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FRIDAY,"-'*"FEB%UA; RY 4, 1921. som se ze ss~ --_--_.. # s olg wore 8 -"mE mlCmY Former Minister Waxes i t Wroth With Farmers' Sun and Timber Commission 97 "#*UNTRUE STATEMENTS i , es mm oiz c onlz zie ' Declares Honor of Hlmself! and Department is _ | at Stake i Rising on a question of privilege in the Ontario Legislature yesterday, Hon. (G. Howard Ferguson, Minister of Tands, Foresits and Mines in the Hearst Government, characterized as "the vilest i;sind of slander'" and | "a tissue of falsshoods" an article in | the current issue of The Farmers' Sun, declaring that thres letters taken from the files of the depart-- ment contained the promise of the ex--Minister to "give away 5,000 square miles of forest to the Span-- ish Pulp & Paper Co." In the vehemence of his denial of the allegations contained in the article Hon. Mr. Ferguson went on to attribute motives to Justices T:id-- dall and Latchford for certain com-- ments they had passed at timber probe hearings. Premier Drury in-- terrupted him and appealed to Mr. Speaker for a ruling as to whether it was permissible for him to assail members of the judiciary on the floor of the House. should Tell Commission. H. H. Dewart, K.C., interrupted with the opinion that the proper place for Mr. Ferguson's speech was before the Timber Commission. Although the ruling was to the effect that Hon. Mr. Ferguson had not the right to imputa wrong mo: tives to the commissioners, the Leader of the Conservative party de-- clared that his honor and the honor of the Legislature was at stake, and he did not propose to stand for "statements untrue and false in every respect, whether made by comrmissioners, newspapers or any-- body else." Hon. Mr. Ferguson said in part: "I desire to draw attention of the House to &n article appearing in The Farmers' Sun, February 2, with the caption 'Hon. G. Howard Fergu-- on Gives Away 5,000 Square Miles by Letter.'® This startling headline is a glaring falschood, without a shadow of foundation, and the ar-- ticle following is very largely a tis-- sue of falsehoods. These state-- ments can be accounted for only in one of two ways. They arse either made maliclously--and I do not like to attribute malice to a newspaper---- or they are made for political pur-- poses, with reckless indifference as to their truth. Outlines the Plan. ' '"Briefly, the facts are that ini 18§99 the Government of that day entered into an agreement with the : Spanish Pulp & Paper Col for '"a C continuous supply of wood for the purpose of its business' on condition that the company erect a pulp and paper mill, as set out in the agree-- ment. "Shortly after I took charge of the department the question of wood shortage was brought to my atten-- tion and was the subject of discus-- sion from time to time afterward. Along about 1917, when the de-- mands for pulp and paper enormouSs-- Ivy increased, the company informed me that they contemplated extension ., of their mills, involving substantial