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In plain language, the job before the ; eommittce is to pick the best meat rrom' the pair of measures, and from it fash-- | ion what Premier Ferguson expects to| be "the best Election Act that it is possible to scecure," and one, at least,' which will eliminate in future any repetition of the South Ottawa "wan-- dlering ballo:s" mess that had the House and the Province by the ears for the greater part of the 1928 session. | Dccision to call in a special com-- 'mittee was not reached without lengthy e@eebate, for Mr. Sinclair claimed that he Attorney--General's bill incorporated '~mly one of the eight recommendations made by the Royal Commission which 'inquired into the South Ottawa mix--up iipd Colonel Price vigorously contended. *A effect. that Chicf Election Clerk Allan Dymond, who had drawn up the' measure--an expoert, in other words-- | knew his business, and what was best 'o put in the bill, and what was best tm leave out. f "xot Very Courteous." | Some spirited clashes followed, with 'tr. Sinclair alleging that the Govern-- | ment had been "not very courteous" in | 4eir treatment of the Royal Commis-- | --ioners, after the time they had taken | i> frame their recommendations; with | Coloncl Price sticking to his guns and | ceprecating the suitability of several of ;! trae suggestions incorporated in Mr.! Sinclair's bill; with talk of "Baldy | Tobb" and empty ballot boxes and dis-- | honest appointees now and again ting-l 'ing the atmosphere; and with Premier' Worguson, anxious as he was to avoid | t+urning the argument into "aA bitter | party controversy," dGeclaring that under | ine Conservative Government, since | :905, there had been no election scan-- | «ais in Ontario, and at the same time recalling to the House the "White--Com-- tock celection that had been managed y Mr. Sinclair's friends at Ot.tawja." ! The Ontario Legislature yesterdayl sent to a special committee of the' YMouse, whose personnc!l will likely be | announced -- today, _ Attorney--General Price's and Libcral Leader Sinclair's bWills to amend the Election Act. PREMIER SUGGEST S THAT THEY CONFER After Colonel Price had moved sec-- , ond reading of his bill, and had sug--| rested that it be sont to committee | along with the Sinclair bill, the Lib-' eral Leader promptly took the floor,| and. after announcing the fact that hisl measiire contained every one of the Royal Commission recommendations, | dilated at length on the reason for each ! #nd all of them. | One one recommendation. stressing the nesd of competent people as Re-- turning Officers, Mr. Sinclair said: *'Any one who could make a worse mess than Scott made in South Ottawa can't be imagined. The same thing could happen anywhere else, if these Heturning Officer jobs were given to incompetent individuals." Frice's Respect for Both. Commission recommendations that no returning office should be in close proximity to a political club or organi-- zation, and that a Sheriff or some other «designated officer should perform the Returning Officer's duties, were also emphasized by Mr. Sinclair. Colonel Price took strong exception to the lat-- ter suggestion, maintaining that court officers had enough to do at the pres-- ent time. While he had the greatest 'respect for the wisdom of the Commis-- :sianerst. ?t tu;r'; same time he had equal respect for the judgment of the Chief (mection Clerk. _ _ _ rice and Sinclair Clash Over Respective Merits of Their Measures to Prevent Any Repetition of "Wandering Ballots M ess" wo E1Ection sicLs MWG OE BILS _| NDER CONSIDERATION | |NTO LEGISLATURE Y HOUSE COMMITTEE y rs 4d 4y-- Feéruqry-- 7Zj At another juncture, when the At-- torney--General said that there had been dishonest appointees under the _ Federal Election Act, and named "Baldy . _of Saskatchewan" in this connection, . Mr. Sinclair shouted: "Go on. Make 'this action as political as you can, and 'gstart all over again." 1 Once Mr. Sinchair had moved second / reading to his bfll, the Prime Minister ' got into the picture. 'The Liberal Leader, he said. had made a lengthy | argument about how one might illegally --canmtrol a single ballot during an elec-- tion. Perhaps, said he. Mr. Sinclair H The outstanding feature of the Southgment to the Municipal Act which al-- Ottawa situation. he claimed, was that,!ows for the Contrcllership by--election the Judges found no evidence of crimi-§ in Toronto. This went through smooth-- mnal act or intent--simply negligence,| ly without discussion and now awaits fThe Prime Minister expressed himself) third reading. The committee also pass-- p»s doubting the wisdom (as suggested ed the Government amendment to the by Mr. Sinclair) of allowing any otflcer'P\lblic Service Act and the bill to pre-- the right of opening el;cition blc;xes; vent fraud in the sale of Alberta coal. without some one first making applica--, Extend