REPORT OF THE No. 3 



crop. It is not too late to save Nature's heritage and retain for Ontario an 

 industry that will continue to reflect its importance in international trade 

 balances and conduce much to the commercial, economic and social welfare of 

 the people. 



To implement the Department's intention towards a development that 

 should lead to greater vigilance and more judicious treatment of the forest 

 wealth, certain legislation will be sought at the coming Session and from it will 

 result, it is hoped, a gradual enforcement of sane methods with increased efi'orts 

 at educating the public to a recognition of Ontario's hereditary wealth and its 

 adequate administration. 



In water powers we have an asset the economic value of which can scarcely 

 be estimated, and the need of ever doggedly preserving them for the benefit of 

 the present and future generations is of paramount necessity; hence these 

 "White Coal" producers are not alienated by the Crown, but when industrial 

 progress is dependent upon their development the Crown grants term leases 

 under reasonable restrictions and fair conditions as respects annual rental and 

 use, making provision for municipal and other essential purposes. These 

 powers being a bounty of Nature, the rentals derived therefrom are credited to 

 Consolidated Revenue and are ultimately returned to the Province as a whole — 

 in education, construction of highways, administration of public institutions, 

 and in a myriad of other forms. 



The Department's interest in wild life and tourist business centres round 

 the administration of the great Provincial Park areas comprising over 3,000,000 

 acres, such as Algonquin and Roudeau in the southern part and Quetico in the 

 northwestern part. The impetus given to summer travel by the increased use 

 of the automobile beneficially affects the parks. 



The annual visitors to these wild retreats are ever growing and the features 

 that attract them require our constant attention. Outside the Parks, areas 

 are being constantly sought for camping and hunting purposes, and to meet 

 the demands the Department is gradually, through the Survey Branch, selecting 

 and subdividing suitable areas along lakes and rivers with beaches, good fishing 

 grounds and admirable surroundings, the sites thus selected and surveyed being 

 open to purchase or lease according to the section of the country where they lie. 



The foregoing may give a fair idea of but part of the work undertaken by 

 the Department of Lands and Forests in its administration of the Natural 

 Resources. A more detailed reference to the sale of lands, placing of settlers, 

 selling of timber, the logging industry, forest protection and the general Revenue 

 and Expenditures of the Department is found hereafter. 



LAND MATTERS 



Movement of Settlers 



Important steps were taken under the Forestry Act, passed last Session, 

 which provided an innovation with respect to the removal of settlers from 

 barren portions of Old Ontario. From a portion of Haliburton District several 

 families were translated to the Southern Clay Belt in the Temiskaming District 

 on the T. & N. O. Ry., under a mutual arrangement with the Government. 

 Regular farm lots were selected and are now occupied by these settlers, who 

 have erected houses, undertaken to clear and improve their holdings and to 

 prepare for their permanent establishment on productive land. 



