282 KEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



served regions, but, in common with other four-footed and winged 

 creatures, are spreading in increasing numbers over contiguous dis- 

 tricts. In fact, it may be said that in the national park preserve has 

 been discovered the secret of perpetuating our big and other game. 



Ontario has not been behind in grasping the wisdom of this policy, 

 and in the Temagami, Algonquin, and other provincial parks the lielms- 

 men of her destiny have set aside, alike for the people of to-day as of 

 to-morrow, great tracts of land, Avhere nature may continue to hold 

 undisputed sway, where the birds and beasts may thrive and breed, to 

 spread in plentiful numbers over the surrounding territory, and where 

 men and women may seek simple and healthy repose from the cares and 

 worries of strenuous modern life. 



The area of the Province, however, is so vast that there would still 

 seem to be scope for the extension of this most excellent principle. 



At the time the pine timber was being taken out from the territories 

 where very little land suitable for agriculture existed, men Avent in on 

 the wave of the lumber industry, and, picking out a spot where there 

 chanced to be a little arable soil, fit to produce oats, hay and potatoes, 

 etc., proceeded to erect a small home, finding employment during the 

 winter in the shanties, and in the spring on the drive, after which they 

 devoted themselves to raising the crops indicated, and for which they 

 obtained high prices among the lumbermen. After the pine was taken 

 out and the wave of lumber operations receded, these men were in many 

 cases left high and dry, with wives and families to support. The land 

 they owned not being really suitable for agriculture, they eked out a 

 very poor livelihood. Their homes are often far removed from schools, 

 and consequently their children do not have the same opportunities for 

 education as exist generally throughout the Province. These men have, 

 to a certain extent, become dependent on the game and fish of their 

 neighborhood to furnish no small proportion of their daily food. It 

 would seem that the welfare of the Province would be advanced were 

 their condition ameliorated. The purchase of holdings of this nature 

 would give cash to these poor settlers, with which, if homesteads were 

 allocated to them in more fertile regions, and free transportation to the 

 same provided for them, they would be enabled to start life afresh 

 under more advantageous circumstances, whilst these same lands, so 

 barren and useless to the settler agriculturist, would be a suitable and 

 profitable addition to the park preserves of the Province and for reafor- 

 estation. 



Since undertaking his present duties your Commissioner has had 

 the opportunity of visiting only one of the provincial park preserves — 

 the Algonquin National Park. The extent of this park is some 45 by 45 

 miles, comprising, approximately, 24 townships; and, though the objects 

 of the park are being in many respects fulfilled, and bird and animal 

 life increasing, after eonsultation with the Park Superintendent, and 

 from other sources of information, your Commissioner has been forced 



