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jbey ever since. s ~Referring to Mr. Marshall's expres-- sions of sympathy with the Hydro-- electric movement, the member for London regretted they -- could not lead themselves to believe that the _leeral party always held the opin-- ions expressed by the member -- for Moneck. When -- the Uydaro--electric policy was first proposed the 'leader of the Liberal party in Ontario had declared they were interfering with vested rights. "HMe favored vesting the water powers of Ontario in the hands of friends, maybe," proceeded Mr. BReck, "'or at all events in com-- panies he had created at Niagara Falls. The Ross Government had refused point blank the application of the city of Toronto forx ermission to generate power at «~:34@ara Falls, and had given it to the Electrical Development -- Company." Likewise Liberal members of the Dominion Government had granted leases to an eastern -- Ontarioe _ monopoly which might prevent the Hydro--electric Power Commission from extending its lines into that section of the Pro-- vince. They had given away Chats f&i;m;}f,fio, when, at the pur-- chaser's own valuation, it was worth $3,000,000. Aid From Liberal Press. Continuing, Mr. Beck said they ap-- preciated the kind words of Mr. Marshall to--day, but there had been a day 'when they might have been more helpful. He was grateful for the support of the movement hy the Liberal press. The Globe had _en-- dorsed many. features of the project. Referring to the control of water powers, he said the Government under the leases recently issued has ab-- solute control of the water powers of the Province.. "The practice of hand-- ing them out to friends of the Gov-- ernment has long been discontinued." _ To iHustrate the growth of-- the undertaking, Mr. Beck said they had begun with thirteen municipalit@es as customers; now they were supply-- ing forty--one, thirteen of which were police. villages and rural municipali-- ties. Information, -- estimates and other data had been furnished by the Commission's engineers to one hun-- dred and four villages and hamlets and thirty--nine townships. They had completed the construction of _ 280 mileés of-- high--tension _ transmission lines and 246 of lon--tension lines in the Niagara district, 71 in the St. Law-- rence district, and seven in the Port Arthur district, and they were about to build 42 miles more in the Niagara district,-- 84--in the St: lILawrence dis-- trict,-- 53 miles around Windsor, Sar-- nia and Goderich, and several in the Port, Arthur district. Politics had prevented them from extending their lines into the Owen Sound and east-- ern Ontario districts. Dealing with the plans outlined to | meet the needs of the farmers,Mr.Beck| said the Commission had spent con--| siderable money making experiments| and demonstrating o the farmers, what work the (HMydro--electric . was| capable of doing on the farm. It! was now up to the farmers to become| co--partners in the scheme and thus; assist in a further reduction of prices. The motrte customers the Commussion had the--lJower the prices would be. Mr. Beck then moved the amendmert to Mr. Marshall's motion . Dr. . McQueen (North Wentworth) believed every citizen of Ontario real-- ized that the Hydro--electric > move-- ment was a splendid thing, and that it was owned and operated by and for the people. He did not agree, how-- ever, that the idea was originated by any political party, and in reference to a statement by Mr. Beck to the effectthat some of the Liberal news-- papers hbhad not been in sympathy with the movement, he, pointed out that Tory papers also had criticized 1t,--Thé fiafnifion Spectator especially having been consistently and strongly opposed to "the scheme since its incep-- tion . What the Liberals Have Done. a meeting held in 1900, when en up by_ the |and Mr. W . E Mr. N. W.. Rowell quoted from the journals of© the House to show that the late Liberal Government was responsible for the législation that congerved the waterpowers of the Province. _ The leader of the Opposi-- tion then showed that the Hydro--elec-- trice power movement originated. at a meeting held in the city of Toronto in 1900, when the question was tak-- en up by_the Toronto Board Trade, \""a Mr. W. E. H. Massey was made Party Question . 1 "The Hydro--electric CommIssI0Nh was not party in its origin. It sprang from the people, and to--day it is a great trust for the benefit of the peo-- ple,. It is a good thing, its policy is a good one, and we desire to see it carried out," said Mr. Rowell . The Opposition leader challenged the statement of Mr. Beck that the Liberal party had not supported the P e o U ts TT d tA o4 $ 020000 Thiea ibes "Aapiiher ce en ardr C o ibacks Hydro--electric by pointing to the ob--' jection which the Liberal party took| at the last election to transfer the: Hydro--electric from the Commission to a department of. the Government, which was in accordance with Mr. Beck's own view of what was best in the interest of the work. "What I said," replied Mr. Beck, "was that I cannot recall a single in-- stance where a Liberal member of this House or & Liberal ex--member ever appeared on aA public platform when there was a controversy be-- tween the public interest and a pub-- lic undertaking and a corporate in-- terest." "What . L said,' "was that I canno stance where a | this House or & ever appeared on when there was There was a proposal in December, 1911, continued the Opposition lead-- er, to transfer the Hydro--electric from the Commission to & department of the Government, which was resisted by the Opposition. That attitude was in accordance with Mr.: Beck's posi-- tion at the ftime. The Govetnment Divided, Again Mr. Rowell charged the Gov-- ernment with not being unanimous on the proposad extensions of the Hydro-- electric to rural communities and the application of the scheme to rural railways. Br. Beck had made it clear that the Government was not prepared to act, and the best answer 'he could give was that the House 'wm,.ld have to wait and see what the Government decided to dq. "No <one but the merest tyro in constitutional knowledge will ask the question whether the leader of & Government was behind his colleagues$ on anything that they proposed," said Sir James Whitney. '_"In most cases, Mr. -- Speaker, 1 would be persuaded to accept that as a good constitutional principle. But we have had so many exhibitions in connection with this Government where the colleagues of the Primeé, Minister have had a policy that he} has not been behind that I hesitate to accept the Prime Minister's doe--, trine," answered Mr. Rowell. He in-l stanced the assurance given by Mr. Hanna to the special assessment com-l mittee that some movement towards tax reform would be taken up by the Government, and later that the muni-- cipal franchise would be extended to married women under certain con-- ditions, both of which were rejected by the Prime Minister as being un-- worthy of consideration. w'-'fia'th"sta'térhents are untrue," in-- terrupted Sir James. s "Well, the members of the House heard them and they can put their ears against the statement of the Prime Minister," continued Mr. Row-- ell. "Under the cirecumstances the members of the Opposition were jus-- tified in asking when the Prime Min-- ister was behind his colleagues. electric Commission was