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Mr. SINCLAIR said the duty of the House was to examiue the evideunce adduced before this Committss upon thls subje:t ~What was the effect of that evidencat The Commissioner of Public Works admitted that he wrote the lettor authorizing the foreman on the Central Prison works to give the employes a half--holiday on nomination day, and that they were to bo given their pay. He was sorry that this had happaned. He was sorry that the Commissioner of Pub-- "for when the Hon. Gsorgo Brown entersd t;: Go::mgent of John A. Macdonald he had done this. There had boen 2 gmst many of these charges against p4 lis mou, and outride they had _had y the efl_'ect of poisoning the public miod ngainst those gentlemen, which w28 to be regretted, but he keld that they ought not to allow what the Government had done in this case to be established as precedent. If it were so established, as he had no doubt it would be, for the Government h1d a ma jority at their backs, it might in the fature be used againet those who. had set up the precedent. He considered it wrong for any candidate to use the influence he might possess to compel a large namver of men to . vote for him, but if it were wrong for & can-- didate to do this, was it not much more 5o ' for a Government to doit,. Hs claimed1 that there bad not beon a reform up to this time which the Conservative party had not ob-- tained, including the settlement of the Clergy Reserves question; but said the Opposition only wanted the Government to act on those principles of purity they had professed when not in power. He did not intend to make ary personsl remarks with reference to the Commissioner of Public Works,. He re-- gretted that it was necessary to refer to that flantleman at all in the motion bafore the ouse. He did not wish to fix the responsi bility for what bad been dore in this matier on the hon. Commissioner alone, for ha be-- lieved that the other members of the Gov-- ernment were equally respounsible with bim. He was sou'{ that the Commissioner of Pub-- | lic Works should have been mislal into writing that letter, He considered that in this country the Reform CGovernments at O tawa and here should take care to condu:t themeelves so that there should not be even the shadow of suspicion upon their actions; but be belioved the Commussioner gave this direction in the simplicity of his heart, and believing that he was doing nothing wrong. There was an impression abroai, and he belisved with good ground, that there had been a great deal of corruption in con:-- nection with elections in this country,. Those who professed the principles of the Reform a.rtylind led the van in opposing it; they fini spoken stronsly against it, and for these reasons he thought it was unfortunate that the Commi«siorer should have done any thirg which wou'!d be lisble _to be misuader: stood or misrepresentad. _ Bat while ho sald this much be would also say that, although he corsidered it the duty of every hon, mam-- ber to do what was best in the interest of the country, and in the causs of purity of election, there was litewiso a daty which they owed to individuals, For his own part, he might say that he knew the Commissioner of Pu%)lic Works intimately from the time this Parliament had an existonce. He had believed him to be a thoroughly khonest map, and no man in the House had been subjected to more remorseless persecu-- tion than be had been. He had been char%ea on the floor of Parlianent with doine th«} outside of Parliament which was dishonest and base without the shadow being given in evidence of the charge,. (Hear, herr.) Thero was an evident and stnister dotormination on the part oi the leaders of the Opposition t6 ruin the hon. gentleman, not only in his pab-- lic, but in his private charactor. He did not believe that there was the shadow of a foundation for the charges formalated against the hon. gentioman with reference to the Eigin Frauds, or the alleged Emigration irregularities, The hon. gontleman had boea grievously wronged, and iojared privatsly and publicly in consaqmences of these slam-- ders, and had his conduct been subjected to the decision of any competont tribanal in this courtry, boe bolioved he would have been pronounced to be entirely wishout blame. (Hear, hear.) Hoe(Mr. Sinclair) had now listered to the Proton Outrage discus-- sion a good many times, aad he must say that there was not a~ tistls of eviderce produced before the Committso which tendea to show that the hon, gentle-- man had been guilty of any corrupt action in that counection, ({Hear, hear.) The nams of the Commissioner had been held up by hon. gentlomenupon this side of the House for reprobation, charges of wrong wers from time to time flung seross the iloor at him, and yet not a syllable of evidence was pro-- duced to show that there was foundation for thoge charges. Nothing