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urer. There were two options which| Legislature could not get information faced the Treasurer: less expenditurs| on Hydro to which it was entitled. or more taxation. -- Mr. . Sinclair| Although the law required the Com-- thought that the latter would be the| mission to make a report to the Leg-- more likely. islature before March 1 of each year, G it had been March 19 before the re-- evernment Payroil. port was tabled, and it would not be Under expenditures, Mr. Sinclair| in Printed form for members Un urged a cutting down in travléll'mg! several weeks after the session. Even expenditiires. "We paid $890,550 for in the report there was not sufficient travelling last yoar," said Mr. Sinclair. Mformation, "How _ do we know, "This was a good aid to the railways. a§ked Mr. Sinclair, "the salaries and This item could very well be looked! \\'ages paid, the cost of opergt.ion of into with a view to saving. 'There is works and what the audiwrszreport room for reduction, too, in the amount {a's; We do not know andl re nol for salaries This item provides ix'ncnded to k*now. We fhoud Qmov; nearly $10,000,000 for thoe working |power pu: ct(lxs., of t;l)rodu'.,tio'?d andt of for the Government, It is a largs liigtripurion ghno of ® itemized cost 0 i tan L mneont,. it is & IJ2"6S |qistribution and of wages. Under expenditures, Mr. Slnclair! urged a cutting down in travelling expenditires. '"We paid $890,550 for;} travelling last year," said Mr. Sinclair., "This was a good aid to the railways.. This item could very well be looked!| into with a view to saving. There is room for reduction, too, in the amount for salaries. This item provides nearly $10,000,000 for thoe working for the Government. It is a large payroll. A _ $57,000,000 _ busine s should not require $10,000,000 to carry it on." Charging that the Government was setting itself above the Legislature, Mr. Sinclair prceissted againt the ap-- propriation of money by spsecial war-- rant. "Last year spscial warrants amcunted to $8,981,108¢," he said. Mr. Dunlop--About two--thirds of that was for Northern dovelopment. Mr. Sinclair--Why should not House vote it? It is departing from sound British principlé of veting penditures by the psecople's represe tives. Pariicula~ly Mr. Sinclair attacked the us> of speciar warrants for the cost of the Ontarit> Government build-- ing in London. Under the list of spe-- clal warrants $1,092,066 was at-- tributed to "miscellanesu«." "It is a highly improper procedure and a departure from British practics. No wonder there is increased expendi-- ture and a deficit," ho declared. Election--Time Advantage. The new method of bookkeeping in-- troduced by th> Government was to show & smaller total of figures than actualiy exists, said Mr. Sinclair. "There is no advantage to the pubjic in this. The only aavantagse is to the Government at clection time," he af-- firmed -- "County and township repay-- ments on roads, mothers' allowances, and old--age pensions ars left out. Between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000 coal-- lected from taxpayers are not included in the revenue.* The spsaker outlined the methcd of collecticn as laid down by statutes of revenue under these headings. By these means, he con-- tinued, taxes were raised in mu-- nicipalities by the Government, but the Gvernment kept its own figures down. The new method, he thought, was improper and ilirgal. was improper and ilicgal. ° _' such as theatre and amusement tax. OP?ning his attack on the Govern--! A motro--car driver paid three taxes. ment's Hydro policy, Mr. Sinclair do-- Stock transfers were taxed by both clared that the Conservative criticism| the Province and the Dominion; ln-' of the Liberal platform a few days| comss were taxed by the municipali--. ago had been misdirected. What G.) ties and the Dominion. Municipal H. Challies (Conservative, Dundas)| taxation should be for municipal had attacked as the Liberal piatform | services, and a similar principle should had not been the Liberal platform | apply to the Provincial and Dominion at all. The arbitrary powers granted| fields, declared Mr. Sinclair, in urging the Commission were without par-- | & conference. "There may have to be allel in the British Empiro., He do--| a sharing of taxes collected from clared that the Commission should | some sources," he said, "but one soutce popularize public ownership without | should be taxed only ones. Until this such tyrannical powers. The c;,m_i .s done the hit--or--miss method will mission, by d'ctation to users as to| continue,. The taxpayvers want an ef-- how thsy shall wirs their homes, en--| fort made to reduce taxation. It can hanced prices, and a {farmer vir--| bo done by this survey. Will the Gov-- tually had to mortzage his home for ernment join in the sugg»stion? | I 20 years if he took Hydro. The Powsr| »ccorded them supvoort in the debate Commission Act was now so intricate| in regard |to agriculture. Let the and so filled with cross--referen>ses tm" Government join in this suggestion of not 10 per cent. of the members of| a tax survevy and make this session the Legislature could intellizontly in--| °" epoch--making on for the peop'c. terporet it, said Mr. Sinclair. \Grave Situation. He complained strenuousiy that the n the the The Commission, he complained, re-- | ported what it wanted. Some of the' Commission's powers were enormous,. said Mr. Sinclair, who read off a long list of these powers, including unlimited power of expropriation, monspoly of supplies and installations, exemption from liability for acts of inspectors, etc. Mr. Sinclair then attacked the Government on what he called "Lursp Sum Itoms." The total under this heading was $11,250,351 in the De-- partments of Lands and Forests, \Northern Development, Public Works, Pub'ic Highways, and other depart-- %mcnts. Election--Year Wages. "This is a staggering sum," he de-- clared. "The