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OBJECT TO BEING _ FORCED To T CONsULT ELECTORS oN o CONTRACTS. . i Expressing strenuous objection _ to | +certain clauses in the new telephone| "bill introduced in the Legislature by% Hon. I. B. Lucas, a deputation of | about twenty representatives of citiesl and towns through Ontario waited un} Hon. Mr. Imcas and Hon. Col. Hen-- drie Thursday at the Parliament Buildings. i The principal objection was in re--| spect of that clause which prevents j 'I the Council of a municipality giving a franchise to a telephone company | for the exclusive use of its streets| without first submitting the terms of ; the contract to a-- vote of the pcn-; ple. | It was claimed that the cost n'l" | holding an election for this sole pur-- ' ' pose would be greater than it was j "\;\ * worth. Then it would be hard to get } the electors to ratify these agro(--i C : {---- ments, They wished the right to give | '..\ an exclusive contract to remain with ; the Council, as at present. | There had beén no demand for any | . change in -- the legislation. [ Mayor MceIntyre of Kingston s.xg--' gested that the Council of a munici-- pality might advertise the 4'«»111!';1(.'1' for a certain length of time in order T to secure publicity instead of sub-- _ mitting it to a vote. | ? Among those in the deputation were | Mayor Hopewell of Ottawa, .\l:lynl" ' Graham of London, Mayor Mcelutyre, o6f Kingston, Mayor Price of St. | Thomas, Mtr. O. G. Fleming, I".--'-.\i-l dent of the Windsor Board of Trade: | k Mr. J. H. Coburn, City Solicitor of | ' Walkerville. i Colonel Hendriec -- said that thc-_\" had also received the views of some| of the rural telephone companies, | which did not agree with those of the municipalities. . His views, he said. ' were slightly different in this matter from those of Mr. Lucas. He promis-- ed consideration of their requests.