62 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING CERTAIN PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING RURAL 



AREAS 



In the Seventh Annual Report of the Commission of Conservation 

 two diagrams were shown as illustrations of the report of the Town 

 Planning Branch. (Figures 14 and 15.) 



The diagrams show eight different methods of planning quarter 

 sections of townships, each method being independent of the others. 

 As stated in the legend accompanying the diagrams imaginary areas 

 are taken and planned so as to secure the necessary conveniences for 

 traffic and the proper classification of good and bad land. Under 

 any of the proposed systems less road would require to be provided 

 than in an ordinary rectangular division, while in country of average 

 physical conditions less land would be wasted and roads could be 

 shorter in length and therefore could be better constructed. The 

 following comment accompanying the diagrams appears on page 123 

 of the above report : 



The proposal is not to substitute a new for an old method 

 of stereotyped development, but to substitute an elastic and 

 scientific method for one which is based on no definite prin- 

 ciples. Each township should be planned as a unit before 

 settlement, and certain principles followed to enable the best re- 

 sults to be obtained. The diagrams are merely an illustration of 

 some of the principles which require to be considered, and 

 are not to be taken as indicating any particular point of view 

 as regards size of farrrts or how a particular site should be dealt 

 with. Different circumstances and conditions prevail in dif- 

 ferent provinces and in different parts of each province, and 

 it is precisely because of these differences that a less rigid 

 form of land division is needed to encourage and facilitate 

 agricultural settlement. 



It cannot be too often emphasized that what is required is the 

 departure entirely from any kind of rigid system, except for measure- 

 ment purposes, so that more discretion may be permitted, and regard 

 paid to topographical and physical conditions. While this is true of 

 areas which are surveyed and laid out for purely agricultural purposes, 

 it is even more true in cases where land is being sub-divided for build- 

 ing. 



TOWNSITES AND BUILDING SuB-DlVISION PLANS IN RURAL AREAS 



We are not concerned in this report with the purely urban 

 aspects of land development, but, in so far as the system 

 of laying out new townsites or suburban land in rural areas is defec- 

 tive, it injures such areas and adds to administrative burdens of rural 

 municipalities. Those who advocate "town planning" are sometimes 