Ministers cannot know that it is honesitly spent. They have to depsnd on inspectors and fore-- mon. Ounly the payrolls are sent in, and the cheques are sent to the man who sends them in. Names could be sent in in excess of ths number of mon actually working and the addi-- tional cheques cashed by the fore-- meon." In the Northern development expenditures last year $4,556,398 were in pay lists of lump sums. '"This was spent in wages in election year--the largest ever spent in any one year," he added. G*! Mr. Sinclair concluded his address by urging on the Government to take seops for a conference between mu-- nicipalitiss, the Province and the Fedoral Government to separate the ficlds of taxation for each. The Gov-- ernmont called taxation under several names, such as fees, suc_cession duties, MEGEE LE NE : EnOPCOTE OBR ~ ME NVAE Eon PCm on emiidy it ealecal: ctz2., but thess sources of revenue were taxes neverthsless. There was also double taxation in many instances, After congratulating the Provincial Treasurer on the "fair, frank and able presentation of his Budget," Mr. Nixon added that the situation in th> Province's finances was grave. "To begin with, we have the Public Accounts prosented under an entirely changed systom, & policy agreed upon by the Government bafore the pres-- ent -- Treasurer took offite. This changed system I want to condemn as strongly and emphatically as lles in my power. This Government is without an equal in all history in being able, when the occasion re-- quires, to turn up an ace in the hole, even if they have to first slip it out of their coatsleeve, as they did on this occasion. So we have before us' today a Public Accounts volume in which there is recorded the expeondi--| turs in ordinary of the staggering 'sum of $72,000,000, and the taking mi SS . T Aene conscatrnt arcoh 29 taxes from the people of more than $71,000,000, but by a system of sub-- traction of receipts from expenditures the final statement is so modified and changed that the expenditure ap-- pears as $58,000,000. In other words, the expenditures of some $14,000,000 is hidden and concealed. Now, Mr. Speaker, I propose to tell you the real reason why. The expenditures of this Government have risen to such amaz-- ing figures that even they have be-- come alarmed. They saw themselves facing as surely as fate an ordinary annual expenditure of $100,000,000 before the next election, and this makeshift, this subterfuge, is resorted to in order to fool the people and hide the true facts. s "Our friends, the Liberals, have brought in an amendment to the Budget motion, as is their right and first chance, and the rules allow only one amendment in this case. Were this not so I would move an amend-- ment drawing this matter to your at-- tention, Mr. Speaker, pointing out the concealment of $14.000,000 for the motive as I have outlined. d i Ccus. "The Government may use a mythi-- cal surplus to pay on a mythical sink-- ing fund, but when the Trgasurer clazims that if they hadn't done so & deficit would be avoided, it is a little toco thin. The deficit is the unfavor-- able balance between ordinary receipts and ordinary expenditures, and as not one dollar of ordinary revenue was used to meet the sinking fund, I would ask the Treasurer, if he cares to explain." Liquor Sales and Deficit. "Now, we have a deficit of $650,000 admitted, and are budgeting for a deficit next year of $2,670,000, and the only thing that prevents it from 'beg':s m C IUCD :0 00 dne emew (4209 L a deficit of $6,000,000 in 1931 is the pious hope of the Treasurer that the dear people of Ontario, whose interests and well--being it is his sworn dutg to safeguard and protect, may spend in liquor encugh more millions of dol-- lars that the extra profit may reach the sum of $2,500,000 or a total profit of $10,000,000. Thus we have it plain-- ly demonstrated how liquor pays the way for this Government. The thin veneer of Government control is final-- ly dropped in a frantic scramble for more profits from Government sale. The people simply must buy at least $65,000,000 ef liquor this year or the Treasurer's Budget forecast will be far ernment. This House, some few years ago, passed a resolution calling on the Dominicn Government to ease off on the excise tax, which is some $9 to $10 per gallon on liquor. The Gov-- etnment at Ottawa at that time, un« fortunately, werse not sympath»tic to-- ward my honorable friends, and the roesolution dGid not receive favorable consideration. How different it is to-- day with a Government there anx-- ious to pay for services rendered. I'm sure they would be glad to surrender the greater part of this tax that this Government might make more profits from liquor sales, and I would serious-- ly point out that, to be consistent, the Government should draw this resolution to the attention of Mr. Bennett. WMULU® "I would lik» at this point to make a constructive suggestion to the Gov-- "The Public Accounts again show a nice healthy increass in the debt from $425,742,988 in 1929 to $471,621,352 in 1930, an increase of $45,873,361 in one year, and again, in this case the figures don't tell one--half the story. The Government some years ago discovered a subterfuge by which the real dobt of the Province could be hidden iust as they discovered last year how the ordinary expenditures could4 be hidden, and they evolved the scheme by which such orzanizations as T. & N.O. Commission, Hydro-- Electrizs Commission, and Niagara Falls Parks Commission should issus their cwn bonds to be guarantsed by the Government. We find on Page 51, Public Accounts, that this indirect debt has now reacshed the alarming total of $82,538,738.74. . _ e "I respectfully submit that the $2,-- 000,000 of the Parks Comm'ssion, the $6,000,000 of the T. & N.O. and A larze portion of the $57,000,000 of the Hydro--Electric indirect deobt is an actual fact as much a part of the dire:t debt of the Provin:e as any