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to that date. At first Mr. Macdonald said there were no names on the pay roll except of bona fide employees of the railway, and the amounts paid were for services. That names were entered on the pay roll of the Nipissing Central Rail-- way of parties who were not em-- ployees of the line, was information secured by Mr. Proudfoot (Centre Huron) in the Public Accounts Com-- mittee yesterday in questioning Mr. K. Macdonald, local Superintendent at North Cobalt. The information showed that amounts were paid in respect of services that really repre-- sented supplies purchased. The Nipissing Central is a subsid-- iary road of the T. & N. O., running from Cobalt to Haileybury. Mr. Proudfoot was examining Mr. Mac-- donald, who, besides being local Superintendent, is also President of the Conservative Association for the county of Bucke, as to the names on the pay rolls from November, 1911, to October, 1912%. The committee re-- fused to allow him to ask any ques-- tior}g xjels_tting to payments subsequent Mr. Proudfoot inquired about the method of securing supplies through the purchasing agent. On being ask-- ed if there were any amounts in the pay roll for supplies and not for labor, he admitted that Harold Find-- lay, Manager for Robert Lillie, had received certain small sums for pur-- chases instead of the vouchers being put through in the usual way. He explained the irregularity as a mis-- take of his own. There were -- two other parties with the name of Find-- fay on the roll hirl Fiimams lnw Aashil lay on the roll, but these, he declar-- eid, were regular employees of the line. Mr. Proudfoot was also interested in electric heaters. He learned from Mr. Macdonald that heaters had been stored in his house,. the proper-- ty of the railway, but none between November 1, 1911, and October 31, 1912, the period covered by the in-- vestigation. Under instructions from Mr. McGarry, he declined to answer whether the heaters had been operat-- ed in his house from power taken from the Nipissing Central. The Transmission Line Contract. Superintendent at North Cobalt States Before Public Accounts Committce That Amounts Were on the Pay Roll for Supplies Instead of Labor. SUBSIDIARY OF T. & N.0. Admission Made Regarding Nipissing Central Railway On the continuation of the investi-- gation into the contract for the Hydro--electric transmission line, Mr. Rowell examined Mr. R. A. Parte, sales manager of the Aluminum Cor-- poration. Limited, of England,. re-- garding his negotiations with repre-- sentatives of the McGuigan Construc-- tion Company. The Liberal leader referred to a letter to the Hydro--elec-- tric Commission on August 27, 1908, expresing disappointment that his company had not been considered when the contract was awarded to the McGuigan Company. The letter sets out that no tender was placed before the Commission by the Northern Aluminrum Company, but a price had been directly to the contractor. This price, he declared, NR EnE ETT O ie c 7 C CF CC / HECVUITECG, was one cent a pound less than that of the Aluminum Corporation given to the Commission and to the con-- tractor. The explanation was given by the late Mr. Cecil B. Smith that the contractors were under obligatior to purchase the material from firms that had many years of experience in that line of work. At the same time NOT OF EMPLOYEES "The Aluminum Corporation had plac-- ed a certified check for $20,000 with the Commission as a bona fide of its tender, and offered to provide a bond of $100,000 for the proper perform-- ance of the contract. As the wire would be rolled in Canada and the raw material shipped from England, Mr. Parte suggested that the order be divided between the two competi-- tors. Mr. J. G. Stanley of the Northern Aluminum Company, Rochester, was called respecting the price paid by the MceGuigan Co. for the aluminum eable furnished. HMe declined to give anv answer to Mr. Rowell's question on the ground that the hnsin~ss with Mr. McGuigan was confidential. The matter was made the subject of a special report to the House, re-- commending that if Mr. Muralt would come to Toronto to testify that his expenses be guaranteed. Mr. P. W. Sothmann is not anxious to come to Toronto. He sent a tele-- gram to the effect that he was under medical treatment in New York, but would he prepared to appear before a commission. | ¢ To Mr. Rowell, Mr. Parte said he had .several conversations with Mr. Smith regarding the tender, and had been urged not to put a tender be-- fore the Commission, but to-- work through the McGuigan Co. _"I did not feel," said Mr. Parte, "that I should be called upon to antagonize the Commission by withholding a ; tender and prejudice our prospects, of | getting business." He asked for some' assurance that the McGuigan Co. would get the contract, and nobody else. _ Refusing to withhold his ten-- der, Mr. Parte said he gave to the McGuigan Co., through Mr. Smith, the same price as named in the tender. After the contract was awarded and Mr. Parte went to Mr. McGuigan to secure an order on the basis of his low tender,. explaining the negotiations he had with Mr. Smith, Mr. McGuigan promptly repudiated Mr. Smith's re-- sponsibility for making any such arrangement. A further discussion came up re-- garding Mr. Muralt's attendance. Mr. Ferguson, Chairman of the commit-- tee, reported that Mr. Muralt's solici-- tors, Ritchie, Ludwig & Ballantyne, had stated he would not come to Tor-- onto to testify. The Opposition leader referred to Mr. Muralt's promise to come if his expenses were paid, and suggested that his solicitors were an-- xious that he should do nothing that would embarrass the Government. Mr. Muralt Declines to Testify. Long--delayed Report at Last Distributed After a delay of months the report _ of the Hydro--electric Power Commission for the year 1911--12 was distributed to the members of the Legislature yesterday. The report is a complete volume dealing . with every branch of the Hydro--elec-- tric service, and includes de-- tails of capital and operating charges, new items of construc-- tion and the result of demon-- strations in rural dlstrictq. 5 At the Niagara transmission station various _ improvements are being made, it is said, as the result of two years' opera-- tion. The increased number of municipalities taking power off the Niagara circuit has neces-- sitated the enlargement of the equipment at the Dundas trans-- former station, which will be completed during the present year.