48 COMMISSIONOFCONSERVATION 



of the agricultural land in that province was not then surveyed, 

 and "if changed conditions of agriculture within recent years require 

 some change in the system of survey it is not too late for the govern- 

 ment to make the change." Referring to the advantages of closer 

 settlement in the clay belt Mr. Whitson said: — 



In a wooded country, such as Northern Ontario, while it is a 

 great advantage to the settler to have a liberal frontage to his lot, it 

 is of greater importance to have concentrated on one line of road two lines 

 of farms as closely situate as practicable, as clearings are more quickly 

 made. They unite their labour in opening and maintaining the same 

 line of road and combine the more readily in rendering aid to each 

 other when united efforts are required, the population is less scattered, 

 and schools and places of worship can be reached with less incon- 

 venience, and this is one if not the most important feature in a new 

 settlement. Many a farmer with a numerous small family is driven 

 from his backwoods home with its many advantages and prospects, 

 for want of schools, or rather because, for nearly half the year, owing 

 to the bad condition of the roads, the children are unable to attend. 

 The enormous cost of constructing good roads in a new coun- 

 try—between $750 and $1,000 per mile — makes it imperative to 

 have no more road allowance than is absolutely necessary to accom- 

 modate the public. 



It is unnecessary in this report to go into the merits of the dif- 

 ferent systems in vogue in Canada. The Quebec system, with its 

 narrow and deep lots, the 1,000-acre system in Ontario, first adopted 

 by the Canada Land Company in 1829 and later by the province, 

 and the revised system now in force in Ontario, seem to possess great 

 advantages over the Dominion square sectional plan as a means of 

 securing closer settlement. For 100-acre farms the 1,000-acre sec- 

 tion system seems as good as any stereotyped system can be. The new 

 system adopted in Northern Ontario does not depart in a material 

 degree from the older Ontario systems except in regard to the increase 

 of the size of the township from six to nine square miles. There seems 

 to be no doubt that for purposes of local government the six-square- 

 mile township is too small. Townships should be from twice to four 

 times the present area and, as has been proved in some counties, 

 this lessens the cost of administration without any loss of efficiency . 



But convenient distribution of the farms and a good road system 

 cannot be obtained with any rigid rectangular lay-out. Nature has pro- 

 vided rivers, lakes, watersheds, swamps, and mixed areas of good 

 and bad land, which should all be allowed to influence municipal 

 and farm boundaries. But even natural boundaries are not always 

 ideal, and any proper system must have regard to employment of 

 intelligence and discretion. In dividing the land for settlement 



