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| --*"*We will justify every contract en-- | tered into with regard to Hydro to | take care of the needs of the people | of this Province," he pledged. "My {concern is for Hydro. I live it in my 'life and actions, which is more than | can be said for those across the way | and of their Leader who is outside." |__Mr. Henry charged, amid Conserva-- | tive enthusiasm, that the effort "to |get the Hydro Commission" which had persisted all through the life of Beck, even obtained at the present ;timc; pledged himself before he was 'through with the debate to show l"how closely the Opposition is iden-- | tified with it," and severely arraigned Messrs. Sinclair and Nixon for their critical references to Messrs. Cooke, Maguire and Meighen, the prosent Hyaro Commissioners. Commissioners Commended. | Dubbing the demands of the Sin-- ; clair--MceQuibban amendiment "a fish-- | ing expedition, pure and simple," the | Prime Minister declared, that no such | fishing expedition would be tolerated: ; that, on the other hand, the Govern-- | ment would give the Opposition "the 'time of their lives in the House," and : would expect them to come forward | and repeat all they had been saying | about Hydro affairs "on the hustings." | ----*"*We will justify every econtract en-- "They are mer of ability, of good | repute and known to have a grasp| of the power situation," said the Pre-- ; muer, "and yet you say we ought to examine every contract made in the last few years. If we cannot have faith and confidence in the men we ; appoint to these positions who will weo | get to serve? No business is ever| carmied im by advertising everything | you do in the marketplace. It never | can be. If we cannot have confi-- ; dence in the men that we appoint to | our Commission without all theiri affairs having to be continually in-- / vestigated, no man with any standing would ever take a position from us at all." BELLIGERENT TONE MARKS ADDRESS Colonel Carmichael Is Re-- ferred to in Terms of Criticism -- Attacks on Beck Recalled--Present Commissioners Praised and Raising of Suspi-- cions Deprecated rime Minister Chal--| lenges Critics to Showi Any Instance of Politi--| cal Interference With Hydro Affairs--Affirms Every Contract Entered: Will Be Justified--Hits Back at Critics Explaining why Mr. Maguire had held a place on the Commission, the Premier asserted: -- "For the rea-- son that he has been _ one of the outstanding supporters of Hydro when he was a Liberal, as well as now, when he is supposed to be was being carried on by the Commis-- sion. Then, who more fitting than Mr. Magrath, who sorved for five years, served for longer than he had undertaken at the start, a man of cutstanding *ability, a man with a national reputation, a man of ex-- perience in handling big affairs? It was logical he be asked to carry on as long as he would. On retirement Mr. Cooke received the appointment." |_ Coming to the quesiion of Hydro, | Premier Henry said: "There has been it.hraugh all the history of Hydro operation for the last twenty--five 'years or better on the part of the | Libsrals who are in this Housse--Lib-- |erals who are throughout the Prov-- ; ince--an effort put up to make it appear | to the public generally that there was | something sinister about the situation; | that it was political: that we had Iprivate members of the Government sitting on the Commission, and that it was generally a political machine. | _ "My honorable friend criticizes the | Chairman of the Commission--a man |who, while he has a seat in the ;House. is a supporter of this Govern-- ; ment, a member of the Government, and has been known as a Conserva-- tive from his own county during | twenty--odd years, practically -- every time returned by acclamation b>cause he is so highly respected. The citi-- zens recognize in him a man of out-- standing ability and one they are broud to have as their representative. "It is twelve years since I sat in the left--hand corner of this House, in the closing hours of the session-- twelve years ago, in 1920--nominated him as a member of the committes to '"When we came into office in 1923, it was the logical thing for him to be placed on the board as Government representative on the Commission. It is true, Sir Adam Beck continued with us, but it was known even at that time that his powers were waning and that he had given pretty well all of himself during his active years as Chairman of the Commission and that it was necessary to have some one else coming along as a student of Hydro, sitting with the Govern-- mentLand advising as to the work that study the dé-{'_s'-lé>.;)x;1~er;£.'ofv vl:i.;dro, ;md from that time forward he has been a& consistent student of Hydro in all its work. Appointment Defended. The Premier will continue his specch tomorrow when the debate is resumsd. Premicr Henry Speaks. With & belligerent attitude, quite foreign to his platform campaigning, except on rare occasions, the Prime Minister flung challenges and wagers around him with abandon, and, by way of direct roeply to Hon. Mr. Nixon's demand for all Hydro con-- tracts in pamphlet form ("So that we can study them and debate them here"), he snapped out the informa-- tion that the Opposition would have the opportunity, he hoped, to debate the $50,000 Aird--Madawaska payment (now before the Royal Commission and sub--judice as far as the Loegis-- lature is concerned) before the pres-- ent session ended, inasmuch as he had asked the Commissiomer to so hurry up his report on that point as to permit its presentation to thcec House. Thrust at The Gilobe. Few critics of Hydro--as ho termed them--escaped the impaling pin of the Premier's attack. 