68 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



and control each other; and it is there that the most inconvenient 

 forms of development and some of the worst sanitary conditions are 

 to be found in Canada. The same is true of the outer suburbs of 

 cities in the United States.* The proper planning of these subur- 

 ban areas is of the utmost importance in connection with the future 

 development of Canadian life. These are the districts which are more 

 in need of control under proper planning and development schemes 

 than any other. At present sub-divisions are laid out without regard 

 being paid to the best lines and widths of main lines of communi- 

 cation, to physical conditions or to convenience. (Figures 23 and 24). 

 But even if we were tied to the rectangular system for township 

 and farm boundaries, that is no reason for not re-planning within these 

 boundaries to suit proper and economic building development as soon 

 as the time arrives for the farm land to be converted into building 

 land. In settled districts we may be compelled to continue to put 

 up with the inconvenience caused by farm roads approaching lakes, 

 hills and escarpments at right angles, and crossing ravines where 

 the maximum of cost is required to be incurred to overcome physical 

 obstacles; but, as soon as building sub-division takes place, a 

 new set of conditions arise and an entire change of plan is needed. 

 Proper planning will give more convenient means of communication 

 between the country and the town, a matter of great importance 

 in connection with cheapening the cost of production and making 

 farming more profitable. This question of communication by road 

 is part of the large problem of transportation and distribution which 

 is dealt with in the succeeding chapter. 



Land Classification 



Side by side with proper planning for agricultural and building 

 purposes a more extensive system of land classification is needed. 

 A beginning has been made in some of the older provinces to secure 

 the classification and selection of suitable land for farming and the 

 setting aside of unsuitable lands for afforestation, etc. Reference 

 is made on page 26, to the provision adopted some years ago by 

 the Ontario Government to prevent settlement of bad land. If a 



* Here and there on the outskirts of the village or on the back streets and alleys 

 and even in the open country there can be seen old houses and shacks which exhibit 

 all the characteristics of the worst city slum, as insanitary and filthy and overcrowd- 

 ed as any building in the North End of Boston or on the East Side of New York. 

 More or less bad housing is to be found in the country all over the United States. — 

 Elmer S. Forbes, Chairman State Housing Com. Mass. Civic League. 



* It is a curious fact in connection with suburban housing that nearly every 

 time we enlarge the boundary of a city we take in an embryo slum. — Otto W. Davis, 

 Minneapolis. 