was too msan to I charg ahoui floor will'r aatau stand that any OE *2° °"""5"" .. >. HTouse been bandied across the floor of this House \ against the Commissionsr of Public Works | were worthy of aoy dogrese_ of crc_xht. If | hon, gentlemen could only induce this House ; to vote for this resolation, they woul;l not | fail to impress upon the people that it was | impossible that any men 80 1078 aund so inti-- | mately connected with the public affairs of | this country could be censured unless the l| | representatives of the people believed kim | | guilty of some further wrong than the merse | | giving of a holiday to the men at the | j %entml Prison. -- Although he was as ready | as any member of this House to do anytbing | which would prevent the verf semblanca of | ' corraption, he was not willing to sacrifice the character ard good name of a leading member of this House, and loading Reformer, 1 and, he believed, & good and honest man, | simply because without any alleged or in-- | ferred corrupt intention he had been unfor-- | tunate enough to fall into this small mistake (Loud cheers. ) | Mr. PAXTON said he could vots con: scientiously upon this question, and vote too | against the resolution of the hon,. member for East Toronto. He remarked that the leading men on the Opposition benches were | holding their tongues upon this occa:ion, ap-- parently teeling the awkward position in which they were plasod. He * called atton-- tion to the fact that the instigators of this resolution were the same men who pretended | to be the friends of the working--men at the _ West Toronto election, and who yettried to censure a man who %sve these same working-- men a very small but just privilege. The Commissioner of Public Works was the only ropresentative of the working--man: in the Government, and this was the secret of the persecution to which he was subjacted at the bands of the lawyers on the Opposi-- | tion. _ They know that the hon, gentieman bsi a great influence among the great body of the farmors and working--men, and that in this respect they would be gaining a graat advantage over the Government if they coald drive the hon. gontleman from their counsel«, He commented on the low standard takon by the Opposition, the time and the moncy of the people that was spent in dissassing questions _ of _ not the -- least _ pa'-- lic jmportance, | and -- their contina«al | atticks upon _ both . the public acsd | private character of the Minister of Pab'ic ' Works,. -- He reminded the Opposition of the, | advice given by the hon. member for Nia-- | gars, to wait urtil they could get someth'ng . upon {which they could conscientiously and . wisely oppose the Government. Thas leader of the Opposition, who bragged so much of his bonerty, bad.only one purpose in view, which was to get into power. and he romind-- ed him of the circumstances connecte1 with the hov, gentleman's defence of the murderer W ielan, and the resolution which Mr. Blake mwoved in the House regarding his condact, He reminded him that the resolution waAs withdrasn upos 'that occasion, when an spology was cffared by te hon, gentleman's lcader,azcd a promiso given that he would be-- havs himself in fature. Ha commented upon the want of polisy on the part of Con-- scrvstives during all their past history, and he concluded by hoping that this would be the last effort trey would make against the cbaracter of the Commissioner . of Public Works, until he had done something worthy of condempation. When they did find such cause against him, they would also find that hon, members on the Reform side ct the House would be readg to rise and con-- deman it with one voice, ( hoers), acter of thoe NOD 8""""" _ sae willing ficed at this time; he was 196 willing by any vote of his to give the country to under-- stand that any of the charges which bad been bandied across the floor uf this House against the Commissionsr of Public Works were worthy of any dogree of crodit. If hon, gentlemen could only induce this Houso es srruc AL:'e resolation, they would not eg AS Mr. LAUDER said the hon. member who just sat down was the only Government supporter who defended the action of the Commissioner of Public Works,. In ordsr, as he said, to refresh the memory of the hon. member for North Btuce, he read extracts from the evidence of Messrs. Dickey &,"Hel LEVsE VAEO UE t CE uesn lam, and ho contended that the workmen went to the nomination to hoot and hbiss at the beck of Mr. Hellam, He did not think, seeing that -- this _ was the _ case, that the hbon. gentleman could defond the Commissioner . of Public _ Works before his constituents, He coutended that the newspapers of | the Province in the interest of the Government, with the exception of Tuxs Gnoss, condama-- ed the action of the Commissioner of Pablic Works, The newspapeg supporting 'hon. gentlemen opposite had»been educating the 4 of in-- [€