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Sir William Hearst Claims Im-- provement in French-- English Schools cRITICISM OF GRANTS Conditions in the English--French schools throughout the Province are showing general improvement, Six'l William Hearst told the members of the Legislature yesterday afternoon.i The schools in EsseX and -- Kent counties are complying with the\ regulations and there is a general' improvement in the bilingual schools in the northern part of the Prov--| ince. The Government finds that the' chief difficulty is the lack of teachers with the necessary qualifications to teach in these schools. The statement of the Prime Min-- ister was made i1 reply 'to Mr. 'Thomas Marshall (Lincoln), when the estimates of the Department of Education were under discussion.. Mr. Marshall pointed out" that in the latest report of the department for 1916, no mention was made of the reports of the five inspectors in the English--French schools. He wanted to know what progress is be-- ing made in the schools, the atten-- dance, the number of teachers, and if any schools did not have qualified instructors. _ Much other informa-- tion, he thought, should be given to the House regarding these schools. In the absence of Hon. Dr. --Pynée, Minister of Education, who is indis-- posed, Hon. Mr. Lucas said that the last annual statement of the depart-- ment contained reports of the Chief Inspector and of the Minister. The Chief Inspector, in making his re-- port, apparently did not find it ne-- vessary to make any special mention of the English--French schools. Distribution of Grants. The Attorney--General told Ar. S, Ducharme (North Essex) that all the schools will benefit by the ad-- Aitional amount in the estimates of $100,000 to be used for general grants and contingencies. _ HMereto-- fore all of the schools have not re-- ceived the full amount of their srants from the department. _ The intention _ now is that the full «mount shall be paid to every school. Mr. %. Mageart (Sturgeon Falls) was not satisfied with the informa-- tion given by the Ministers. Te wanted to know if all the schools would benefit by the grant, particu-- l@rliy those in -- which Engiish and French are taught. Hon. Mr. Lucas and the Prime Minister protested ~FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1918. 'hat any information desired covuld be secured, but.--that they were unot conmnversant with the details. Mr. 'fageau protested that the Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines, act-- ing for the Minister of Education l@st yvear, put questioners off in the same way for fear capital would be made out of the information. WORKSBETTER "I won't allow . the honorable mwember to &ay that," retorted Sir wWiilam --HMHearst warmly. '"He can ask for the information when the wmain estimates come down, or he can make a motion for a return aond it will be brought down." Mr. Ma-- geau agreed to ask for a return. Questions Publicity's Value. Hon. Mr. Lucas explained that the' »dditional grant of $10,800 for pub-I lic, district and separate school in-- spectors was in recognition of,thel increased cost of living. In order to secure men with the proper qualifi--| cations it was found wise to increase | the maximum salary to $2,500. An! allowance of $25,000 was providedl to rebuild certain schools that were destroyed by the Northern Onturiof fire of 1916. I _ _Good--natured sparring _ betwoen| the Premier and Mr. Wm. McDon-- ald (North Bruce) occurred when the latter protested against an ad-- ditional $10,000 being granted . the Department of Land, Forests and Mines for advertising. The imem-- ber for North Bruce exhibited an | advertisement from The Kincarding | fteview, of which Col. Hugi Clark.' a former member of the House, isl the proprietor. To his mind it was| wasted money to Pay for lengthy ad--! vertisements in such rural publica-l tions, which have a probable circu-- lation of 1,200 or 1,300, and he was 2zlad of the Premier's intimation that it would be discontinued. s "It looks like advertisingp for Gov-- ernment friends," continued Mr. Mc-- Donald. "Tlire are just as import-- ant papers tM®Bruce as The Kincar-- dine Review." Mr. MceDonald,. tco, is a newspaper publisher, but, as he said, he couldn't take the advertis-- ing if it were offered to him because of his being & member of the House. "There would not be a man in that section of the county that would | enter into a deal such as is adver-- Itised here. OI think this advertis-- 'ing should be made judiciously." ' "I have heard of more than one |man in that section who had a prettly ' good contract,'"' replied the Premier. "That wasn't recently. This is a new era, when things should be done on a strictly logical and war-- time basis," said the North Bruce member. Mr. Sam Carter said he knew of one paper in his city that received $1,300, and the other received $13. "But we have changed that," he smiled, "for we are going to have a man who lets these contracts now.'" Mr. Cartér moved that the amount of $61,32%28 for civil government should be struck out, but the mo-- tion was lost. The committee passed the total supplementary estimates of $1,921,-- 786, but the House withheld con-- currence of the estimates for the Hospital for the Insané at Kingston, and for the Game and Fisheries De-- partment, pending amendments that are to be brought in. Introduction of Bills, Mr. George 8. Henry (East York) introduced a bill to empower Road Commissioners to close highways under construction, to relieve muni-- cipalities of all liability, and making tsers of the highway responsible for all damages. Mr, Thomas Magladery (Timis-- kaming) introduced a bill to amend the Statute Labor Act, authorizing all Townuship Councils to make the max-- imum wage for statute jabor $3 per day instead of $1.50, Hon, Finlay Macdiarmid intro-- duced a bill to amend the Toronto and Hamilton Highway Act. The proposed amendment deals prin-- cipally with legal technicalities en-- countered by the Commission dur-- ing the past season. One amend-- ment makes clear the responsibil-- ity of the Commission to maintain bridges until such time as they are replaced by new structures.