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98 Should a Conservative commit an irre-- gularity and confess to it in open court he was to remain untouched. Mr. Ross wanted Mr. Whitney to revise his de-- clarations and to mention the villains and scoundrels he intended to pursue, In order to see whether the name of William Smith would appear among them. to dismiss Mr. Brown while his case was being tried before a court of com-- petent jurisdiction, and before a ver-- dict had been rendered. Was that fair or in accordance with British practice? Sheriff Brown's case would be investi-- gated, and if the Judges declared that | official to be guilty of irregularities 'whk-h called for his dismissal, and the Government failed to act, then would be the proper time to make complaint. To dismiss a man before it was known how the case stood against him was, he repeated, contrary to the universally accepted notions of British fair play and justice. He was not going to de-- fend Sheriff Brown, but there were one or two facts which should not be ig-- nored in regard to him. The Sheriff was condemned for appointing deputy returning officers whom he did not know. -- Rarely was it the case, how-- ever, if ever, that a returning oflicer personally knew all the deputies who were appointed, and the law did now require that he should. 'The election trial Judges had reported three such deputies as having been appointed in the Wost Eigin case. Out of these two deputies were recommended _ to _ the Sheriff by persons whom he knew, but he was imposed upon in all three cases. This matter the commission would inquire into. The Sherif®f at least was shown to have adopted the same precautions in the three cases referred to as other returning officers were in the habit of doing. The House was asked to dismiss Sheri%® Ryown. The Sheriff's case was sub--judice at the present moment; his| case was to be investigated by a royaH commission --composed of competent | Judges. upon whom no reflection could be cast. The Government was uskedl Look at what transpired elsewhere in regard to returning officers. in the West Northumberland election in 1891 Mr. Hargraft, the Liberal member, nearly lost his seat through the re-- turning officer abusing his trust. Yet the same official was reappointed by the Conservative Government at QOt-- tawa. In Prince Edward Island the returning officer for the County _ of King declared the candidate who had rgceived a majority of votes to be elect-- ed. L Fair Play for gome Who Escaped. Sheriff Brown. (emplToy © "the"moment" the ~report of the Judges finding him guil-- 'ty--.of improper conduct was placed in the hands of the Government. If |Sheriff Brown was shown to have merit-- ed dismissal he would be dismissed also. (Ministerial applause.) The Government proved their sincerity by ".hr*lr acts, but Mr. Whitney merely in-- \ dulged in declamation. _ How could the Liberal party be charged with corrup-- tion ? Out of 734 returning oftcers appoimnted by the Provincial Goverm-- ment only one had been noticed by the ccurt as guilty of an irregularity, while onrly six deputies had been shown to be guilty of wrongdoing out of several thousands _ appointed. He The Treasurer had been twitted wlth' the character of the budget speech he had delivered. _ It was true the speech was not up to what his predecessor would have delivered, but the comfort-i ing Tacts about it were the announce-- ment of a cash balance to the sasmount of $800,000, a cash surpius on the year's transactions of $400,000, and a surplu$ of assets over liabilities of over $2,000,-- 600. _ (Ministerial cheers.) _ "I iike a well--rounded, well--advanced and well-- delivered budget speech as well as iny hon. friends," said Mr. Ross, '"but the speech delivered by the present 'Frea-- surer has been received by the coun-- try in a very reassurin% way, and per-- haps the country will be less criticai than the Opposition leader. T shall be satisfied if during the year 1 am aAble as Treasurer to supply funds to carry on our public institutions satis-- factorily, meet the demands of our public schools, project something for the improvement of good roads and for the development of North Ontario and pay the hon. gentleman his indemnity. (Ministerial cheers and laughter.) If 1 can do that I may have fulfilled per-- haps the main functions of the Provin-- cial. Treasurer." would not refor to the grogs irregular-- ities which had been practised by the Conservatives at eloctions, nor to the misconduct that went on in connection with Mr. Haggart's administration of the Dominion -- Railway -- Department when . $394,000 was expended on a bridge contract that should only have cast $70,000, The Opposition appear-- ed to have no words of condemnation for such transactions as these. Mr. Ross then satisfactorily explain-- ed the apparent discrepancies between the receipts and expenditures, as pub-- lished in the Treasuret's yearly state-- ment, and thogse given in the report of the Financial Commission to which Messrs, Marter, Matheson and Foy had drawn attention. The -- misapprehen-- sion was partly due to the fact that for several years after Confederation receipts which should have gone to the Province went to the Dominion and were paid out by the latter on behalf of Ontario. -- The confusion, there{ore, resulted from the bookkeeping of the Dominion. _ In the case of¢the item of #025,020 and other amounts referred to, they were clearly cases of cross--entry and nothing else. C _ t A Very Proper Spoech. Discrepancies Explained.