Report of the Minister of Lands and Forests 

 of the Province of Ontario 



For the Year ending 31st October, 1925. 



I 



LAND TRANSACTIONS 



The general demand for settlers' lands in Northern Ontario, especially in 

 the Clay Belt region, continued throughout the past year, though in a somewhat 

 less degree than the previous year. Several important colony settlement pro- 

 positions were submitted and considered, always with due regard for the natural 

 or acquired capacity as well as the financial bona fides of the would-be settlers. 

 It is conceded that our agricultural resources are so extensive and the possi- 

 bilities of their development so obvious that pioneer settlers are a necessity. 

 But until such time as there is a pronounced clear-cut immigration policy 

 established by the Federal Government that invites and encourages the hardy 

 type of pioneer, little hope can be held out for much beyond a very gradual 

 development of the vast acreage in the Great Clay plains that some day must 

 play a large part in feeding the teeming millions of Europe. The greatest 

 caution is being exercised in checking up purchasers of pulpwood areas in the 

 Clay Belt to eliminate the wood pirate. Insistence on reasonable compliance 

 with the Regulations is having its good results and numbers of spurious holders 

 have been cancelled and the land resumed by the Crown. 



The Supervisor of Settlement, appointed in 1924, has supplied the hitherto 

 missing link between the Government and the settler. The effect of the direct 

 touch is already felt. Colonel Smyth is applying his many years' experience 

 in the north country to the improvement of the pioneers' conditions, closely 

 studying their needs and co-operating with them. 



New regulations were adopted during the year under which the area in the 

 Clay Belt to which an applicant is limited was reduced from a half lot of 160 

 acres to a quarter lot of 80 acres, more or less. The change aims at more inten- 

 sive cultivation in areas practically 100 per cent, fit for production, more com- 

 pact settlement with resultant improved social life, and more economical road 

 building and local improvements, all for the betterment of the agricultural 

 community. 



Certain group settlements established in Thunder Bay District and in the 

 Clay Belt, along the National Transcontinental, are progressing favourably and 

 give reason to hope for permanent farm communities. The newcomers are 

 skilled with the axe and saw and appear to realize that hewing out and main- 

 taining homes in new unbroken lands involve trials and hardships, the enduring 

 of which paves the way for permanent settlements with high standards of 

 industry and thrift. 



The Government is doing its utmost to make more happy the lot of the 

 settler of Northern Ontario by building roads, using the settlers on construction, 

 providing certain stock at cost, making loans on easy repayment terms, estab- 



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