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"""WETDEBATE AND ESTIMATES. wEDNEssDAY,_li1.1fffSlrp,.. 1 Senator Ross on the Floor of the House When the Ceremony Took Plate-- ' Discussions on Some of the Items In Estimates-Suggestions From the Opposition. , The debate. on the budget progressed, tut did not conclude at the sitting of The Legislature ypstprday afternoon. Addresses were delivered by Messrs. 'lhompson (Wentworth), Lewis aim Clarke tNorthumberland). All were bf interest. Mr. Clarke had not finished at. 6 o'elock, and will continue on Thurs- da y. His remarks were. spiced with con- siderable humor. The night session was occupied by arrangement in con- sideration of estimates, with which con- sidemble progress was made. During the afternoon two Government bills, one respecting stationary engineers and the. other taking the control of Burling- ton Beach from Hamilton and b'altfieet to.wn.ship anfi placing it under a. com~ missmn consuming of two members were introduced. .West Middlesex', Member. Features of Yesterday's Session of the Legislature. Member For West Middlesex is , Heartily Welcomed. Hon. Geo. W. Ross, Canadian Sena- tor and ex-Prime Minister of Ontario, had the satisfaction yesterday of see, ing his son, Mr. Duncan C.. Ross, take his seat in the Legislature as member for West Middlesex. The incident was brief, but interesting. The new menu. bar was osoorted into the House by Messrs. A. G. MucKay, member for North Grey, and C. N. Smith, member for Sault. Me. Marie, the former mak- ing the usual formal introduction. Mr. Ross than stepped up to the dais and cordially shook the hand of the Speak- pr. amid vigorous Opposition desk- pmmding. On taking his seat, Mr. Ross shook hands with Mr. Kohler, his dmk mate, after which the House proceeded to business. The Assessment Act. The Premier before the orders of the day were called pointed out that the assessment act had been made the sub- ject of many proposed amendments dur- ing the session. The amendments, said, the Premier, could be referred to the Municipal Committee which would single out, and refer all amendments of conse- quence to the commission for the revi. sion of the statutes. The commission, he continued, had been engaged lately in going over the matter in the most careful and thorough manner; going over it line bv line, and there would be a, revi- sion, he predicted, such as had never been before. _ - Mr. Graham said that of (nurse. the House did not lose or abandon any of its prerogatives, or its right, to Pttsq upon the revision in leaving this mat- tor to be dealt with _by the eommisaion. There were some things in the assass- ment law which it would be advisable to change, but he agreed that it would be better to take the act as a. whole ROSS IS tNTRODUCED. wgy consideration with a view to Int-king changes. Perhaps by the time the eommisnion'g report was ready the House would be ready for some radial changes. ' Hon. Mr. Cochran introduced the Gov- ernment/s bill "respecting Burlington Beach." This provides for the appoint- ment, bv the Government of a. commission of not; less than two persons to hold the Burlington Bach lands in trust for the Crown. The House went into eommit,tee on Hon. Mr. Hendrie's hill to amend the. thr iario Railway and Municipal Board ark of 1906. and several amendments to facilitate the working out of the act, were inserted. Ha. Mr. Monteith intrtxluceq the Government', bill respecting stationary en.eineers. 3 "Thirty-three," corrected Mr. Gra- j ham. i Tho. Prmince was to he congratulated on hating, t,eoured an honest adminiss tration, Dr. Lewis continued. Touching ;upon the condition of the Provincial (r/venues, he declared that concessions 5 that had formerly been given away 'for l, nothing were now used to increase the Receipts: of the treasury. On one oc- casion he had been told that he was no good by a man whose wife had to be 'sent, to the Hamilton Asylum because ;he could not secure her admission un- lder the Govermnent's minimum rate l per week. He had been told that the member for Peel under the old Govern- ment had secured such a privil- ege for him. This he told as in. stancing the former laxity of adminis- tration. He defended the employment iJLMr. Thorne as a Provincial Auditor Mr. Thompson (Wentworth) in romm~ ing the debate on the budget carefully reviewed, in part, the budget speech. Be alluded partieularly co the surplus of $1,050,000 for the past. two years claimed by the Provincial Treasurer. There would have been a dotieit instead if the former Administration had followed the advice of the present Government and largely cut down or wiped out, entirely same of the supplementary revenues, in. cluding the succession dues. Passing on to a. criticism of the expenditures, he Was of opinion that, while some of the lit-Tm. might he justified. an increase tttts It Approached Frenzied Finance- Q-regznmg $2,223.00!) in two wars was nearly approaching "frenzied~ fina.nee." He, commented adversely upon the fact that while the. expenditures had thus 1atf:,rely.imyrtstied, tho. vote of $1,700 for , Provincial forester had been dropped h'om the estimateé. It was a strange thing to find in a Provinm which so largely depended upon ins forest wealth for revenue so important an offiee as that ot forester abolished. Proceeding, Mr. Thompson dealt