RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 213 



IMPROVEMENT OF RURAL HOUSING AND PROVISION OF SMALL 



HOLDINGS 



No serious attempt has been made in Canada to secure an in- 

 creased supply of labour on improved farms in old settled territory 

 by means of providing attractive homes where a man and his family 

 could live comfortably and enjoy good wages. There is an urgent 

 need for more labour on good farms near to the markets; a good income 

 can be earned on these farms, and the man with small capital and 

 limited experience would find it more profitable to himself to take up 

 employment of this kind than to take up a free homestead in an iso- 

 lated locality. Although many men prefer to take the risk attached 

 to taking up a farm of their own they should not be encouraged to 

 do so with small capital and without sufficient experience. More en- 

 couragement should be given to such men to go on the farms as 

 labourers, and as a first step it is essential that the housing facilities 

 should be improved on existing farms near to the towns. A suf- 

 ficient area of land should be attached to these houses to enable the 

 farm labourer to be a small farmer on his own account and to be 

 partially independent. The man who can obtain a good house and 

 small holding at a low rent in a good agricultural district, where 

 there is a ready market for his produce, and who can use his spare 

 time in working for the large farmer or in some industrial occupation, 

 can be much better off than in trying to farm 160 acres with inade- 

 quate capital. 



Arrangements should be made to help farmers to provide houses 

 and small holdings at low rents as a means of attracting more labourers 

 to the improved districts, and also to develop small holdings in im- 

 mediate proximity to cities and towns. Cities, like Port Arthur, 

 Ontario, which own large sections of suitable land, or which have 

 opportunities to acquire land for the purpose, should prepare coloniza- 

 tion schemes for men who would prefer to rent a small improved 

 farm close to a city or town to acquiring a farm in a country district. 

 One of the greatest needs in Canada is to increase production in 

 immediate proximity to large centres of population, and to provide 

 men with alternative means of employment near to such centres. 

 This is one of the best means by which intensive farming and the 

 linking up of manufacture and agriculture can be promoted. 



But, after all, in what respect does the problem of placing ex- 

 service men on the land differ from any other problem of land settle- 

 ment? The country's obligations to the soldier must be met, apart 

 from the business of colonization. In so far as it is sound to organize 



