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They are practically a t | ay~~~ e . cayllms cA -- 7 2 ,munlclmltleohot t.l:)emPro i \S8 thtl:l _% Atta the * * apart m the subs 0: yay Province, putting asldeythls $3,100,000 MT'";("':: t°:h°h€.}e°t'°"té:?';%'grg}f'" ' r. atheson c rged 7--~ ;Ot frust"funds, had not a surplis. | 'ernment were liable for the eonduct of ; , The Surplus a Fiction. | the men who had been guilty of penal & offences, men who had done work in Y The old claim that the Government Ithejr interest as deputy returning of-- had a $5,000,000 surplus of the hoarded ficers. In the North Waterloo eleotion! savings of the Mowat Government was a Minister of the Crown was involved a fiction. As to the railway annuities, for having, willingly or unwillingly, be-( \the commission declared them to be come the tool of the machine, and al--| \liabilities;, that took two millions out Jlowed himself to be used in that ca--| | of the alleged surplus. Were those trust |pacity. Sheriff Brown was liable for | » funds available to pay the Province's |the scandals which occurred in West! debts? The commissioners practically |\ Elgin, and the Government should have admitted they were _ not, and \sent him about his business. did not for _ a _ moment _ argue | Mr. Ross--The Judges have not re-- that they were. They took $3,400,-- j ported Sheriff Brown. + 000 more out of the surplus. Then, as Mr. Matheson said the Sheriff was| to the $142,000 subsidy given in 1884, | ordered to pay the costs at the electien | Mr. Matheson said the statement of Mr. trial. \ Fielding showed that the Government Mr. Ross--The case came before the| had no right to capitalize that amount Jud'e.' and Sheriff Brown was not re-- and place it as an item available to ported for any irregularity ;. that's the | pay the ordinary debt. The Province's point. Is a public officer to be traduc-- ' debts were admitted to be $5,117,000. ed. vilified and scandalized in this The only assets available to ~ay this House, when the ease in which he is| were debentures, $286,000, and cash in . concerned has been before the courts;| bank, $836,000, or a total of -?1.1'32,'"'-! and under investigation by two com-- | Deducting this from the debt, he found |} petent Judges on the ipse dixit of an that as a result of the financing of the hon. gentleman 300 or 400 miles away ? hon. gentlemen opposite, instead of a! Is that the treatment public oficers are 4 y dollar of surplus, there was a debt of ; to received at the hands of hon. gen-- over $4,000,000 over and above vvoryl tlemen opposite ? I want fair play dollar on hand. The Financial Com-- for public officers. (Ministerial ap-- mission had recommended that the ex--| plause.) . act areas of timber limits of unsettled | Mr. Matheson--He defends. and let lands suitable for reforestization should the whole country know it, the Premier be ascertained. That was the kind of defends this officer. My charge is that' il'lformation which the Oppos'.th)n k'.ad a crime was Committed; that this ; been demanding for years past. No such Sheriff so far forgot himself as to al-- sale of timber limits as that which low men from outside--from Sault Ste. took place last year should be repeated Marie, St. Catharines and Detroit, $ without the consent of the Legislature. blacklegs--to act as returning officers It was time that the interprovincial in his riding. arbitration, after having dragged on Mr. Ross--What do the Judges say for so long, should be brought to a about it ? termination. Railway grants should be Mr. Whitney--Cannot you prosecute |limited hereafter. They really ought a man 'tor murder unless the Judges not to be given as grants, but made in sn{hso 'Matbeson said <that l f k ies at -- Dugald ,the form of loans. Brown was one of the respondents at | Grants for Roads. the election trial, and was ordered to | a pay part of the eosts. The act,orly Any payment for the improvement of provided for reporting offences such as country roads should be made through bribing or receiving bribes, but the the County Councils, and not otherwise. Judges declared in effect that the I He would suggest extending the powers Sheriff should be punished for allowing | of County Councils, so as to enable them strangers to act as returning oflicers, to borrow money for the purpose be-- and he was accordingly ordered to pay yond the present limit, say 1 per cent. of part of the costs. Yet the Premier thet assessment. He -- had hea_rd it stood up in his seat and defended .a 5 suggested _ that _ the _ expenditure \ man guilty of such conduct. The pro-- for roads should be made through the per commission to have appointed was Good Roads Association. HMHe would op-- a Judge of Assize and %pjurv of his pose such a thing with all his power, countrymen to try this man. The fact because it would be the beginning of of the matter was that the Government the abolition of responsible govern-- dared not prosecute the wrongdoers, ment. and they knew they dared not. The Op $ Mr.-- Pattullo--That association is position had been invited to assistfi I 'scarcely in existence now. I am the making changes in the law. What was . Presgident, but the asszsociation has not . ; | had a meeting for some years. 'the good of changing the guns in fhe _ Mr. Matheson said he did not refer to battery ? The echanges should be made Mr. Pattullo personally, but it had been |in the men behind the guns. A change-- : suggested that the expenditure should | | of Government was urgently needed, | be made through a Good Roads Asso-- | \and many men in the Liberal party | 'ciation, to be appointed for that pur-- would like to see such a change. A | pose. ; day of reckoning would come whenever | ' Mr. Ross--The scheme has not been the Government appealed to the people. thought of by us. It must exist only \ _ Hon. Mr. Stratton moved the ad-- | in the hon. gentleman's imagination. jJournment of the_debate, and the House | | Mr. Matheson reiterated that some ; adjourned at 4.45. CGovernment officials were credited with l y |having conceived the scheme.