The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Mr. Bowman next turned his at- tention to the money spent on Northern Ontario development. "In order that the people may have an intelligent presentation of the ex- penditure it is necessary to have an, entire overhauling of the method in which the public accounts are dealt with," declared Mr. Bowman, taking exception to the amounts of 8679,.. 304 as a timber bonus and $796,604. in timber dues, a total of $1,47S... ;908. He claimed that that amount should properly be treated as cam- 'tal receipts, since it meant a M- tal receipts, since it meantrwawag: apgal of capital assets belonging to Northern Ontario Development "Investigation of the public ac- counts," Mr. Bowman proceeded, "discloses the unsoundness and ab- surdity of treating this $642,000 as capital expenditure. This amount is made up of grants to various inu- nicipalities from one end of the Pro- vince to the other. and a large per- centage of that $642,000 was spent, not on permanent highways, but up- on repair work. Yet we find the Treasurer charging up as a capital expenditure moneys spent on mak- ing repairs to public highways in the face of the fact that the total expenditure was little more than 50 per cent. of the total received from auto licenses." greater ability than that possessed by a Philadelphia lawyer." Mr. Bowman went on to say that the in- clusion of the expenditure on public buildings as current expenditure had always been made by the former Ad- ministration and by the first Trea- surer of the Whitney Government. The inclusion of the expenditure on highways as current expenditure was Justified by the fact that the Government had received a current revenue from automobile licenses of $1,214,000. The public accounts showed that an item of only about 882,000 had been set against this revenue in the current statement. "This I have no hesitation in de- nouncing in the severest terms, and to my mind his a case of bad book- keeping and there is no Justification for it," he declared. . Jr yin exiiiif Mr. Bowman then went on to ex- plain his reasons for saying that a deficit should have been shown this year instead of a surplus. The or- dinary receipts as reported by Mr. McGarry were $19,270,123. On the other side of the ledger was the ordinary expenditure, including the total amount for war expenditure (including the amount placed in the capital column by the Treas- urer) of $19,051,811. "In order to arrive at a true State- ment of the actual results ot this year's business, accordin to the manner in whichthe illrf//aA'tatt'Jf ments were prepared "in? the Liberal Administration and by Col, Matheson for some few years after he became Provincial Treasurer,, I add to that amount the expenditure on additions to public buildings t $475,146.','.6; also the amount g.'. pended on Northern Ontario devel- opment of $645,446.15, and the amount which appear) in the state- ment as having been spent on capi- tal account on highway improve- ment---$642,208.72, making a total of what I claim is current expendi- ture of $20,814,612.17, as against $19,270,123.71, or a deficit of $1,- 544,488.46. ' Statement Not Clear. "During the Liberal Administra- tion you could Understand the fin- ancial statement without dimculty, as well as the public accounts, but the statement as we have it pre- sented to us to-day takes even High Cost of Government. . Mr. Bowman turned his attent also to what he declared was _ Jtlarming increase in the coat "The Province is face to face with a. very large expenditure extending over a number ot years in connec- tion with the highways of this Pro- Vince," continued the Chief Liberal Whip. "I desire to impress upon the Governmen the importance of carrying on this work on a. sound business basis, with the proper or- ganization of competent men who have made unintelligent study ot what this Province requires under tho conditions we have to contend with, and a system that will give maximum efficiency and prevent waste and loss of much money. I trust that as we proceed in this direc- tion we will get better results than the Province trot in connection with the Toronto and Hamilton high.. way." - -V_._......u,y. uuuu a. policy Would have developed com- munity centres and would have been better than spending the money on roads which will go to pieces long before they can be of Service. " have seen in the North evi- dances of what time will prove to be the wastefulness of the policy carried on. Miles and miles of roads have been built where there are no settlers and where there will not be for many years. A sound, progres- sive policy, which undoubtedly would have produced permanent re- sults and developed many prosper- ous settlers, would have developed a policy not merely of road-build- ing, but would have evolved a pol- icy oC4evelopment of good town- ships which were proven to be first- class agricultural lands." The bet- ter policy would have been to select certain districts suitable for agri- cultural purposes in a comparative- ly small area. and of developing them, of building roads, of provid- ing drainage, of providing schools and churches. and of providing all things that are necessary to estab- lish , I"'0sperous community. Such Mr. Bowman severely criticized the policy of the Government as to Northern Ontario. The Government had had ample time since 1912 to carry out its policy. "The pro- gram that has been pursued in the North must force one to the con- clusion that the policy which has been adopted since 1912 has been a wasteful and improvident one," de- clared Mr. Bowman, "and as time goes on one that will prove not in the best interests of the North coun- try. Out of a total of something like $5,000,000 expended up to the present time. over $4,000,000 of that amount appears to have been spent upon roads exclusively, and the remainder on various other items and in connection with re- turned soldiers. A' Wastcful Policy. Mr. McGarry took exception to this criticism, pointing out that both sides of the House had agreed that it would be impossible to check up the accounts in the ordinary way, and an official of the Auditor'n Of- fice was appointed to go over them. That official had audited the ac- counts. Some of the money had been advanced to regimental offic- ers, and they had not accounted for it for some time afterward. Mr. Bowman replied that he was glad that he had raised the question. and had it cleared up by the Pro- vincial Treasurer. When receipts of that kind were taken as current receipts, Mt. Bow.. man thought he was Justified in claiming that 40 per cent. ot the money which was received from the total receipts from tim'ber dues and bonus-ms should be set against the ox- penditure on the development of that part of Ontario. After making all calculations. and even crediting the Government with the extra war ex- penditure. there was still a deficit of $200,000, he said. I The Liberal financial critic turned his attention next to the expenditi of the Organization of Resour Committee. He pointed out that the public accounts the Hrovincl Auditor had added a note statin that they had not been audited by that official. [TIE IFdirinee. Deficit of $300,000. 'eat under I contend Will give Prevent attention an of