12 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



cates are accepted now as scrip only, having a cash surrender value of $50.00, 

 or as payment for Crown land to the value of $80.00. Only one such certificate 

 was surrendered during the year. 



Although originally 13,998 of these certificates were issued, less than 1,000 

 remain unaccounted for, the others having been either applied on land or 

 surrendered to the Crown. 



Formal Instruments Issued 



Patents, Leases and Licenses of Occupation to the number of 1,535 were 

 issued as against 1,578 for the previous year, an indication that there was but 

 little slackening in this regard. Of these about 75 per cent, covered patents 

 and leases under the Public Lands or Provincial Parks Act, and, exclusive of 

 4 Water Power Leases, the balance was made up of Mining Patents, Leases 

 or Licenses. 



Communications 



Nearly fifty thousand communications were received in the Department, 

 the exact number being 49,700, and these do not include those received and 

 treated exclusively by the Minister's office, the Provincial Land Tax and Forestry. 

 Over 60,000 letters and various forms of communications, maps, et cetera, were 

 mailed to Departmental Agents and the general public. 



Provincial Parks 



The Province of Ontario has not been unmindful of the efficacy of setting 

 aside and undertaking to protect important areas within different districts as 

 public parks and wild life sanctuaries. The wisdom of having done so is more 

 obviously recognized as the frontiers of civilization are being crowded back. 

 The necessity for preservation of wild life and promotion and maintenance of 

 interest in natural history — thus increasing knowledge of God's handiwork; 

 whether in the animate or inanimate form — are more universally admitted and 

 desired now, probably, than at any time within the lifetime of our Western 

 civilization. This is due to a large extent to the automotive development, with 

 its resultant advantages — amongst others the annihilation of distance and the 

 ease and readiness with which the natural attractions can be reached. Then 

 the desire to seek changes from the congested urban centres — to transport 

 oneself from the artificiality of a hum-drum existence to the reality of a natural 

 one — has added to the interest in the charms of natural woodlands, quiet water- 

 ways and wild life. 



Ontario, while still subject to the possibilities of an extension of her present 

 park or sanctuary system, is not behind any other country of its size in the 

 world in respect of its great parks, truly, in time, to become huge playgrounds 

 for those coveting communion with nature. 



Under the Provincial Parks Act the areas thus set aside comprises four 

 major units; Algonquin Park in old Ontario comprising over 2,700 square miles; 

 Quetico Park, with its recent extension, some 2,100 square miles; Rondeau 

 Park, in the South-Western part — or in Kent County — comprising 5,000 acres, 

 and Franklin Island, with surrounding islets in the Georgian Bay, having an 

 area of 2,500 acres. 



Algonquin Park 



As announced in last year's Report, for the purposes of co-ordinating and 

 consolidating our Park and Fire Ranging Services within the Park and con- 



