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SINCLAIR STRESSES CHEAP POWER NEEDS OF ONTARIO FARMER No greater boon could be given the farmer of Ontario than cheap power, and that boon was being withheld from him, the Legislature was told yesterday by W. E. N. Sin-- clair, K.C., Liberal meniber for Ontario South. Effective Speech. In a restrained ar _ Tectitive speech, Mr. Sinclair minglew. c--nmendation with condemnation so far as the Gov-- ernmont's financing . was concerned, and interjected implied criticism of Libcral inactivity at the present ses-- sion. Government Financing Is Analyzed and Debt Growth Deplored PAYMENT FOR HIGHWAYS Rural People Charged Too Much for Hydro, Is His Warning The former Liberal Leader was the last speaker among yesterday after-- noon's contributors to the Budget de-- bate. Preceding him had been T. K. Slack (Progressive, Dufferin), who ecmpleted the speech he started last Thursday, and called for reduction of farm interest rates to prevent drift to the cities; and W. W. Staples (Con-- servative, Victoria South), whose im-- perialistic utterance was marked by extensive quotations from Globe edi-- torials and hearty denunciation of Communist activities. Activity of Opposition. In cpening his address, Mr. Sinclair ecmmented that "advance noticss con-- cerning the activity of the group on this side were misleading." The group had not been so active as he had hoped, but the fact that this was a "lame duck"* session might account for it. He recalled the pre--election session of 192}, on the eve of the Drury Government's defeat. That ses. sion had run from late January till early May, with thirty--six night sit-- tings included. There had been no idle moments then. Mr. Sinclair read from a Conserva-- tive paper's editorial, which related that the other Liberals "had gone down on their knees to Sinclair to conduct examination of Government | witnesses" at the McCauczhrin inquiry.: This he warmly denied; he had not been avproached to take vart in the Mr. Sinclair commended the Gov-- ernment appointment of a Budgeting : Committee, an enlarzement of the old Treasury Board. He thought that, in | the interests of economy and business-- | like government, the idea might be ' extended even further, with the addi-- ; tion of men cutside the Provincial | service who had the point of view of | the man on the street. He approved | also, of the pre--sessional statement of i Ontario's financial situation, but thought that statement should include capital receipts and expenditures, assets and liabilitics, amount of the | debt. As for the Henry surplus, "I | admit there is a surplus, at any rate so far as bookkeeping goes, because ' there it is in the Public Accounts. It is a wonderful thing to happen just before an election." Lesson to Be Learned. As for Hydro, Mr. Sinclair thought the Government had "nothing to blow about" in the matter of rural power service. After eleven years' cperaion, rural Hydro had been extended only to 27,284 of the approximately 200,000 farmers in Old Ontario. There was hardly a farm which was more than ten miles from a power line; it was not inaccessibility, but cost, which prevented agriculturists from benefit-- ing from Hydro. It would be a grea help to the farmer to have light alone, since power was not so important to him. Through the long winters, lack those who belit>ved that the situation would improve so far as they were concerned. The highway situation was "alarming, and should be referred to financial and traffic experts who could serk a plan to pay off the road debt out of profits from the high-- ways." Rural Power Service. tures." One reason for the surplus was that 1933 was the first full year in which were operative the taxes passed in 1932. But, even at that, re-- ceipts from those levies had fallen short of expectations, "perhaps be-- cause people are overtaxed, because there is a maximum ability to pay." The size of the Provincial debt aroused grave anxiety in Mr. Sin-- clair, It had risen from $18,000,000 im 1918 to $522,000,000 in 1933. He recalled the repeated warnings he had issued on this score. The great part of the debt had been assumed for works which the people demanded, but the "Government should have known better than to allow all this expenditure." He had no quarrel with the Hydro or the T. & N.O. obligations, but the $186,000,000 in highway obligations had been ac-- cumulating for thinrnty years, wi&h nothing paid to date. If the high-- ways were revenue--producing, the revenue did not go toward reduction of the debt; the revenue took care only of the $10,000,000 interest charge, with the rest of the income distrib-- uted for other purposes. Meanwhile, railways woere running ever dseper From the accounts, Mr. Sinclair argued that "we have spen't $16,000.