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' 'WEDNESDA " _ ARCH 2, 1904. . . .- --"HH' -- - "s-r-------"-'"""'- HEELERS no my "iiriistion. Saw-offs would always be, , i so long as wholesale protests were Gr _ l tered. , UPON PUBLIll MEN. 2 Cost of Trials Great. l , . .. Q ' ' Those who moralizcd' upon it and _ -------- . l objected to saw-offs wouid not do 5., ii _ _ F they had to bear the cost oi ClCCtlan l Necessity For Amendment of' trials when the elections were Proved t . " clean. It cost in the neighborhood ot" ; Ontario Elections Act. $10,000 to tight an election Damn". . , This, was a very low estimate. Tiii I ------ it South Oxford protest must have cost i I in the gicighborlmod of 317.com Sui). l E pose t c rovmce had to hear ,'t EVIL OF SAW-OFF PROCESSI' cost, how many prrrttetite. wouid thc. dt. pic stand at the rate. of $trooo? They would I'l standl more than one J, two. -' n yet the "riple had; : I Government Proposes Automa,. that the politicians Iougllit to tiiiidi'ii: , . . . . costs. His objcct was to rcdu e i,r, 3' tic IssueOf Bye-election Writs. number of election petitions. ch22: l were not all tiecegssary. lit. "(will mi, i --_.--.--- y be one to do anything to make it polii i . Ethic for any person to conduct an lm~t l adr.. C1ark's Bill to Prevent Trivial clean Hamil" and escape the come! i' . ' . . - quenccs. c propose to give the l, Elem}?! Petitions Discussed time enough to find out it thrrc iii) 3 Abohuon of Statute Labor Leg- anything to warrant a petition. 'Hgi i, islatian-Puhtic Measures in Leg- proptyscd Sixty days instead of twang-4 . one days. it the defeated \'dlldltlatei islaturc. put in a petition and abandoned it he} should forfeit his deposit. ) ___.__._. A Tremendous Penalty. ' The harassment of members of t I'",,."; ygpe'j1i,toei,t ham then: oucthtl, . . . . . . l - r f _ . ' . ' In,, ' , "atilia.tttc.tttby trivial fccf.ietyyiyys, sides Orig"); 3512:: 'ifjt"t?,t'I/i.1,'icr,pt',_i' and, incidentally, the evil or "saw- treat this Bum". in such' a "m. its! l tug-oft" process, were very thorough- would coitduce best to public, niontlityl l iy discussed 1n the Legislature yes- uurl to purity.of clectiou,. flu: (tiles-i l 1. "lay, when Mr. .Hugh Clark moved Ill? was cntirely wheth.er the bill" di " of h _ bill d would have a tendency to improve tlicl I I'? second rea mg!) lb to amen existing condition oi things. in one! the contravened elections act. Mu part oi the bill petitioning was invited; Carscallen of Hamilton was particular- and in another it was made almost pro-l, Jr outspoken in urging the House to tuiritory. He did not think that ",h.eti Ct itcr the "heelers and rafters a Perm?" was entered ill goot,l, iaith) net a L' . g . the petitioner should be compelled tol who prey upon members of Parlia- proceed should further inquiry sltusr; l ment," for they were driving decent that there was nut suiticicnt eridryc, l men from public life. Attorney-Gen- iiiaiimliiiiw a "if" Jh:iy",:r.,:riiCr,": '_ . -.. _ ._ . . .., . A. l Cc: a c'. iO W a "bite: ' l ttr/il Lnbson showed that the..,yis.ti.ilir throuqh to trial" the petitioner I'lltf'llltli l act provided for most or the difficulties _,, l-st: .his deposit was imposing, a trr- I which Mr. Clark had aimed at re-, mendnus penalty on any person "hot i moving, but thought that much goodl, llad'arted in wood iaith. Uimin'tli mum be done ii the bill were rcfer- prosecutions had been begun many and, mil to the Legal Committee and sew: many a. time in good faith and s'ubse-l. ionsly considered there. He mention- intently abandoned because it tt-asj rd that he was cndeavormg to pre- found impossible to support the) pare an amendment to the act thatl charges by the necessary evidence. The: tould make the issuing of writs 101' extension of the time for the filing of live elections absolutely automatic. A l petitions to 60 days would be an invi- nv.mber oi public bills were advanced tation to constituencies generally to a stage, and the House spent the even- file'petitions and work up cases. He Ing tn supply. . himself was in sympathy with the idea To Stop Truling Petitions. itthat p.etitityvs.shoufd be f.iltsd as soon . . (after the elections as possible, Mr. Hugh Clark, 111 mating the sec- i . . ond reading oi his bill to amend t"ii2l','sawimeoir ls Illegal. controverted elections. act, said su.f-,l,' "The member for Centre Bruce has Mimi time was not g1vcn to fll.e.peri-i said a good deal," continued the At- tionsaiter an election. A petitioner; torney-General, "regarding the saw-l could file a petition without specml] ing-oif oi election petitions. I prc-l .1mowlcdge oi offences. The petition} sumo most hon. members know what would hang over tlic respondentpos-i that means, although I must confess Ii l sibly for a year, and the petitioner," do not find any. reference in the act ;o, knew that he could, get track most oti any proceeding of that nature. lagree hi, deposit. There should be a for-i with him that this so-called sawing" irit of the deposit ii the petitioner fail-g off, or method bv which there is a cd to proceed. The public had thet simultaneous abandonment oi proceed-I opinion that the iniquity of the election! ings, has not always taken place. in Fystc'm lay in the saw-offs. The ini- cases where there were the best oi quit}- did not begin with the saw-of" reasons for abandoning proceedings. lie was not persuaded that saw-offs) In other words, I do not believe such 'were always iniquitous. The trouble' processes have 'bécn confined to cases! was that the saw-offs did not apply in entirely where there has been an abso- most cases to elections that had been lute absence of evidence." He was not bonestly won. Protests, it would be speaking of his own knowledge, but he. admitted, had been entered during the understood that to be the case. .The. last lew years, not altogether be- hon. gentleman had however, omitted cause elections had been corruptly to observe 'cGtiiiii'"p7i'vrsiG's in thCI Won. but because the majority was existing act which went a long way to small, or because, for some other rea- meet the 'iiiiiiiiii's, which he appeared son, the petitioners thought they could to be laboring under with reference to Win back the seats y. they were oncer the abandonment of petitions. In the .opened, and the. petitioners were will- event of '3 petitioner failing to prose- 1211;; to take chances, even by a techni- cute his petition it 'was quite open for f/ltr. The saw-OE could easily be someone else to intervene and i.n.sist got rid oi-and it had brought Poli- 'on bein made a party to the petition. ties to some extent to a degraded con- Mr. 'h"il',',C-htTi' the hon. gentle- 11t.tit-cr?, the Government .accepting Fman know of a case where that hap- his amendment. These. things were 'pened? not. the tank at any one party: The Ihiierf. Gibson replied that .he had saw-off could be traced back to no one known of such cases but admitted that party. There should be no party dir-; . " c ' I rare. An- fereyte, therefore anion th they had been extremely . tl t _ . ' g em. on the: her section of the act provided T'