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% # E s FRIDAY, _MARCH 10. _ IS NOT HIS CONCERN, _ BUT IS UP TO HOUSE Members May Call for In-- | e e * e Consulted With Drury. vestigation if They Wish cce t f 'When the information came to _If Anyone '3 Found me 1 communicated it immediately C l bl L o ' C }n tho1 };_rm\e f\lnustor, and I then u pa e Le 'ature an earnec rom him that he had al-- ' u. 81 ready, as was his duty, inquired into Pu'u'h Morc Severely the matter sufficiently to satisfy him-- & self that no member of the Cabinet Than O.T.A. Provldes had been implicated in the irregulari-- ties After that I took no further e n n | action. N'CKLED'FFERS .' '"On this statement of facts the question is whether it was my duty FROM M'N'STER as Attorney--General, to have started a police investigation of the conduct feerbiren wrieennie omm ns | {»f fellow--members of the House. and s * hen. if the facts, as they might be After further consldel'ation of its roporl(\d" ])} the pOliC(,', appear(\d to duties and responsgibilities in con-- J'qstif,v prosecutions, to have given a nection with the incident of "the last hheR "ar fhit "Porenta' boriee . Cdurl night party" of the 1921 Legislature, against the members concerned. _ I the Provincial Government has do not conceive that to have hbeen placed upon the House the respon-- my duty. sibility of sgaying whether there shall Act of Impertinence. or shall not be an investigation. '"The 'i\'t?r']"'F'('}'fllt"'al is "]k(: Se"'f vant, not of the Government, but o In a stafitement to the Legislature the House, and for him, without the yesterday, Attorney--General Raney authprity of the HMHouse, to start an announced the view that for the At-- inq%u'ytmt.ro l;zhargelb;l respecti)ng Lh%' s conduct o onorable members o torney"General to have started an in-- the House under circumstances -- as quiry "would have been, in my view, above indicated would have been, in 'an impertinence and discourtesy to g'_y "'etW- an tllmp;_'--{"tifle"(led and -- a | iscourtesy to the House and against the House a{td against Parliamen--| Parliamentary practice. tary practice." The statement indi-- _ "It has been pointed out that the cated the jurisadiction of the House time for prosecution under the On-- in the matter and pointed out that f:'llflo Temperance' Act has now apsed, but the time has not elapsed although the time for prosecution for action by this House, and if thi under the O.T.A. had elapsed the fare nas.in Airomt ie ioi time had not elapsed for action b ud 1+ saeh imnauiys ces Tonypasnt the House Y¥ and if such inquiry were to result | * in a finding of improper conduct. Nickle Is Critical, agallnsl members of this House, it | 4 hee At 5 wo be withi n r Outstanding is a brief discussion Ho:.lx%((i' 1'; ;',i}g,'.'ge'h" pOV}eF' of the e c penalties on the which followed the statement of the offending members compared with Attorney--General on the matter was which the appropriate penalties of tChen:ertuCtiis\m gmfer'r?l; I'.{I\icllx(lie, Kt-C-- the Ontario Temperance Act are o rvative er 1for ngston. insignificant." He was not at all prepared to adrait, | € he said, that the Attorney--General sorry He Missed It? was absolved f.rom all responsibility _Bam Clarke, Liberal member for by reason of his position. [ »*tor ls 4 T L4 .. * is . \ Northumberland, who missed the Mr,. Nickle said: He owed a debate of Tuesday when th subject duty to this Legislature, to the Prov-- was prret'ipiiut;d irwt\o 'p:.'oce'pedibnu Jpl(,\ ince, to those who want law enforce-- | | Hon. Thomas Crawford, f p'roceg:dc(] ment, and to those eternal principles 'to belittle last year's little party of upon which the Prime Minister has eight or ten members, with, dpor- laid such mn;*»hasisi tAlmt it H'jfll')("l'* hap's. two bottles of liquor, by com-- ance advance was to be made it was paring it to what had gone on in to be made by due enforcement of the House a number of years ago. []\pA law,. and Ahie-; (h)".:\r'hnwnt set HMe said that he, personally, was not tl"ten-. faces rigidly against any eva-- at th;a party, but he thought prob-- sion." ably he would have been there had AF. Raney's Statchiont he known "there was something do-- @ w« & OX 3 icl C . % ing." < The Attornecy--General's atatement ""What an awful blast, what an was as follows: } awful explosion," exclaimed Mr. "Information of alleged irregulari--| . Clarke, "has taken place after 30 ties at the Parliament Buildings on years. Within 10, 15, 20 years --I the last night of the last session of have been here 24--there was more the Legislature came to me about liquor consumed in this building in two monl];; :Ulv;' the close U{ Jhg one day than there has been con-- session. 1e information inciud »C sumed all the last year. the .all('zation that members of .""' '"Why, Mr.: Speaker," he proceed-- Legislature had been the chief aciors ed, "It was a common thing for a in the affair and that they and others fjar in this House® It was a CO';nmon had' ha}%_':'mr('l had consumed liquor in thing for emplovyees of the Govern-- thifi Lnu CCone.. _: .__ o attanrirm n ment to sell liquor and take money [ desire to draw the attontion of h sy _ y ; P o P art on rnicret mvenr P Hrpradt for it. It was a common thing for the House to certain considerations Garsa in this House to come into which have a bearing D'il my rola-- o Nes l] Ler 1,; 1d( c omietimss > Haye tions to this incident and to submit P es n o e e nilks ""'f.' Cdth my responsibilittles in the matter to | dllrlt'\l") in f"lQ"'é; t 'f""fl "':"' 't I ao the judgment of the House. 'These a 'Y '}'E' ';;'2{53& tl""o'\:(?" r{?\? imnof-- siderations are as follows: not say that was & t c ong . gonsideratio®n able friend imade out that things ar? Maiter for Legislature. different. It is against the 1aw]. 1 v A 5 . i & £ 7 ay d & 5 inst the law. "(1) This Legislature is the highest | would say it was against the ; court in Ontario, and is not only the | There were no'llceu?eo held by U'IO:P | custodian of its own honor, but hast. people who were selhpg 11q1lxo; _o complete jui@sdiction over its own | the mqmberx at that time. 1ave \ members. | taken it myself, so I know whereof "(2) The offense, if one was com-- I speak. _ § a mitted, was committed during hours "The member for §ovthwnst Tor-- | when the Legislature was in session | onto (Hon. Mr. Crawtord)". who was | and when the duty of members was | Speaker in the old days," went on to be in their places in the House. Mr. Clarke, "was not blind, and could "(3) Morcover the offense, if offense see. It was no use for him to make there was, was'('ommitt;(ll within the out that 'this is a terrible thing tha.tt M actual precinc# of the House. has got to be blotted out on accoun "(4) The information thatl caimett'o of the members of this housei.' me, while it pointed strongly in t Ol I am sorry, as a member of this direction of an offense against the House that it took place where it Ontario Temperance Act, would not \ did, because there is not a member itself have been sufficient to secure a of this House who is held in higher conviction. . | regard on all sides than the Honor-- * able Minister, the Treasurer of this , t \ Province. ns innatt n s