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D AYV ' MAR 23, 1915 3 oad ¢.) * # TUESDAY, MARCH 23, Mr. Rowell Urges Change in Property Qualification Law PRISON FARM EXPENSES Premier Hearst Says He is Sympa-! thetic With Proposed Change in | Law -- Affecting Municipal Candi-' dates--Consider Poolroom Licens%l The anomaly in the present law which reauires no property qualifica-- tion for members of Parliament or the Legislature, but yet demaudsi that candidates for municipal officesl have such qualification, was pointed! out in the Legislature yesterday af-: ternoon by Mr. N. W. Rowell, in urg-i ing upon the Government the adop-li tion of the principle of the bill of Mr. ' Joseph Ham (South Brant) to lower' the qualification, so that what en-- abled a man to vote should qualify him to hold office. The Liberal lead-- er referred to the request made to the Government by a deputation re-- presenting the labor organizations some time ago, which presented the case of labor, he thought, with con-- viction and force. He believed the | move was entirely in the public in--| terest. Property qualifications werc, fast passing away, and it was un-- reasonable to expect a man to exer-- cise a Parliamentary franchise on less grounds than he would exercise a municipal vote. | A Man Should Have Vocation. :l Premier Hearst expressed sympa-i thy with the proposal. He would | not attemnt to discuss the merits of | the bill. He recalled the labor depu-- | tation, which had laid its demands before the Government in a manner worthy of every commendation. This and many other requests would en-- sgage the attention of the Govern-- ment. The present laws had been on the statute books for years. Amend-- ments had been made from time _ to time, but the Legislature should not set lightly about the task of chang-- | ing laws, and should only do so when it was convinced that the change would work out best for the Province and the municipalities. He thought the question of permanency should be considered. A man should have a vocation in a municipality before he was entitled to participate direct-- ly in its administration. 6 f An Act of Justice. Mr. Allan Studholme (East Hamil-- ton), continuing the discussion on the second reading of Mr. Ham's bill to make the property qualification for municipal candidates the same ; that of voters, said what was asked was simply an act of justice. . He strongly criticized the attitude of the Provincial Secretary, saying he had backslidden too much this session. This Government would not do any-- thing for the worker except tax him. Mr. Samuel Carter (South Welling-- lon) strongly supported the bill } { spoke in praiseworthy terms of the ability working men had exhibited in -- the trade union movement and also | in municipal Councils. To facilitate © the entrance of working -- men lnto' Councils he was confident would re-- sult in a greater brake being put onl the debt of municipalities. His ex~--~ perience had been that where work-- ing men had been on the Councils ef-- forts had been made against increas-- ing debt. The member for South Wellington roundly condemned the ---- practice in municipalities of granting