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Won, an that tltttre.rrrtiii 3a.. -- _ '. _ _ '. . enough in' the worldto t At "iaiiiF,riS, ; process of the purchuo i"ir'iliBl "' by] . l municipalities' going into debt to arc-l Y' , . quire the same. This process had w.| duced the credit of municipal mun-l - ' . ties in Great Britain from ittih to sixth I " place. The iUtnneiat side. of municipnil ' a" ownership had been a complete failure»! " ' C.' .' [The Premier Favors Expropriation. i "f " ) ", "As a member of the Private Billsi M" _r,1s i Committee, if my. voice adds any weight, i _ b a ; 'r , I will raise it m favor of exprOpria-l ' C" '. tion," said Premier Whitney on rising.' .' ' l: He was loudly applauded. The Ptenucr _ . ' p w also gave the assurance most ernplmh~l l I (all; that the rights of even» ishare-l . hol er in the company woulddie pro! ' , tected. Prooecding, he said that. as lu' l I understood it the question was whether'! r tho citizens of Toronto were to be obi C lowed to say whether they wanted toi expropriate this plant or not. Touching 1 upon the. references to the question a; it applied to the general power policri . of the Government he was rerv' mi} 7 phatic. Nine-tenths of the scare hmong' ri the financial interests in England ofI which so much had been semi , had been created by the men whui , . ' protested so much against the Govern-5 _ ' ment, policy. The. men across the. water i 's, l had heard these things in the. tones of; ', ' . ' the "fat-sviited men." who thought thect . i wow, doing their 1'ompanies and tlivi "N, ' country a. service and were doing: bothi "of an injury. He thought, there Jas no; Y. mmnsion for hysteria. over a proposition i l that the public should own these utilr'! 'i tics when they had been under the laws: , A ' .of the Province acquiring and operate "N t rl, mg Finiilar utilities for GO years. "Tho 'Ni. l question," the Premier continued, "is l whether the people of Toronto are goittg "" . . to be given an opportunity to vote to f l iay whether they are willing to put-i yhaso this property, giving what. a wilt. mg purchaser would give, with anythigul l , . added to what n. willing purchaser Would "a. give for taking the property bu cum- "u, l i, pulsion." ' . l i The Opposition Leader. l 'x' Mr. G. P. Graham said that ii thei t,, . Toronto bill was put to the committee:', '; as it stood he would vote against it. i l The city was unwise in bringing downi ', . bills that they knew would not past] "i' ' and the result was that they aroused! . unnecessary opposition. 2 .-. _ On the broad principle of the. rights; " ' . ,0; communities. it was the. business of; , legislators. who represented the people,,:' "Ni l to legislate in the, interests of the great. ', t ' est number of the people, but they must. At, h i also keep in mind the rights of the les. 1'39". .7 ser number. "l will not vote for fl",'} 'sit, , ' line in that bill that does not, protect "t l every one of the bomlholderm" he. lie-i clnrcd. There was danger, he admit-i _' red. of legislators being stampeded by" ; what seemed to be popular or unpopu-. , ; lar. hut the women could assure them} ! selves. and the men of ftnnnee could sis-g Esme themselves. that the legislation: ' ' iproposed " ill not nllow one line. con-i t irorv tn their interests. 9 ' i The preamble of the bill adopting the; C ', principle of expropriation was then ear-l ' i rird. l . {Position of the City. '; l Mayor Coaisworth mad-c the following i statement last tiig1ttv-- i l "The. Corporation is willing to take; I over the present distributing plant of! the Toronto Electric Light Company at reasonable figures and save the loss, . which would be occasioned to the share- . holders of that company by a competi- _ l tion which would be ruinous. There is no thought whotevur of eonfistsatiott or I r', ' anything of that kind. This is consid- i, - _ cred to be the desire of our citizens. l i "On the other hand. if the prices" [ terms and conditions imposed upon the I city in connection with the transfer or i expropriation are onerous and burden. I ' . some. upon the people at large to an ttlt- ' reasonable extent, the Corporation will i ' undoubtedly act upon the authority giv- l i en by the vote of last January, and; p q install an independent distributing sys- l s.i, ' tom, an estimate of the cost of which _ l is now before them." l . "'i: _ " . V _ C': "A; " , ' ,, . -9