Mai 1 3 tion to the courts. The public, he said,| "*, °20 Ga?or"iignmélr'xtasrles SeCrea o l y We c avedned h.: mveuelihentinin Mimstexg of Mines, who isn't homs from Clerk of the Crown in Chancety WemP) nrormuda yet, Premier Ferguson intro-- §3 open sealed boxes. HMe belleved (had duced an amendment to the Municipal Mr. Sinclair was sincere in trying to Franchise Act. This has to do with the prevent election illegalities, anid tl%el natural gas s tlAtion. Since netural ga§ flovernment Wwas qMle "It was advis] may be combined with artificial gas. ®evoid such occurrences. o e I, s:i the question aross as to the rights of able, he considered, that ."l'e two -21"" various companies to put mains through «hould go before da tl?g'teméol:r?g m;fi::: municipalities. Natural gas companies pf ns Holse lain should get together DaAve that right by vote of the munici-- and Mr.f Sinc ';l.fe matter 8 | pality, ar.d this extends the same right and confer on __________.________' for the carrying in mains of artificial ) gas or a mixture of the two. No hard-- ;ship is worked on the municipalities, 'said the Premier, because the question of the laying of mains has still to be | decided by a vote cf the people. was recalling "the White--Comstock election, managed by his friends in Ot-- tawa, or perhaps he was remembering West Hastings and other places." Kimply NMegligence. , NATURAL GAS QuEsti0N Then the legislative machinery start-- ¢a working on the proposals brought in last week, and when it was stopped for the day six bills had been given second reading and three had been ap-- proved by the House in Committee. \__Among the measures reported by the ; committee was the "emergency'" amend-- [ ment to the Municipal Act which al-- Mows for the Contrcllership by--election | in Toronto. This went through smooth-- ily without discussion and now awaits third reading. The committee also pass-- ed the Government amendment to the 'Pubuc Service Act and the bill to pre-- vent fraud in the sale of Alberta coal Extend Gas Main Rights. An amendment to the Assessment Act, brought in by Hon. William Fin-- layscon, provides for a reduction of taxation on property vacated three months or over, cnly becausse of ex-- treme poverty or sickness It was found that owners of summer resorts claimed a reduction undsr the word-- ing of the old "three months or over" section of the act. The act intended no such reduction, said the Minister, for people who own summer cottages have enovugh money to pay the taxes on such "luxuries." & Cheaper Title--Searching. With the intention of simplifying the ssarching of titles of real estate, and putting it on a l°ss costly basis, the Governinment introeduced a bill en-- titled, "An act to facilitate the inves-- tigation of titles of real estate." This bill necessitates a changs in the Reg-- istry Act, and so such an amendment was also brought in. Attorney--General Price, introducing these measures, said in part: ho ol tak A "It is aimed not to have this act come into force until one year after the pass-- ing thereof, so as to give people plenty of opportunity to adjust themselves to the prospective change. The passing of this law necessitates some changes in the Registry Act, in order to further simplify the searching of titles. The register is now encumbered by entries of discharges of mortgages, lis pendens, partial discharges of mortgages, me-- chanics' liens, judgments and orders and other similar registrations which only encumber the abstract and increase the entries. © K¥3 e on . sroie *""The proposed bill to facilitate the investigation of titles limits the investi-- gation of titles to a forty--year period. It has been felt that the forty--year per-- iod should give an indefeasible title to an owner, and if any records are clear for that period no person should be re-- quired to show title or examine records during the pericd in which, by the operation of other statutes, claims would be outlawed unless enforced by ordinary actions. k s ® _ "It is proposed that within the forty-- year period, once a mortgage has been discharged and once a mechanic's lien has run its time according to the act, that the Registrar of Deeds will have the power to draw a line in red ink through all such entries." & An amendment to the Niagara Parks Act, enlarging the powers of the Com-- mission so that it may take part in border bridge projects, was introduced by Hon. George S. Henry. Acting for Hon. Charles McCrea, Minister of Mines, who isn't hom>z from Bermuda yet, Premier Ferguson intro-- duced an amendment to the Municipal Franchise Act. This has to do with the natural gas situation. Since natural gas Price Introduces Measure to Simplify Searching of Titles A ilood ofi Government and private bills was loosed in the Ontario Legis-- lature yesterday afternoon. For an hour the members were busy popping up to '"move" new measures into action.