The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Theft, Day-Padding In Northern Work Charged by M.P.P. Hutchinson Blames Politi-- cal Patronage for Con-- ditions on _R elief Projects and Promises to Supply Names HEPBURN IS BARRED IN HOUSE, IS CLAIM Assorting that theoft, padding of pay-- rolls and incompetence were rife on relief projects in Northern Ontario, Earl Hutchinscn, the sole Labor mem-- ber in the Logisiature, yesterday start-- led the mombers with his charges, and roused the ire of Hon. William Finlayson, Minister of Lands and Forests. After a warm clash with the Minister, the Kenora mmber, who refused t»> retract, proemised to pro-- vide names of those involved, and the details of the casos he mentioned. Political patronage and political machinery were rosponsible for the state of affairs, he stated, and men were given positions without regard t> their qualifications. The whole sys-- tem of the "dols" and "slave wages" paid to the men on the trans--Canada highway were sapping the morale of those who were unfortunate en~ugh to have to accopt them, he said. Scores Hepburn and Policies. Mr. HMutchinson launched into his charges of maladministraticn of re-- lief by stating that the country Was suffering too much from partyism and patronage. "In some instances the guilty care-- -- fuliy aid a higher--up to help himself and then claim and secure immunity through fear of the resulting scan-- dal that exposure to public gaz> of the true situation would cause," he seid. "Thefts of timber are not rare, theits of aynamite have been known as well as of other supplies; padding of payrolls and just plain incom-- | petence make up hug* Governmental | budgets. Hon. Leopold Macaulay, Minister of Highways, who followed Mr. Hutchin-- son, spent about five minutes of his time on matters affecting his depart-- ment. About ten minutes were spent on dealing with the general Provincial situation, and the remainder of an hour was used by the Minister in as-- sailing Mitchell F. Hepburn, Ontario Liberal Leader, and his pollcies. o D. M. Ross (Progressive, Oxford South), who cpened the debate, favor-- ed reducing the number of Cabinet | Ministers to seven, ard the number} of Provincial constituencies to 82, using the same beundaries as the Federal ridings, while C. R. Harrison | (Conservative, -- Nipissing) refuted charges of maladministration of relief in the North country. s | Cites Cases as Proof. | _"Four instanct, when you see & | | timekeeper who has been successively | \ dismissed from the Customs Depart--| mont, the Postoffice and the Liquor Control Board for thefi and he is able to retain his job and the fore-- man who reported his irregularities is dropped out, and in another case an inspector refus>s to sign departmen-- tal reports which were not in accord with the facts, and he is dismisseda without trial or investigation; when you find that a man who discovered a shortage in accounts and was able to prove who took the money . was |dismissed from the service, and the |guilty retained in the service, then I say there is something rotten in On-- tario," said Mr. Hutchinson. | _ At tkis point Hon. William Finlay-- |\ son, Minister of Lands and Forests, rcs» to his feet, demanding that tmmes and particulars be given. \ fhese were promised, and Mr. Fin-- | Mr. Hutchinson stated that on man in his town, when accused of | theft, openly boasted: "Well, if I go to jail, some higher--ups will go, too." | It was the patronage system running ifull blast that was ruining Ontario layson said they would be f; vestigated. Patronage Ruining Ontario, "That causes deficits and slavery wages," he said. "Therefore, I sup-- port the amendment to the amend-- ment, and I can vote with the hon-- omble member from Brant. But I warn him not to build up a crooked machinec should he succeed to power, or I'll have to take up the battle-- axe again and wreck it." Dealing with the railway situa-- tion, Mr. Hutchinson said: "Prohibitive tariff walls, such as exist in Canada| now, must lead to decreasing traffic on the railways. They are equipped : to handle freight tonnage in very large quantities, but, due mainly to the setting up of trade barriers in the form of high tarifis, we have now little export trade to haul, with the result that we have fewer men em-- ployed on the railways than for many years." e * t Dealing with the trans--Canada road camps, the Labor member said the men were being paid only 19 cents a day, while a horse was carning 30 cents a day. "Probably it was con-- sidered that a horse had more sense than the man anyway, as it at léast didn't vote Tory in 1930," he com-- mented. While it had been said that there was! no compulsion in getting men to go to these camps, it was either this or the dole for them, and most men wanted to work, he pointed out. "I want to say here and now that the horse wasn't overpaid. The member from South Renfrew was exactly correct. It is slavery." As regards Mr. Hepburn, Mr. Hutchinson stated that ha had found the Liberal Leader was usually able to support any charges he had made, and that he was right in predicting the legal fees paid to W. N. Tilley, K.C., since 1926. Time for Retrenchment. Mr. Macaulay opened his remarks by dealing with suggestions made by Mr. Ross to eliminate glaring headlights and troubles with truck licenses: "I may say that I have been very re-- luctant to add to the numbers of in-- spectors. I feel that the time has come when there should be no more additions." ¥ s $ wl;:);'."m}larry Nixon -- (Progressive Leader)--Do not the Provincial Police accept the responsibility: 'fpr this work? Mr. Macaulay--Yes, they have cer-- tain powers. , Mr. Baxter (Liberal, Oxford 'South) | --Do not the polics in towns and | cities have the same powers? | Mr. Macaulay admitted that they | did have. "We continually receive suggestions, but when they are traced | down all seem to lead to spending | more money and appointing more | people. Democracy has gone far | enough toward bureaucracy. _ This | Government feels that in a time of | depression it should not add to, but : rather eliminate those who are not oi o ue fhet 10M 00 h bedundiatredd The Minister of Highways, criticizg-- | ing the speech made by Dr. L. J.] Simpson (Liberal, Simcoe Centre) on | Tuesday, remarked: "H> said the at-- tacks on Mr. Hepburn were cowardly, contemptible _ and unsp:rtsmanlike.' This is very brisk language, and in fact might almost be ruled out &s| unparliamentary. But it gives me an | opportunity to restate. the view held ' by many voters outside of this House. Would Never Be Premier. "Their -- view is that the real Leader of the Liberal Party should be sitting in this House, with his position in the House and his seat at stake whenever he makes statements of policy or expresses his views on any March 10. illy subject. Mr. Hepburn has dodged that responsibility deliberately. It is com-- mon knowledge that there is a de-- terminaticn on the part of a few busi-- ness men of this Province who still support the Liberal Party in Provin-- cial affairs that, if by any chance the party were victorious, Mr. Hepburn would never fill the seat of Premier. "This is well known to the board | of strategy of the Liberal Party. They are willing to have Mr. Hepburn |lead a forlorn hope, but will see to 'it that he is not there as leader if | they ever get in sight of the promised 'land. That is why they do not pro-- vide him with a scat in this House," declared Mr. Macaulay. Asked to Give Names. "At this very moment there is a group of Toronto Liberals studying the situation, determined to replace Mr. Hepburn if and when the Liberal Party has any chance to form a Gov-- ernment. Mr. Blakelock (Liberal, Halton)-- Would the Minister give the names of these Toronto Liberals? Mr. Macaulay--The list is too long. I will make it out and give it to them. I noticed that the member Mr. Macaulay then attacked some of the public utterances of Mr. Hep-- bumm, saying: "The Liberal member from Simcoe Centre is the first Lib-- eral member of this House I h&ve' heard identify himself with Mr. Hep--| burn's 'swing to the left,' which was first heard when a by--election was pending in West York, when an ap-- peal was going to be made to the predominating element in that riding, the industrial and manual laborers. | _ "At that time, he said, he would | take fron the millionatres . of~the | country the wealith they had taken | from the people, by capital levy. I | have not noticed any such resolution --from any section of the Liberal Party in this House. There was a bill brought up the other day called the 'supcrtax,' whereby there was to be an increased tax on incomes of more than $10,000 a year. Not a Liberal 'in this House raised his voice either 'for or against it, even Mr. Hepburn's \ own perional emissary and advance | agent, the member from Brant, did ' not open his mouth." ie 2 from Simcoe Centre whispered that to the Speaker. _ l xd _ Mr. Simpson--May I say positively that I did not. I said something en-- tirely different. _ ui: | D. M. Ross (Progressive, Oxford \ North) declared he considered the | Cabinet could very well get along with | seven Ministers. The President of the | United States had only ten members | in his Cabinet, and he had far graver iprcblcms to contend with, Mr. Ross |said. The Speaker came out flat-- | footed for a reduction in the mem-- | bership of the Ontario House to 82, 'to coincide with the representation from this Province at Ottawa. _ _ --"It was only a gesture," interposed Mr. Nixon. 3 e & "There was a chance for them to translate into action the high--sound-- ing radical utterances on the hustings in the working--class district, Why did tkey not cpen their mouths on that question?" asked Mr. Macaulay. "Because the Libsral Perty is split right down the middle on that ques-- tion. The Torsato Star and Mr. Hepburn are for discriminatory tax-- ation against the well--to--do, while The Globe and the orthodox wing of Lib>ralism fight it at every chance Only Seven in Cabinet. He asserted that money had tO0 high a place in life today, "and it controls the Government so much it affects our legislation"; agreed with EFimore Philpott that money spent on direct relief should be used to pro-- vide work for men; asked Government action in the milk--price question and into the meat packing, industry, which he referred to as "another great combine"; criticized the cost of government in relationship to rev-- enue: reviewed the plight of the farming industry; urged Provincial aid to the Barrie packing plant; and finally averred that residents by the thousands in urban ridings took no interest in their Province,,and there-- fore should not have a vote. The Progressive member compared farm prices with the cost of operat-- ing a farm and illustrated by saying that a tax of $308 three years ago could be met by the proceeds of four | fat hogs, but at the present t.ime' eighteen fat hogs would be requtred' to pay that same tax. "So long as'