'The Gloe-- which he termed "the little old lady of Melinda Street"--was, like Lady Macbeth, "walking in her sleep" on the Hydro situation. Going back as far as the Drury Government days, he charged that Colonel Dougal Car-- michael had been put on the Hydro "And theon," said he, with a sig-- nificant wave of his hand at Mr. Nixon, "you dare to talk of the politi-- cal aspest of the Hydro Commission as at present constituted." Commission because he was "a politi-- cal hack" and in spits of the fact that he know nothing of Hrdr>. Con-- troller Ramsd>n had been put there for practically the sams purpose-- to thwart the views of Sir Adam Beck. Feb.17. _ "Then I was very proud to be able 'to secure a man like the Right Hon. |Arthur Meighen, now Senator Meigh-- 'en. I am satisfied that, ocutside poli-- 'tics, even among the Liberals of this 'Province, what they themselves have 'thought was, 'Henry has done a good 'stroke of business when he has se-- cured Meighen for the Commission.' The less they say in criticism of Mr. Meceighen the better for themselves, 'because the people of this Province 'are banked behind him as a Commis-- sloner. When it becomes necessary, 'when Senator Meighen finds that his time at Ottawa prevents him serving Hydro, he will be the first man to hand in his resignation. NCE friendly to the Government. He was appointed to the Commission because he was a representative of the mu-- nicipality, and has been an outstand-- ing leader and lieutenant under Sir Adam Beck during all the trying time they had to carry on with continued opposition. Proud of Senator Meighen. "There is a 10% of talk about Hydro being political. What has my honor-- able friend to say? What happened in his own time What did he do with the Hydro Commission when they were in office? What did Colonel Car-- michael do?--a man who never heard of Hydro, sitting, it is true, with the Government, as the statute required:; a man of no experience in Hydro; no training; merely put there because he was a political hack to represent the party on the Commission." _ __Mr. Nixon--You may say the same thing of Mr. Cooke. '"No," replied the Premier. '"You may not say the same thing of Mr.! Cooke, for he served for twenty years | and made it his life's work. Who else j did they bring in? Controller Rams-- ; den. Was he put in because he was | a Tory? Did you ever hear of him as | a Tory? Why was he put there? To | thwart the views of Sir Adam Beck, leader of the Commission. I may not have any authority to make this state-- ment, but it is my conviction that the Prime Minister of the day would have discharged Sir Adam Beck if he had dared. So much for the political aspect." Mr. Nixon--Why don't you ask him? Premier Henry--Would I get all from you that I asked if I got you into my room? You never even come round to see me. At another juncture the Premier stated that, despite the efforts of the Ontarino Government in uressinz for Proceeding, he declared that the party which she (the little old lady) had supported for eighty--odd years "has gone into the Valley of Humili-- ation, as its Leader says." Raising the question of the $125,-- 000 paid to John Aird Jr., the Pre-- mier declared that there was no evi-- dence that a dollar of Beauharnois money had ever reached the Conser-- vative Party in the Province or any-- where else. While the Premier was commenting upon the deep waterway, Mr. Sinclair made a statement to the effect that i'VIr. Maguire was not very strong on acts. "There is a little old lady down on Melinda Street who is very much concerned about this I think she is very much like Lady Macbeth, walk-- ing in 'her sleep. I think," further asserted the speaker in referring to editorials which had been written, "that the old lady down on Melinda Street is walking in her sleep." Government Voice--King Street. Premier Henry--No. This is on Melinda Strcet. Premier Henry--Well, I think he knows what he is talking about. He may be misquoted like my honorable friend when he does not know it. The Premier--Not a word of evi-- dence. Says Accounting Was Given. Mr. Henry maintained that there was procf that the particular pay-- ment of $1253,000 had been accounted g;rbogxcept possibly for a matter of The Premier continued: "I do not see what is wrong with Mr. Maguire making public speeches. He has been an outstanding exponent of Hydro de-- velopment." Opposition Voice -- There is evi-- dence. Mr. Nixon--I have never been in-- vited. Premier Henry--I have a public of-- fice and any one in this Province is welcome to come in any time.