Report of the Minister of Lands and Forests 

 of the Province of Ontario 



For the Year Ending 31st October, 1923. 



To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario. 



May It Please Your Honour: 



In accordance with the provisions of the PubHc Lands Act I have the honour 

 to submit for the information of Your Honour and the Legislative Assembly 

 a report for the fiscal year ending the 31st day of October, 1923, covering the 

 operations of the various services under the jurisdiction of the Department of 

 Lands and Forests. 



The services are so different and the operations under them so diversified 

 that my preface must of necessity be rather general, the treatment of each 

 being more exhaustively dealt with under its special appendix. 



Lands. 



During the past year the interest of the prospective settler has been mani- 

 fested by the large number of inquiries made from different sources and requests 

 for information relative to the attractive features of homestead land in the arable 

 sections of the Crown domain. In actual land transactions in the way of entries 

 for free grant locations there has been a slight decrease compared with last 

 year, but in sales of lots for settlement purposes the yearly average has been 

 maintained. 



Ever-increasing interest is taken in the Great Clay Belt where the oppor- 

 tunities of hewing out and making permanent real homes are presented. The 

 alluring features of this great tableland, with its ready supply of pulpwood to tide 

 over the settler in his pioneer years, and its richness of soil, have considerably 

 encouraged active settlement. A recent official tour of Northern Ontario revealed 

 the extensive areas cleared and brought under cultivation within recent years 

 and the vigorous efforts of individual settlers, who are generously treated by 

 the building of roads, seed-grain supplies and advances, in the way of Govern- 

 ment loans on easy terms. The general demand of the newer sections is more 

 roads and when reasonable assurances are granted that such will be forthcoming 

 the settlers' hopes are continued and their efforts furthered in the way of form- 

 ulating plansfor encouraging friends to settle near by and thus develop community 

 life. 



Sales of lots in Government Town Plots showed a substantial increase over 

 the preceding year, a noticeable example being at Kapuskasing on the Trans- 

 continental Railway, where a thriving centre is now firmly established as was 

 predicted in 1917. A large up-to-date pulpmill is being operated by the Spruce 

 Falls Company. The land contiguous to the town is practically all occupied by 

 actual settlers, much of it being well cleared and extensively utilized, one settler 

 practically within the town limits having, in addition to his substantial clearing, 



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