240 EEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



state in compiling useful information and circulating it in illustrated 

 book form by the thousand on this continent and abroad, alike in Eng- 

 lish and foreign languages, is not a waste of money, but an investment 

 which most assuredly will repay itself many times over not only in the 

 sums actually paid out by the tourists who have been attracted thereby, 

 in the incidental costs of their visits, but in the widespread advertise- 

 ment it will give to the wonderful opportunities awaiting the sportsman, 

 the settler and the capitalist. 



In the yearly report of one of the principal banks operating in 

 Canada, Ontario was stigmatized as the Province of neglected oppor- 

 tunities, in that there lay to luand agricultural and other possibilities, 

 equally, if not more, attractive than those existing in other Provinces, 

 but that this fact was so little appreciated that young people generally 

 left their homes and went west in search of that fortune which was more 

 surely awaiting their energies in their native Province. If the criticism 

 is well founded, as there can be little doubt that it is, the necessity is 

 plainly great that the community should receive enlightenment as to 

 the resources of its own possessions, for so long as the general public 

 remains ignorant of or apathetic in regard to them, so long will their due 

 exploitation remain unaccomplished, their potentialities lie hidden from 

 the world, and knoAvledge of them abroad be difficult if not impossible 

 to obtain. i | 



From every point of view, then, it would appear that a great need 

 exists at the present time for greater publicity in regard to the resources, 

 possibilities and attractions afforded by the Province. In no one direc- 

 tion, however, would this seem to be more desirable than in the matter 

 of a wider dissemination of knowledge in regard to the climatic, scenic, 

 sporting and other facilities calculated to draw visitors to Ontario. 



At the present time little or no effort is made by the Province in 

 this direction, and such information as is to be had on this subject is 

 collected and supplied by railways and other transportation companies 

 directly interested in the tourist traffic. Consequently, in many instan- 

 ces the scenic attractions are unduly magnified, accommodation and 

 comforts somewhat misrepresented and the sporting facilities over- 

 stated beyond all reason, with the result that encountering the real, 

 where he had anticipated the imaginary, the tourist is all too often dis- 

 satisfied merely because his expectations are not realized. Wardens, 

 rangers, overseers, constables and, in fact, innumerable governmental 

 officials are scattered all over the Province, and it should be a simple 

 matter for the Oovernment to collect and collate all such information 

 as will be desired by, or would be useful to, the tourist. It cannot be 

 doubted, moreover, that the issuance of accurate information on these 

 points in attractive form would very materially swell the numbers of 

 annual visitors from all parts, if adequate provision were made for free 

 distribution both at home in the Province and abroad. 



Of all natural resources, for it should be esteemed as such, scenery 



