Report of the Minister of Lands and Forests 

 of the Province of Ontario 



For the Year Ending 31st October, 1921. 



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

 May it Please Your Honour: 



I have the honour, in conformity with the provisions of the Public Lands 

 Act respecting the proceedings and transactions of the Department of Lands 

 and Forests, to submit for the information of Your Honour and the Legislative 

 Assembly, a report for the fiscal year ending the 31st day of October, 1921, 

 covering the management and operations of the Department in its various 

 branches. 



The fiscal year ending 31st October, 1921, may well be regarded as the most 

 successful in the history of the Province so far as the Department of Lands 

 and Forests is concerned, from the viewpoint of movements in land transactions 

 (when the war conditions and the reconstructive period subsequent thereto are 

 considered) and in timber operations and of revenue results. 



Lands. 



While the year 1919-20, the second year after the war, indicated a tendency 

 towards a return to normal in the acquiring of lands for settlement, the past 

 year shows a considerable increase over that of 1920, both as respects the 

 numbers taking up Free Grant lands and those purchasing farming locations 

 under settlement regulations. There has been an appreciable influx of settlers 

 to the great Clay Belt of Northern Ontario, particularly that section traversed 

 by the National Transcontinental Railway, and they are of such a class that 

 will in all probability succeed in pioneer work. The prospects of a development 

 at Kapuskasing, following the Spruce Falls Company acquiring the timber 

 limit there, gave an added impetus to the demand for settlers' locations, and 

 again it is more or less axiomatic that during any stage of labor depression, 

 with its resultant lack of employment, an eagerness is manifested amongst a 

 certain class to secure Crown land under the reasonable terms held out. 



The revenue derived from the sale and lease of lands and rentals of water 

 powers reached over $215,000.00, the largest in the experience of the Department 

 within the last 20 years, except for the year 1912 (when two townships, Haggart 

 and Kendry, were sold holus bolus for approximately $100,000.00 to a Coloniza- 

 tion Company, the cancellation of whose agreement the Crown is now con- 

 templating), and with the exception of a few years, the largest since Con- 

 federation. 



Systematic inspections as time and staff afforded were regularly made 

 towards checking up delinquent settlers, and as a result of such inspections 



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