in Foun- detail with the promises of the fioyTtyynt, while in Opposition, and their failure to carry them out while in o.ftit In this regard he particularly criti- umd the. promim to take the enforce- ment, of the liquor license. law out of politics, and its non-fuhillment. Recent ew-nts in Toronto. Mr. Thompson said, had shown that it was not, as good "to keep hotel" as it was to make. transfers. It had been said by supporters of the Government that Father Pull and Father Graft were. dead. but he thought this had not been borne out, in timber sales in Chesley township and in North Renfrew, nor in changes made. without advertising by the T. & N. o. Railway Commission in respect to mineral land tenders, as a. result of which "one of the boys" had got in. He closed with a referewe. to the bye-elections in Kingston, East Hamil- ton and West Middlesex, in all of which the Government candidates were defeat- ed, pointing to these results as indicating. dissatisfaction with the Administration. Dr. Lewis Defends Government. Dr. F. W. Lewis (Dufferin) congrat- ulated the Liberals on their choice of a. leader. He would be found a, fair and manly fight-r, and he hoped that he would not he handicapped as other leaders had been. He. could even hope that the leader of the Opposition would not wander in the wilderne,ss for forty years. . b' 3 Mr. Graham naked what Gkijeirk? done ! in respect to forestry. There was now no g Provincial forester. " because the eireuntatamset' eaTtWTor the appointment of an expert in the peculiu work for which he was engaged. The Parliament buildings had been planned by an architect from Buffalo. Dr. Lewis paid a, tribute to the cour- age of the Minister of Mines, and said that if he were not ameptable up north there were forty or fifty other consti- tuencies- in which Hon. Frank Cochran would be ameptahle. Some Excuse For Jubilation. On the item of 8110,600 for the Lands, Forum tml Mies, Dgpartmergt #1?er Mr. S. Clarke (Northumberland) _ could understand and sympathize with the. Government, for, while the Libenls; had been in Opposition two yenre, their: opponents had been on the outside all their lives. One would think they hnd built up this great Province. Why, they never had their hands on it. The Hon. Provincial Secretary was a man napable of running his department, but he could not sympathize with the Most- ing over a, fund piled up by the pursuit of the. husband, sister or niece of some unfortunate lunatic. There was Borne. thiug sweeter than politics, and that was%varity. They might say harsh things about the former Government. but no one. could say they were not good to the poor. Any family which had; the burden of lunacy on their hands, ictrd know they had trouble enough. If a man could not, pay three dollars or two dollars. then let him in " one dot- Ur. The family that had sickness should not be pursued with a hammer and chisel by the Government for I matter of two or three thousand dollars, for in this they were, worrying the hearts out of men who were worried half to death. Mr. Clarke touched on the. question of power. Strange to say, that after two years in an age of pro- gress. with plenty of money. nothing had yet been accomplished. He could not (see why they were waiting. In reply i to the statement that. the poolrooms had been wiped out. he understood that the i, pool business was still carried on at the Woodbine, " Windsor. and n place enll- ed Hamilton. Turning to the Central Primm r-ontract. he said that the. ex- pert. Mr. Thorne. had been brought over to witness one of the weakest deals 'thai, he had ever seen in public print, 'Thihris was no value in it. and it left a liability. The Premier had tried to he as liberal and honest and fair as any Premier could he. (Government trp- phtuse.t "Just wait." said Mr. Clarke. " Mr. Graham thought the transferring. of civil servants from the temporary to the permanent list was a good thing. He was strongly in favor of the Government putting on the permanent, list any ofB. cials on the temporary list who were found to be necessary This would be supported by the Opposition. The vote passed. The question of Porestrr. ' The Premier said that the irblic busi- [new had greatly. increased Jllil'G W mural causes, and this, had necessitated securing more help. "The offieials in this building have never been paid too high salaries. I mean by that that proper men to-day to do the work could have obtained larger salaries outside. Meter. ial comfort. " hich would enable them to do the work properly, is neceseary. The inorease of living expenses in this city has more than doubled in twenty years. That. together with other causes. we have felt that certain increases were jus tifUble." Mr. Whitney added that a number who had been on the temporary list had been placed on the permanent; list. "Just wait." said Mr. Clarke. "r new-pr saw a Premier with such a horde. behind him---soratohine at him and scratvhing at him. If T were the Pre- mim- I would cut. the? "all? off every one of them. The evening session was occupied in the passing of estimates, splendid pro- gress having been made by the time the House adjournud at 10 o'eloek. Hon. Mr. Foy. in asking a vote for 864.4452 for the r':ipPlree." of Ini, department, explained a number 1,rl iutiurril details in the vote. Progress With Estimates.