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| Act provided that there should be a session ; once in each year; but if this House were | dissolved in September, there could not be " a session until midsummeor of the following | year, and that provision would be then | wiped out. Another presumption was that all the sections of an Act should be read together ; and he contended that the sections of these Acts would> be repugnant to each other if the Legislature were not in exist. ence without the representation of Algoma, But he thought the Legislature, in passing the Act of 1874, had noo such intertion. Then, _ the _ prociamation had some bearing on the subject, 'The At-- torney--General had said that was a mis-- | take, It it was, the Government had re» l peated the mistake pretty often, for they had | called and prorogued, and again called and | again prorogued, under the seal of the Lieu. | tenant--Governor, a Parliament which they | now coutsnded was not in existence, lu the Algoma writ itself Pavliament was called together on the 12th July, although | the writ was not returnable till the 14th of | August, It was peculiar that although the | writs for the election of a new Parliament _ were issuod in December, 1874, the Algoma writ was not issued till June, six months later, HMe could not agcount for the delay, but perhaps the Government could explain the reason. Mr, MEREDITIHI--How about the Pro-- vince of Quebuc ? Mr, MOWAT said an exception was mado there this year because the last session was Mr, MOWAT said that although his hon, friend had expressed. great confidence in his construction of these statuteg, hbhe (Mr, Mowat) had no doubt whatever that the hon, gentleman was entirely wrong, HMo did not say that in-- genious arguments could not be found in favour of the hon,. gentleman's contention for nothing was so absurd that ingenious argumeuts could not be found in favour of it, It had been said that the object of the Government was to secure a delay, in view ol the result of the clections of the 17th ot September, which they could not otherwise obiain, Bo fir was this from the fact that they had this matter under considera-- tion, and had come to a conclusion in rcference to it, long before the 17th of September, Me had had some cor-- respondeuce with Mr. Todd on the subject in the month of August, at a time when they had not the slightest notion that the elections ot the 17th September would turn out in the way they had done. He did not know that the Government would have any advantage, from a party point of view, in hoiding the clections in the summer rather than at the present time. (Hear, hear.) On the contrary, he thought they would do JjJust as well now as at any other time, and many of the friends of the Government thought they could not do better than hold the elections at tho earliest moment, They had not, hbowever, -- considered the question, and he did not know when they would be held. It was well known that there was considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment among those who voted with tho majority on the 17th Sep tember, (Hear, hear.) They were told, and were led to pelieve, that if the friends of tha hou. gentlemen opposite were elected, there would be an immediate return of prosperity,and that the evil days would pass away ; but tho result was that times were worse than they had over been under the Mackenzic Government--(heat, hear)----and lhad been growing worse and worse since the 17th September, so that he did not ap-- prehend any serious counsequences from the defeciion of that time. It was said that when the Dominion Parliament met such changes would be made as would create that prospcrity of which we now stood so greatly in nsed. _ If hon. gentle. menopposite belicved that,it would be to their interest to deluy the elections in order that they might get the advantage of that re. turning prosperity, (Hear, hear,) It was, therefore, a mere pretence for hon. gentle. men to say that the Government had delay» ed the elections for such a purpose. 'The reason tWe session was held in January was that experionce bad shown it to be tie most convenient time for both sides of the House, aud they had decided upon that time in the beliet that Parliament would mnot expire until four years from tho return ot the last of the writs,. The experience of nearly all the Provinces of the Dominion and some of the United States was the Government in Quebec avrangements were actually being mado for the mecting in January, -- By hoiding the meeting in 'that \' mouth it was possible to have all the de. | partmental reports brought down at an early | period, with the exception of the public ac. \'counts, which they hoped soon to have brought down carlier also, With regard to the question itself, as to whether the four years of the existence of this Parlia= l L'V uu'l;t"« 'J&Yb LDQL\'/'.",'H 'hv '\hi\:e ()r ".0": t'nlf,l returu in the district of Algoma, and only | forty days in the rest of the Province. Did his hon. friend eontend that Mr. Saundficld Mucdonald proposed to disfran-- chise Algoma? Ho (Mr. Mowat) did not believe ho intended to do any such thing. But such would bo the effect if the Patlia-- | ment were to be complete without a mem-- ber from Algoma,. Some question had been raised by the hon,. member as to the power of the Legislature to deal with this matter, and as to whether the Acts passed upon the subject were not uiltre vires. If the Legis= luture had the power otf naming nincty days for Algowa, of course it had the same power to name a longer time, and their right to name nincty days had never boen disputed. | Beyond all doubt the effect of the conten-- tion on the other side was _ to | disfranchise Algoma in any of the events | to which his boa. friend had referred. -- He | _(Mr. Scott) had pointed out some imaginary | possibilities under which there would be no member for Algoma for nearly a year when the rest of the House was complete, The eflect of the argumients of the hon. member was that the House might meet be-- fore the member for Algoma was elected. According to that contention, thon, the House being perfectly competent to meet and transact business immediately upon the return of the rest of the writs, it could go on legislating for Algoma without Algoma | having a representative therc. In order to | e MUmme SCms e o on L icpat ment were to duts from the return of some of the writs or of the last of the writs, he bad not the slightest doubt, -- It was a ques. tion of constitutional law which they must decide by ;an cxamination of the British North America Actand the Ontario statutes bearing on the subject. Bection 50 of the British North America Act provided that the duration of the House of Commons should be five years from the day of the re-- turn of the writs, and section 85 provided> that the Legislative Assembly snould countinne for four years from the day of tho return _ of the writs choosing the same, An -- Act passed in 1840 made a similar provision with regard to the old Parliament of Caz-- pada, Now, what did this mean ? It was formerly the prerogative of the Crown to make the writs returnable at different dates, and if the Governor.General or the Lieuten-- ant--Governor had choson to take that course, was the menning of that clause in the Bri-- tish North America Act for a moment arguable ?~ (Hear, hear.) It was pertectly clear that it meant the return of the last of the writs, and no legislation of this Housge imterfered with that interpretation, Mr, DEACON--The duration of the Legislature is more than four years for all the members but the member for Algoma, and four years for him. Mr, MOWAT--It would be the same for all of us, and should be reckoned from the time of the return of the last writ, Air, MEREDITH--From the time of the proclamation, or from the time of the actual return of the writ? Mr., MOWAT said that was a question which had not come up ; but he thought the duration should reckon trom the return day of the last writ, though it might be actually returned a mouth previously. The matter would be perfecily clear if they had no legislation of their own atall. 1t would be a monstrous thing if the Lieutenant.Governor snould have the power otf calling Parliament together when only some of the constituencies were repre-- sented. If he had that power in regard to one constituency he would have it with regurd to any number. It was to be borne in mind that legislation on the subject was first enacted not by the present Govern. ment but by that of Sandfiecld Macdonald, It was his legislation that necessitated two returning days, Previously to that the Licutenaut--Governor had the power to naime several returning days, though he was not obliged to do so; but the legis. lation of Sandfiecld Macdonaeld doprived him of that power by cnacting that there should e change --of