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for a ' when H | ing was securing Mr. Sinclair took Mr. Henry se-- verely to task for reading, in the Address debate, as his own specch, a statement that, "quite apparently," had been prepared by some one in the Hydro Commission's office. Mr, Nixon Speaks. \ _ Opening his spsech, Mr. Nixon | mad> "a brief and final comment'" | on the argument which he had had ;witzh the Minister of Minss over the i power rights of the Georgian PBay [Ch.nal charter. Reminding Mr. Mc-- | Crea of the two distinct attitudes in the matter which he doclared he had taken, Mr. Nixon stat:d: "Whelsmer the first or origin@al charter sgiven back in 1894 granted full rights cr not, the fact remains that in 1912, under a subsequent Conservative Gov-- ernment, the Siftons were given everything in sight in the way of power rights. tions we speak as friends of Hydro. We are not enemies of Hydro, as our friends across the way would try to make cut. I say, who could be greater enemies of Hydro than tho:e who today refuse to meet the public de-- mand for an extension of the present Hydro investigatior? The sooner the probe is widened to incorporate all the matters which should be incor-- porated, the better for Hydro and every one concorned." fully expurgated from the printed copy of the Budget address of that year." Mr. Nixon went on to assert that it was the evident determination of the Government to drive to a finish the deliberations of the Legislature before the Easter holidays, "in spite of the fact that the matters still before this House are of the most vital impor-- tance and should receive the careful and unhurried consideration of all members." "It has been the record of this Government, and certainly repeated this year, that they meet the Legis-- lature unprepared for the work of the session and then flood the House. the last few days with estimates and the most important legislation, and force through the Budget and pass estimates totalling scores of millions without proper explanation or con-- sideration." Mr. Nixon felt that the Budget should have been brought down the day following the division on the debate on the reply to the Ad-- dress, instead of a week later. Accounting System Criticized. Asserting that the system of pre-- senting the public accounts this year rendered impossible any uniformity or any comparison with those of previous years, Mr. Nixon suggested that the Legislature should confer on Mr. Dun-- lop the title of "Doctor of Chirpprac-- tics," since he is undoubtedly "the world's greatest living exponent of the science and practice of adjustments." He recalled that the present sys-- tem of account--keeping had been stated by Mr. Dunlop to be that intro-- duced to the Westminster Parliament by Winston Curchill, when Chancellor ried out the financial policy as laid down by the previous Treasurer when he said, 'We had the money and we spent it; it was the natural thing to do'--" Mr. Nixon added that he well recalled this chservation, sinte they bad had "a lot of fun over it in the House," and also since "it was care-- "*Truly," he went on, "the Treas-- urer's statement is without parallel in disclosing a period of uncontrolled extravagance, a largely increased debt and new and increased taxation which has brought amazement and dismay to our psople. The position in which we find ourselves is only the natural resulit of the Governm>nt's policy in financial matters Tas Government had had seven fat years, but instead o_r _'laymg up corn in Eypt' it car-- The suggestion was made ironica,lly! to the Provincial Treasurer by Mr.} Mixon that he should have the Bud-- | get speech, when printed, bound "te-! tween covers of deep, do'eful blue, be-- : cause that is the effect it has pro-- | ducsed unon this fair Province." | Extravagance Charged. : "It is unnscessary for me to say," said Mr. Sinclair, "that when we ask for an inquiry into all these transac-- for a thorough inquiry. In 1928-- when Hon. Mr. Cooke had said "noth-- ing was going on" in the way of securing power--Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Taschereau, according to a news-- paper despatch read by the speaker, were talking about Beauharnois, and the former Ontario Premier was sug-- gesting Beauharnois as a potential source of future Ontario power, if that power were required. hearers that Mr. Churchll was left out of the present National Government formed by Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Baldwin. "I have strong recollec-- tion," he said, "that Mr. Snowden, the subsequent Chancellor, used muca stronger language in referring to Mr. Churchill and his financial methods." The system was described by Mr. Nixon as being "the absolute limit," where "the Treasurer adjusts or sub-- tracts from the statement of expendi-- ture $10 received from the sale of an old canoe, probably bought many years ago, and undoubtedly at the time charged to capital, and I ask the Treasurer now if this scheme has reached its limit or will it be finished next year when he has carried it to the logical conclusion, and we have only three lines in the statements of the public accounts?" Mr. Dunlop--Yes, if necessary it will be carried to a logical conclusion as enacted in our principles of book-- keeping. Mr. Nixon--Next year, then, you will say that a certain amount was spent on ordinary expenditures. with half a million more; a certain amount was spent on public expenditures, plus thirty millions more, and a cer-- tain amcunt on gross expenditures, plus forty--seven millions more. / of the "Not only at Guelph has this orgy of expenditure run riot," he charged, "'but all over the Province we find the same in the building cof roads, all of which is paid by capital expenditure: a million--dollar horse stable at the Exhibition; the million--and--ons--third-- dollar museum here on Bloor Street:; the four--million--dollar Civil Service palace known as the East Block: the proposed -- two--million--dollar Hydro palace, and the great Ontario Build-- ing in London. I say this orgy of ex-- penditure must be brought to a halt or the crushing weight of carrying the debt and the overhead in connection with the maintenance will be more than this Province can bear, if we have not already reached that con-- dition." das County, had spent so much time in the United States that "when he