244 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



of the inhabitants at large, and at requiring sub-dividers to meet the cost 

 of a considerable proportion of the local improvements on their own land 

 before it is sold for building purposes. 



The character and scope of the legislation proposed is indicated 

 in Chapter IX of this report, and further consideration in detail is 

 reserved for a subsequent report. 



Legislation of this kind is constructive and requires qualities of 

 initiative and imagination to be exercised by those who seek to carry 

 it into effect; it is, therefore, in a special degree, true of this class of 

 measure that the mere passing of an Act is of little value unless it is 

 followed by aggressive and skillful administration. 



The setting of compulsory minimum standards of sanitation, 

 as above recommended, should not be a local but a provincial require- 

 ment. There are degrees of bad sanitation permitted by local author- 

 ities which are nothing less than criminal. In order, however, that any 

 proposed minimum standards for general application in each province, 

 shall be reasonable, and shall not be forced on municipalities against the 

 will of the majority, they should be determined in joint conference 

 between the provincial and municipal governments. 



AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL SETTLEMENTS 



Agricultural and industrial settlements should be organized on care- 

 fully selected sites, suitable for development on sound economic lines. 



Purely agricultural settlements should only be developed on fertile 

 and improved land, having good transportation facilities and accessibility 

 to markets. 



New town settlements (garden cities) should be established where 

 there are good facilities for profitable production and distribution, where 

 manufacturing and intensive farming can be successfully carried on, and 

 where advantage can be taken of the tendency to remove industries from 

 crowded centres to rural districts or to establish new industries near water- 

 powers and raw materials. 



Government capital, or the guarantee of bonds, should be made avail- 

 able for these settlements and should be made re-payable at a fixed 

 annual rate to cover principal and interest ; the benefit of all profits 

 derived in excess of that rate should be spent on improving the settlements. 



The increment of land values created by the conversion of cheap 

 agricultural land into a valuable townsite gives to the garden city 

 class of development a special financial stability, which is not possessed 

 by the agricultural settlement. 



