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. Bonds of Companies Named Break in Price During Day--Agreements More Like Burglars' Raid Than a Commercial Trans-- action, He Comments--Claims Infringe-- ment of Dominion Jurisdiction Interprovincial Power Transport _ Beyond Rights of Provinces, -- Attorney--General Tells House WHAT NOW? PUBLIC WILL DECIDE, HE DECLARES IN CONCLUSION Mr. Roebuck admitted that his opinion would start lawyers' discus-- sions, but it was "his opinion." It had been supported by man whom he de-- scribed as one of Ontario's ablest con-- stitutional lawyers, Major Lewis Dun-- can, K.C. This, he held, was a Dominion jurisdiction. The con-- tracting companies and Hydro were Provincial creations --"and the creatures of Provincial authority cannot do what the Legislatures themselves cannot do." Is "His Opinion." prioonaesenr ow c o As a corollary to the Aitorney-- Gencral's series of Hydro speeches dealing with the private power con-- tracts, Gatineau Power, Beauharnois and Maclaren--Quebec were beaten down in yesterday's market until closing prices showed an estimated $14,000,000 lopped off the value of holdings in the past week. The thesis of the illegality of the Hydro contracts climaxed Mr. Roe-- buck's nine--hour speech on the floor of the Ontario House, The contracts, he had held, were producing a Hydro crisis; they had been produced in a day of "incompetence or worse"; they were in, in his opinion, '"illegal and unenforceable." Fate of the contracts was not fore: cast yesterday by Mr. Roebuck, "It is not for me to make a decision," he said. It is up to public opinion, the Government and the Opposition. But Mr. Rosbuck used strong terms to denounce "this slaughter of the | giant of light and power to make mil-- | lionaires and multi--millionaires out | of the financiers of St. James Street." | (See also Pages 11 and 12.) SUBMIT to this House that all three of these contracts l are not only outrageous and inequitable, but illegal and unenforceable--beyond the legal capacities of On-- tario and Quebec." Hydro's $300,000,000 Eastern power contracts with Gatineau, Beauharnois and Maclaren--Quebec were de-- nounced in these terms yesterday on the floor of the Ontario Legislature. The Attorney--General of Ontario, Hon. Arthur Roebuck, went on record with an opinion that they were illegal. _ * _*"They involve," ran his main reason, "the construc-- tion of works and undertakings which connect one Prov-- ince with another or extend beyond the limits of a Prov-- ince." Before delivering his opinion yes-- \ terday he continued his raking of the | history of the contracts. From Beau-- harnois to Chat Falls, the Attorney-- General reviewed the Eastern situa-- tion. On two matters he dwelt with emphasis--the manner of negotiating the contracts and the history of the iIncorporation of the companies. Want Statement of Policy. Immediate statement of the Gov-- ernment's policy was called for by Hon. W. H. Price before Mr. Roebuck started speaking yesterday. Tke for-- mer Attorney--General alluded to the fact that the then six--hour speech might have allowed thousands to i speculate. The Government policy | will be announced in due course, was | the reply. In supplementary legal argument, the Attorney--General questioned the power of Hydro to buy power beyond Provincial boundaries; or of Quebec companies to transmit power to On-- tario without an extraprovincial corporation license. Ottawa Jurisdiction. His legal opinion <yesterday was backed by a half--dozen legal citations mainly designed to show that controi of interprovincial power transport was a matter pertaining to Ottawa. The Opposition continued its ham-- ering during the sitting, questioning the time of statements made by Hydro engineers still employed since the change in Government, and digging up an opinion of Arthur Slaght, K.C., who was quoted as terming the Mac-- laren contract legal. From the Government came the in the Provi charge that the confidential secretary| Chats Falls. of Mr. Charles Magrath had been em--| ployed very shortly thereafter by Beauharnois, and a suggestion that some day the Dominion Power and Transmission purchase might "be turned inside out." March 2. "Illegal and Invalid." "One may stand amazed at these companies," said the Attorney--Gec-- eral, "who have apparently flouted the constitutional limitations of the provisions and entered into agree-- ments which were illegal and in-- valia." It was not the only amazing in-- stance in the whole amazing story. These lawyers, charged Mr. Roe-- buck, "never thought it was possible that the powers that be might be changed and another Government come into power." The Government, as he qgescribed it, was "all--powerful and daeeply entrenched and the agres-- ments themselves more nearly repre-- sented a burglars' raid than a com-- mercial transaction." "There are the facts," he said. "IL have endeavored to lay before thel House as fully as possible and as clearly as is within my power the impossible position in which the Hy-- dro Electric Power Commission and through it the power users of this Province have been placed by the mismanagement or worse of the former Government." "I have endeavored to restrain the indignation," the Attorney--General declared, "which one must feel at the slaughter of the giant of light and _ _A quotation was called to mind-- the words of Mark Anthony at the "It is not for me to make a de-- cision. It is up to public opinion. It is up to the Government. It is up to the Opposition--to join with us in | some proposal to right the wrong." | _ "Let's face the facts. Let's do jus-- | tice--regardless of where the chips I me.; fall." | _"I have aiready pointed out: __"1. The Gatineau Power Company is a Quebec company, incorporated by the Legislature of the Province of Quebec, and it has attempted to con-- tract to deliver powse: beyond the bor-- ders of its own Province. ten feet with-- in the Province of Ontario, at or near funeral of Caesar, who had fallen teoneath the knives of assassins. "Oh, what a fall was there, my country-- men. Then I and you and all of us fall down, while bloody treason flour-- ished over us." "I have endeavored," said Mr. Roe-- buck, "to restrain the outbursts of passion>ts dzanunciation which one must feel at the "deep damnation of his taking off!" 'The same words apply to the slaughter of the giant of light and power in order to make millionaires and multi--millionaires out of the fi-- nanciers of St. James's Strest." Contracts Termed "Iniquiteus." "At the same time, I beseech this Hous> to look the facts fairly in the face, ncither minimizing the serious-- noss of the disaster, nor temporizing at th> exvense of the people of this Province wiih questions of right and wrong. These contracts are iniquitous. They are strangleholds upon the peo-- ple whom we are sworn to represent. They will cram» the development of this Province and may ruin its com-- morcial structure." There are those, Mr. Roebuck noted, who will plead for people who have invested in the bonds and securities of these companies. : _ "I am more intercsted in the poor people who have no bonds at all." 3