re-- turned to Ontario his grandiose schemes were hardly in accord with the staid and sober policy of the agricultural people of this Province." "Orgy of Expenditure." Mr. Nixon--Well, I think it should have gone into your public accou'its. Criticism of the appointment of Dr. Christie to the Presidency of Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, 'and of the new administrative and residence buildings there, was offered. Mr. Nixon felt that the ©$8,000--a --year" President, although a native of Dun-- The appointment of counsel to pre-- sent the Crown's cases at Assizes was criticized by the speaker as being un-- necessary expense. He recalled the strong feeling of Mr. Justice Raney that if Crown Attorneys were capable and competent a great portion of this work could be handled by them. | Party Speeches Alleged. "I recall that during the last Fed-- eral election, almost any evening, you could tune in your radio and hear our friend holding forth at some Conserva-- tive meeting, and, while I had not heard of him before as a prominent Crown Prosecutor, we find him receiv-- ing some $4,000 for his services last year. I would like to draw to your attention the report as it appeared in The Globe of April 18 last, when Mr. MacKay, in his address to the jury, is reported as saying: 'During his address to the jury, J. Keiller MacKay, Crown Prosecutor, in referring to the evidence that drinking had taken place prior to the alleged offense, said that if smoking cigarets and drinking beer and wine were any indication of moral looseness, then there were not many girls in Ontario who would have much character left" And I would like to ask the Attorney--General what he thinks of this arraignment of the young womanhood of the Province by his Special Crown Prosecutor, al-- though I am bound to admit, as I see life in the large cities, I am thankful that it is my privilege to bring up my small family under rural conditions." '"'There is one cass," he said, "that I wish to draw to your attention where one might fairly suggest that his employment in this respect was a reward for political services. This was of our friend J. Keiller MacKay." he continued. The Attorney--General--I am sure he did not make a statement of that kind. Replying to the statements at-- Exchequer, and reminded his Mar 18. Mr. Dunlop--No. Mr. Nixon--Why not? "We canvassed the market," replied Mr. Dunlop, "and there was not an institution prepared to put in a firm bid for such a large security as $25,-- |000,000;: and the market was such as to preclude the possibility of floating in that way. On top of that, the minds of the public of Ontario were so befuddled and bedevilled by the platform utterances of my honorable Ifriend from Brant and his co--leader that the situation was difficult for _ "Wasn't that an important part of the Beauharnois contract?" asked Mr. Sinclair. Dealing with Mr. Sinclair's point that Mr. Ferguson had gone to Que-- bec to confer with Mr. Taschereau on Beauharnois power, Mr. Henry de-- clared emphatically that the former Premier of Ontario "was not there for that purpose at all." He went to see Mr. Taschereau about . getting Quebec's sanction for export of pPWer to Ontario. "My honorable friends over the way," he added, "don't need to get sore and feel peeved over the situ-- ation. I have done them a real serv-- ice for I have brought them out in the cpen and have revealed to them what they have been following for some time." Coming to the question of Hydro and Mr. Sinclair's remarks, the Prime Minister declared that every one knew that all Hydro contracts had to be approved by the Government, but no Government with a capable Commis-- sion to administer affairs would be expected to take any part in the actual details of the contracts. It was quite withir the mark to say, he added, that any contract or purchase by Hydro was made of Hydro's own volition, but subject, of course, to Gov-- ernment approval. The Quebec Conference. At the outset of his remarks, the Prime Minister referred to his speech in which he had attempted a man--by-- man interrogation of the Liberal Op-- position group and its attitude with regard to Mr. Hepburn and the policies enunciated by him from the public platform. He had been criti-- cized for the speech, said Mr. Henry, even by some of his friends, but he was pleased with the remarkable effect it had. tributed to Colonel MacKay, he has told me that he did not make that satatement, and I have every belief that he did not. Mr. Dunlop Replies. The suggestion made by Mr. Nixon that a saving might be effected out of the $82,000 yearly paid to Crown counsel was the sole piece of con-- structive criticisim to have been of-- fered by speakers of the Opposition, remarked Mr. Dunlop, who followed Mr. Nixon. He added that this was surely a picayune item to pick upon out of an annual expenditure run-- ning into tens of millions. _ Plcased With Effect of Speech. '"Much has been said," Mr. Dunlop declared, "of the interest rate of the investment which this Province put out last January." He said the issue had not been put on the market with-- out a great deal of thought, and that financial experts had been consulted. Recalling that issues floated short-- ly before by New Brunswick and the City of Montreal had not been greatly cversubscribed, Mr. Dunlop said: "It was essential that any flotation this Province made should not become a drug on the bond market." He added that through the success of the On-- tari> issue, not only Dominion, but also other high--class bonds had gone up, and the rate of interest had con-- sequently fallen. | _ f 5 Mr. Nixon--Is it not customary for the Government to advertise a loan of this kind? Mr. Duniop--Yes. Mr. Nixon--Did you do it in this case? "Every dollar of the Provincial rev-- enue is shown in the public accounts; every dollar of the Provincial ex-- penditure is shown in the public ac-- counts," the Treasurer replied. The necessity of looking in different sec-- tions for refunds had been obviated by the newly aliopteci system of book-- keeping, he said. It was not pro-- posed to have any further surple-- mentary estimates this year, he de-- clared, stating that a saving in sup-- plementary estimates as compared with last year of $5,611,000 had been effected. This he attributed largely to the decrease in Hydro advances and the Public Works Department.