Small Acreage Under Plow on Six Nations Reservation

TORONTO (CP) - Efforts to encourage Indians to make use of thousands of acres of good agricultural land on their 26 reserves in Ontario was recommended to the provincial legislature Monday.

The legislature's select committee on Indian affairs, in a brief presented by Welfare Minister Goodfellow, said it saw only a few reserves which produced enough agricultural produce in more than one or two specialties, to fulfill even the needs of the residents.

It found that on the Six Nations agency, which includes 43,000 acres in Tuscarara township and 8,000 acres in Haldimand county - in the heart of one of the richest farming districts in the province - only a small acreage was under the plow.

On some reserves the only land cultivated was on a lease basis to non-Indian farmers.

Except for acts that provide assistance through counties or territorial districts, or local municipalities, Indians had the same opportunities for assistance as other persons from the province's department of agriculture.