head 

 of a family, or the female head of a family having a child or children 

 above eighteen years of age residing with her, may obtain a free grant 

 of 200 acres, and may purchase an additional 100 acres at fifty 

 cents per acre. The conditions are : the settler, in the case of the 

 free land, must, save when absent on business or at work for periods 

 not exceeding six months in any year, live on the land for five years, 

 and during that time clear and cultivate 15 acres of land, not less 

 than two of which must be cleared and cultivated every year. He 

 must also build a habitable house sixteen feet by twenty. A settler 

 who buys an additional 100 acres must in five years clear and 

 cultivate 15 acres, but he does not require to build a house or live 

 on the land. The conditions in British Columbia are somewhat 

 different. There, every head of a family, widower or single man, 

 eighteen years of age, who is a British subject, has a right to pre- 

 empt 160 acres west of the Cascade range of mountains, or 320 

 acres east of these mountains. He must pay one dollar per acre, 

 and make improvements of the value of two dollars fifty cents per 

 acre, and reside during a period of two years on the land. 



The public lands above referred to are owned and administered 

 by the provinces in which they are situated. The public lands, on the 

 other hand, in the north-west provinces — Manitoba, Saskatchewan. 

 and Alberta — belong to, and are administered by,the Federal Govern- 

 ment. These lands are laid out in townships of thirty-six sections. 

 Each section contains 640 acres, and is divided into quarter sections 

 of 160 acres each. A quarter section may be obtained on payment 

 of a registration fee of 10 dollars and the fulfilment of certain 



