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had written mar barman" mun eon:- p1aining that the school vote was given to their tenants and not to them. His reply was that there were Protestant landlords who were in exactly the same position. They made laws which were fair to both parties; and he. challenged the leader of the Opposition to show that there was any unfairness) in this case. Then there was the question of the High schools. The leader of the Opposition complained because specitie representation was given to Roman Catholics on the High School Boards. Now what was the position? When that charge was made there were 106 High Schools in the Province, and on very few of the Boards indeed were the Roman Catholics represented. Amlas they were thus almost ostracised by the County Covncils, it was thought only fair to give them this special _ representation. - - WUAT WAS rm: RESULT? Why, that in the tirst year after the change there were more Roman Catholic children at- tending the High schools than in any one of two or three years previous. (Applause.) To show the liberality of the Roman Catholic people he had only to mention one fact-that in some towns where the Roman Catholics had for some years been represented on the High School Board, the Separate School Board had not availed them. selves of the provisions of the Act. He agreed with the leader of the Opposition in saying that text books should be under the control of the department. The text books in the French schools were the books authorised by Dr. Ryerson in 1869, and the same textbooks were in force still in the Public schools in the East where the French language is spoken. The practise had been to insist upon the English language being taught in every school. As a. rule. it was taught in the majority of the French schools, although there were some exceptions. The leader of the Opposition had not given him the credit to which he was en- _ titled to of having been the first to make re- l gulations Jor THF, STUDY OF ENGLISH in all the schools of the Province. A year and a half ago an effort was made to introduce the study oi English into the French Schools of the Province. Bat this had to be done, gradually. lie agreed with the leader of the Opposition that the English language should be the language of the Province, y.hilt under the control of the trustees. But some oi the religious bodies wanted more, and the Government tried to make instructions to meet their views. One of the results of this effort was the {tuning of a book of selections, which was revised by a committee of ministers. For this not, which was intended to further the cause oi religious education, the Govern. ment was most bitterly assailed. The leader of the Opposition did not lift his little finger to prevent the attack being made, yet he himself was a party to these regulations. A copy of Scripture readings was placed in every member's box. (Cheers.) The regulations were on the table oi this House for six weeks. He held every hon. gentleman op- posite responsible for these regulations equally with the Government, no matter how hi h they stood in on Orange lod e or how slllfi; they bnndlshed o sword on Sl, 12th of Jutr-- (opplouse and Itsughter)--.am1 no matter how at the " Lai, time he sympathised with the newly arrived French settlers. If the G'overument were allowed to go on in their present; line, five years would not elapse i before every French scholar would be able. to i read our text books. Then the leader of the ' Opposition referred to the question of religious i instruction in the schools. Now, the position i, formerly taken Was that this matter should be I they might laugh. when some lunatic burned what he called " the Ross Bible. " It had been charged that the Government had at the bid. ding of the Archbishop mutilated and garbled the Bible. He did not know whether any of those who made these wild charges had read the Ross Bible, but it would certainly appear as if they had not read me THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. " _ (Applause) If they had obeyed that com. mandment they would never have made those statements. They knew that there was no mutilation, that not a. verse had beep garbled. Then there was the question of the manner in which the religious exercises should be conducted They had no objection whatever to the reading of the Bible in the schools if the school trustees so desired. They allowed the reading of the Bible in the schools at the opening, ii the trustees saw tit ; and they had made compul- sory the reading of the Bible at the closing of the schools. The amendments moved by the Opposition would make no improvement in the system; he was merely trying to get credit for advocating what he knew the Government proposed to do. He believed that the regula- tions which the Government [131'oposed would be far more satisfactory than the amendments proposed. by "the'leader of the Opposition. " Mr. WOOD (Hastings) said it was ineum. bent upon some member of tho Opposition that he should state fairly and honestly their position in this matter. . He was not in. tolerant in religious matters, and so far as he knew, his friends on the same side of the House were? not intolerant. It would probably be a. great relief to the members on the Gov. ernment side of the House when be told them that HE WAS NOT AN ORANGEMAN'. Notwithstanding the, taunts of the Minister of Education,the members of the Opposition had road the ten commandments. Hon. Mr. FRASER-stand up; gentlemen, tui1rePeiy1ern.., . - A " '. _ Mr. WOOD said he had not read the Ross Bible all through. but he had read enough to see that it was not as good a book for the peo- ple as the Bible, and he believed that that was the verdict of the people at the last election. He contended that the leader oi the Opposition at Belleville had repudiated the No-Popery cry. An effort had been made to make the Conservative members of the House respon- sible for the utterances of The Mail. There was a time when The Mail represented the Conservative party ', but there came a time in the election when The Mail did not represent the Conservative party. . Hon. G. W. R0ts%--When was that , Mr. WOOD said that so far as his riding was concerned, it did represent the Conserva- tive party during the whole campaign. There were persons, though he did not share their views very strongly, who tlidught that the Government was widely influenced by one de.. nomination. He believed in Separate schools. He believed in them on the ground oi religious freedom, and it was for the same reason that he opposed any interference with the Protest. ants in their schools. It being six o'clock the Speaker left the chair. After recess wC ..-". V'""""""~ Hon. o. M0WAT rose amid applause and expressed his regret that he had not heard the discussion that had taken place during the aft. ernoon. liedid not, however, think it was necessary now to say very much on this sub. ject, for it had been very fully discussed during the late "tnpaign, and since then, in the public journals, so that everybody was familiar with the matter. He '_ 'gr"-'",