Lands Reserved for Speculation

BUILDINGS or agriculture lands that are kept chiefly for the purpose of speculation by the owners cause serious inconvenience to those who want lands. Government in every country ought to take steps to prevent reservation of lands unutilised but for the mere purpose of speculation. In the case of vacant lands near towns and cities where room for expansion is urgent, speculative reservation is infinitively more harmful than in the case of agriculture lands. It appears that in British Columbia, where Indian settlers were treated as undesirable aliens, nearly 15,000,000 acres of land are held for speculative purposes, of which more than a third are held by German or German-American Syndicates. This question was to have been raised at the Canadian Parliament in this session. It is needless to point out how unjust this reservation is to British subjects, including Indians, who are desirous of acquiring lands for cultivation. To town dwellers, speculation on vacant sites is  a serious obstacle to town extension and provisions should be made in the Town Planning Act or Municipal Act to acquire such lands and offer them to those who make proper use of it.