RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 2 



In one hamlet in Grenville there were seven farms which had 

 once been occupied but were without occupants in 1913, while 

 in the whole county 352, or 9.17 per cent, of the dwelling houses 

 became unoccupied in the ten years prior to 1911. 



A report of a Survey of the Trent Watershed, prepared for the 

 Commission of Conservation in 1913, by Dr. B. E. Fernow, Dr. C. 

 D. Howe and Mr. J. H. White, contains some interesting data regard- 

 ing the social and industrial conditions in the counties of Hastings, 

 Peterborough, Haliburton and Victoria. 



The main object of the survey was to deal with forestry condi- 

 tions, but Dr. Fernow gives as another reason for its prosecution 

 the fact that a portion of the population of the watershed appeared, 

 on preliminary inspection, to be occupying farms unfit for sustaining 

 civilized conditions. "Not only," he says, "have many farms been 

 abandoned by the removal of their occupants to more hopeful condi- 

 tions, but a considerable number that should be abandoned remain oc- 

 cupied by those who lack the means and energy to move, thus forming 

 a poverty-stricken community. A far-reaching policy for the manage- 

 ment of this region must include a plan for the removal of this degen- 

 erating population." 



This shows that he regards the problem as more serious than is 

 represented by mere figures of depopulation; and he advocates the 

 formation of a broad and far-reaching scheme of development and 

 recuperation. "The waterflow should be safeguarded and industries 

 should be developed to utilize such small resources as are left and to 

 contribute freight to the canal, thus assuring a better future for this 

 area than can be anticipated under the present policy of indifference 

 and neglect." 



In the area of 2,100 square miles with which the report deals 

 there are now less than 15,000 people, although it is over 50 years 

 since settlement first took place; hardly 10 per cent of the area of 

 all the 35 townships has been cleared for farm purposes. That this 

 condition is due to the fact that the greater part of the area is not 

 suitable for agriculture is evident by the abandoned farms "which 

 are found throughout the whole region in large numbers, and which 

 are sold from time to time for non-payment of taxes at an average of 

 less than six cents per acre.* In consequence, during the last decade 

 the decrease in population has been 15 per cent in this area, as against 

 5 per cent decrease of rural population in the whole province." 



* A total of 194 farms, comprising 18,085 acres, appeared on the official listt 

 for 1912 to be sold for three years' back taxes, aggregating $3,178.29, or at the rate 

 of less than six cents per acre per year. 



