198 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



total assessment of the towns, villages and townships was $941,- 

 507,541, as against $1,033,117,544 for cities, in 1915 the increase in the 

 first case from 1913 to 1915 being $48,996,054 as against an increase 

 of $208,585,743 in the second case. The municipal taxes collected 

 (not including school taxes) in the towns, villages and townships in 

 1915 amounted to $7.73 per capita as against $20 per capita in the 

 cities, the percentage of increase of taxes between 1913 and 1915 

 being 26 and 50 respectively. The total debenture debt in the 

 counties, towns, villages and townships in 1915 amounted to only 

 $38,754,681 as against $148,684,937 in the cities, being, respectively, 

 $24.8 and $145.8 per capita. 



We thus see how much more economically the small towns and 

 the rural districts are managed as compared with the cities, although 

 it is no doubt true that the rural expenditure is too small and should 

 be increased in order to secure a greater measure of efficiency. On 

 the whole, however, apart from road improvements, the small towns 

 and rural districts have apparently as healthy conditions as the cities. 



The above figures may be taken as evidence of the probable 

 extent of municipal indebtedness and the cost of municipal manage- 

 ment in Canada. If we assume that the urban population in cities 

 and towns of over 1,500 population spend $20 and those having less 

 than 1,500 spend $7.73 per capita per annum and that their respec- 

 tive per capita indebtedness is $145.8 and $24.8, the annual muni- 

 cipal expenditure and indebtedness in the Dominion would be as 

 follows : 



Debt c . Ann " al 



Expenditure 



Rural population 4,361,570 $108,166,936 $33,714,936 



Urban " 2,845,073 414,868,544 56,901,460 



$523,035,480 $90,616,396 



The amount of the municipal indebtedness and the high annual 

 cost of government is due in a large measure to land speculation, 

 to the extravagant methods of developing land, and to our municipal 

 system of assessment and taxation which have been dealt with in 

 this report. In large cities in England the cost of local government 

 per capita is about half what it is in Canada and the United States, 

 largely because of the absence of injurious speculation in land. Diffi- 

 cult as it may be to arrest speculation and revise present methods of 

 development and taxation in large cities and towns, it is comparatively 

 easy to alter conditions in small towns and rural areas so as to secure 

 more healthy and economic growth in the future. Particular atten- 