-- 000 more in the preceding four years than we proved in 1933 it was neces-- sary to spend. This lesson, once learned, should be remembered, with still further reductions in expendi-- Why, he asked, was it so expensive to finance a Government? Because, he answered his own question, Govern. ment was run along radically different lines from any other business, There were plenty of men in the Provincial service who were not needed, who did nothing, but draw their pay, This was the result of the patronage system, one reason why government was so costly. The veteran member congratulated Premier Henry on his Budget address. Thore was a surplus, and the Govern-- ment should get credit for it. As for how that surplus had come about, Mr. Sinclair jocularly instanced the 28-- cent saving in Governm>nt House costs, including 9 2--3 cents looped from Colonel Fraser's allowance. McCaughrin investigation or the Pub-- lic Accounts Committee's proceedings. "It is putting me in 'an unfair posi-- tion to say I refused. We, on this side, don't use our knees for that pur-- pose at all. That isn't the part of our suits that wears out first." Budget Disclosures. March \4 As a solution to present problems, the member for Dufferin proposed im-- migration, especially from the Mother Country, and also declared that "the high tariff barriers must be removed." A suggestion that financial figures had been juggled to create a surplus was coupled with the statement that the announcement of a deficit in these times would have aroused no public condemnation. "But why cover it up to make a surplus?" the member asked. The Premier objected, repeat-- ing his statement that there had been no juggling of fizures. Mr. Staples denounced the efforts of that country which was "secking to spread blasphemy throughout the world, and has sent its emissaries everywhere. Thank God we had an Attorney--General who would ensure that those principles never would ga'in a foothold in Ontario." Higshways next received the Pro-- gressive momber's attention. A road north cf Mecelancthon, he stated, had been reconstructed recently because a mistake made several years ago, coup-- ling his illustration with the declara-- tion that the county should not be required to help pay for the mistake and cost of reconstruction. Labor con-- ditions on the road work were branded as "human slavery," and work on an-- other section in zero weather, when laborers were half--frozen, was termed a& "rank injustice." "It is a wasts of public funds and a cruelty to the men to carry on work under such been reconstructed recently because of a conditions," Mr. Slack charged. He also repeated his plea for botter facili-- ties for sleighing. "Your system, Mr. Minister, are not worth a hill of beans," Mr. Slack retorted. A minute later the mem-- ber charged that "the credit you are extending the plant is not worth a snap of a finger," adding, "and you and the Minister of Northern Develop-- ment know it." He expressed thanks that Ontario was a part of the mighty British Em-- pire in the present troubled times, and warmly commended The Globe for certain recent editorials. As for Liberal criticism, he claimed that not a finger had been pointed at a misspent dollar. "Let us not be Almost at the outset while criticiz-- ing the attitude of the Agricultural Development Board, Mr. Slack en-- countered a denial from Colonel Ken-- nedy when he contended that farmers were compelled to make payments under the amortization scheme. Con-- tinuing his appeal for easier agricul-- tural credit, the Progressive member declared that hundreds and thousands of farmers were giving quit--claims to their property and coming to the city to obtain relief. If a little credit could be given to these men, he claimed that many would return to their farms. Although admitting that the rural in-- terest reduction, advocated by Lib-- eral members, involved a great deal of money, Mr. Slack termed such a loss cheaper to the Province than the ex-- pense resulting from the migration from the farm to city relief. unfair,'" he eadjured the Opposition. for Dufilerin claimed that an exten-- sion of Government credit in that instance would have been of great value. The Barrie packing plant proved a bone of contention when the member '"We're working it out with our sys-- tem." the Premier commented. of electricity handicapped housework and made farm chores dangerous. On-- tario had a surplus of power, and Hydro paid for more horsepower than it could use. Why not turn this'sur-- plus over to the farmer at low rates, so that some revenue could be substi-- tuted for & total loss? Still more power was coming from the St. Law-- rence development, unless she United States reversed its present plans; "and we hope they don't." But, said Mr. Sinclair in conclusion, the important thing about rural Hydro was that it be cheap. Farmers could construct pole--lines for the Commis-- sion more economically than the big gangs sent out from Toronto; the service charge could be eliminated, along with the twenty--year mortgage clause, "a big handicap to the develop-- ment of Hydro in the country." Such a development was the greatest aid that could be given rural Ontario at the present time. Credit for Farmers.