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Mr. SCOTT said that it did not occur to him that any diiiiculty existed in having the elections for municipal councillors and school trustees held simultaneously. He did not apprehend any serious difficulty in the proposed change from open to secret voting, which elsewhere had been found or change for the better, and which would no doubt work as well for the election of a school trustee as for a municipal councillor. Me thought a property qualification was as necessary in voting tor a school trustee no for 'a municipal election. The list of voters would not thereby be reduced to any appreciable extent, and if it were thlt the voting list were reduced, was there any reason why the qualitication for voting for a municipal councillor should be higher than for " school trustee ? He hoped if the measure submitted by the hon. member did not meet the favour of the Government he would be able during recess to frame one more In accord with their views. Mr. MASSIE thought by the change a greater interest would be excited in school matters, which was desirable. School trus- tees haven great deal of power in their hands,und it was desirable that the best possible men should be elected. Mr. PANTON, speaking from the experi. "we of his county,tlmught no change desir- able. No fault was found with the law and moo.: of "lccting trustees. Mr. MILLER said it had been found in his district desirable to elect township school boards; and he trusted that the hon. tht. Minister of Education would take into considcrauion the propriuty of having the township school election tutu: place on the b'mm: day. It was not pleasant to be culled out so oitcn for elections. Mr. LA I'DER said that so far as he knew tho township hoard did not meet with favour. In cities, towns, and villages some t'mprovoment was necessary in the elec- tions for school trustees. In this city the ehwticm of school trustees has been productive of very little change in the ptrac-mu'l ot' the Board. The more interest that people took in school matters, the better. If the lullut were good for muni- cipal clcrtions it was good for school elec- tions. He could see little harm front having the elections simultaneously and hcthought that a both-r class of mun would be elected and more mtvrest shown in school matters by the pturpltr. He fancied there was a way ("Rotting over the matter mentioned by the hon. the Minister of Public Works. Mr. COLE said that in his section the men Mm took most inn-rust in schools Sound :uals as school trustees. Any change would make school matters a bohe of con. tcutiou, m were municipal matters. Mr. BELL thought that there was no danger oirolitics being mixed up in school . matters. lie had been in the habit of nom- ' inating a. strong political friend oil hon. gentlemen opposite tor years ' for the position of school trustre. The election for Water Commissioners in Toronto had been curried out on the same plan as that pro} om d by the Bill, and no dii1iculty had been found in its operation, He thought there would be a saving of money by the change. lie was not in fa. vour of disfranchising any voter, and he would not like to see tho ladies deprived of a voice in the election, though he thought a booth at a hotly contested municipal election was hardly a desirable place for a lady to appear. He would like to see some provision made for school boards paying their proper proportion of the exrenses, and oo allowing municipalities p wer to lessen the number of polling places at municipol and school elections. About 250 votes were polled " municipal elections at each booth in the city of Toronto . At least, one-half the expenses could be saved and the work be done quite satisfactorily. Mr. MEREDITH was opposed to the Bill, believing that it would have the effect of introducing political feeling into educa. tional matters, which all parties {in the House agreed should be as far removed as possible trom politicaltontiderttions. School boards as at present elected were com- posed, as a rule, of men of a higher standard than members ot councils. If people did not now feel tsuifieitmttn- terest in the school boards they themselves suffered the consequences, and he thought that feeling ought to be left to be improved with the general education of the people, in ' the use of the franchise;. Mr. BRODER thought there were no par- _ ticular grievances connected with the school boards at present. If this Bill were passed it would have the effect of increas- ing the lrequeney of the changes of school trustees, which he thought was an evil. to be guarded against. : Mr. O'SUI.LIVA.\I said that if this Bill] E lessened the expense of the election l of Public School trustees, the supporters of Separate Schools Would not be Gtisiied un- less the same benefit were extended to them. Mr. McMAllUN thought this Bill was a step in the right directidn,'and that the boo.. member for West Huron was deserving of: the thanks of the public for introducing it. l, lie should have preferred, however, to have I seen it introduced by the Minister of Educa- l tion. Mr. BARR, while opposing. the Bill in , its general scope, believed the ballot should ' be extended to elections of school trustees. Mr. FINLAYSON had no dread of politic? interfering with the election of school trustees in the event of the change pro- posed. At present there was at times u'ifrr. unity in getting a proposer and a. seconder; since the introduction of the ballot an elec- tion day was like a Sunday. Mr. BAXTER thought that by the change better man would be got and expense saved. _-e_e._- .. , A -- A:A:-- "(H.111 ho t Mr. GIBSON said thauhewreaicrproportioP of school electors are men who havc to work, and can spare the time to vote on tho first Monday of tho your. gem-rally n. holidav, while they could not at any other time. Us was in favour of the change. Mr. CODE said that, as a rule, school trustceswcre superior to municipal coun- cillors. He would be sorry to see school matters mixed up With muni. cipal matters. He had not heard of anyone complaining of the mode of election of trustees, though he thought they had too much power in their hands. He hoped the Government. would not allow the Bill to pass. Mr. LYON thought that by the present system they got the best men. It Was his experience that great interest was taken in the elections tor school trustees,than which he had seen none more interesting. llo believed it was wrong to disfranchise any one who paid the school tax. Mr. ROSS said that the ttttalice/ion clause was inserted for convenience, but the number of votes that would be excluded was hardly worthy off consideration. The amount of money controlled by the school board was almost as large as that by the Municipal Act, and so he thought the quali- fication as desirable in the one case as the other. There Was little or no intercsttaken in scliool elections by ladies in his section. He continued by replying to objections raised by hon. members, and concluded by hoping that the vote would be taken upon the question irrespective of politics, merely to ttttirm whether or not this were a move in the right direction. The Bill was declared lost without a divi- sion. l tra' ' f., , "I ae _ my - . a A: _ an as