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Asked if he would now sit as an Independent Liberal, an Indepen-- . dent, or would seek affiliation with the Conservative Opposition, he re-- plied: "I'm not in a position to answer that. I intend to seek ad-- | vice." _ *» * Hepburn Reads Rebel From Liberal Party; --Investigation Is Asked Dr. A. D. Roberts, member of the Legislature for Sault Ste. Marie since the Provincial general elec-- tion of June, 1934, was read ous of the Liberal Party by Premier Hep-- burn yesterday, under circum-- stances that know neither precedent nor parallel in the legislative his-- tory of this Province. "I am going to purge the Liberal membership of this House from as-- s#riating with one guilty of the charges I have levelled against him," cracked Mr. Hepburn, as he closed the party door definitely and determinedly against his once en-- thusiastic champion and supporter. Will Not Resign. "No, I'm not going to quit," he said, "and I may have more to say about this later." Accused by the Prime Minister of trying to "blackmail" the Algoma Steel Corporation into giving him a medical post on its payroll "in con-- sideration for his support of the iron ore bill"--branded by the Pre-- mier as a man who had interfered continually in administrative and patronage matters in the North -- and labelled as one who was "so unethical in his conduct" as to se-- cure a contract for his own "per-- sonal gain" and then try to "farm it out"--Dr. Roberts has paid for his outburst on Thursday last against the head of the present Administra-- tion, and on Monday will be found sitting with the Opposition. The Conservatives, led by former Premier Henry, will move imme-- diately, it was learned, to bring cer-- tain angles of the situation as al-- ready disclosed in the House, under scrutiny of some appropriate com-- mittee. This decision is said to have been reached at an informal caucus held by Mr. Henry and his followets immediately after the curtain fell on yesterday's stormy scene. Premier Emphatic. UNPRECEDENTED SCENE Dr. Roberts will not resign his seat, he told The Globe and Mail, last night. Dr. A. D. Roberts Will Not Resign Sault Seat as Re-- sult of Stormy Debate, He Says; Attempt at "Black-- mail" Charged by Premier Although Dr. Roberts's banishing had been generally expected, a few Liberal M P.P.'s entertained hope up until noon yesterday that the Prime Minister might live up to his pro-- fessed intention of Thursday nignt to ignore his subordinate's outburst But the moment he arose to speak the House knew that the die had been cast. Backed by a resolution of support, voted unanimous!=~ in an informal noon caucus, the Prime Minister spared neither word 10r gesture in making the "finis" he was writing to the Sault member's Lib-- eral affiliations as emphatic as pos-- sible. axe fell, word by word, on Dr. Roberts's head. In --a restrained voice, the later replied to the Prime Minister's accusations, denying he had at any time attacked the Al-- goma Steel Corporation as the Pre-- There was utter quiet in <the crowded Chamber as the political "And," he added, "I didn't criticize either the Prime Minister or Sir James Dunn. All I criticized in my speech of Thursday was the dis-- courtesy they had shown to me." mier had charged against him, and contending that he never had an "actual contract" to farm out. Nor had he interfered with highways administration or patronage in his riding any more than any other member, in his constituency. Called Impersonal. It was quite true, said he, that he had told Sir James that he would like to be the physician . to the Helen Mine. Could there be any objection to that? All mines, all lumber and road camps had their own doctors. He had approached the Algoma Steel head in the ca-- pacity of a private physician, not as a member of the Legislature. "If I had thought there was any-- thing wrong -- anything sinister about my actions, would T have asked for the position in front of so many witnesses?" he demanded. Start of Incident. "It sometimes falls to the duty of a Leader to perform an unpleasant but necessary task." said Premier Hepburn. "I feel obligated to repri-- mand the honorable member for Sault Ste. Marie for an unwarrant-- ed and ungentlemanly attack on Sir James Dunn and myself. My sec-- retary notified the honorable mem-- "It seems strange that I must publicly reprimand the member whom T defended last session against the attack of the honorable member for Parkdale," (Colonel W. H Price), continued the Prime Minister. "It is an unpleasant task and I am sure the sympathy of the House goes out to a Leader in a case like this. I have been Leader of the Liberal Party for four years . and during that time I have never ; known complete peace of mind.} That is typical of Leaders of all| political parties." | After reading Dr. Roberts's tele-- gram to him, the Premier said that the publicity given to the attack had caused an unfavorable reac-- tion. In order to "square himself with his followers," he telt compel-- led to make a public statement of the facts. Liberals#® Endorsation. ber of my intentions, so that he might have the opportunity of re-- plying. "There arises a time when one must take a definite course of nc-- tion,." continued the Premier. "It is obvious to all who listened to the honorable member for Sault Ste. Marie yesterday that there was something below the surface. It was more than a case of pique. The honorable member has a code of ethics which I can't admire. I have read the report of a speech which he made some weeks ago when he said: 'Don't call your opponent a gentleman. He may be one, but the people don't come to hear that.' Dr. Roborts, in the same speech, is reported to have said: 'What has the party done for me? To hell with the party'"' . _ °_ _ . _0 . "And I might say the Liberal members of the House met today and passed a motion completely en-- dorsing me," went on Mr. Hepburn. "In the main my relationship with them has been most pleasant." "I met Sir James Dunn two years ago," continved the Government Leader. "His solicitor first came to me and suggested certain legisla-- tion to enable the Algoma Steel Corporation to reorganize. At that time we had desperate unemploy-- ment in the Sault, with hundreds of men secking employment. We passed a bill and the result was that the steel mills reopened and March 6 2200 men were given empioyment. ----_"In order to extend <@a courtesy 'to the member for the Sault, I wired and asked him to attend a conference at Queen's Park to dis-- 'cuss matters in connection with the steel industry. I also wired the Fed-- eral member. They both came down | and we went into the matter very| 'carefully. I am not going into the merits of the iron ore bounty at this time. I said at the end of the conference that I would introduce a bill bonusing the iron ore industry two cents a unit. I suggested to Sir James Dunn and the two members that they go to Ottawa and inform the Department of Mines of our proposed action. 1 was not very hopeful, however, of any assistance coming from the Federal Government as it has been consistently refused in the past. Unaware of Announcement. *"The member for the Sault went to Oitawa with Sir James Dunn." continued Mr. Hepburn. "I didn't know Sir James was going to tre Sault to make an announcement. He had asked me earlier if there might be a decision as he proposed to spend a million and a half dol-- 'Jlars on a plant and had made the gfinancial arrangements. You can see that an early decision was nec-- . essary. A few days later Sir James made an announcement regarding the plans of his own company. It was not Government policy that he was announcing and I cannot be-- lieve the honorable member for the Sault is as piqued over this as he would have us believe. He claims to have been unfairly dealt with in this matter. But I wish to make clear to the House that the ifjron ore bounty is not for the Algoma Steel Corporation alone; it is for ' all the Province. Premier Hepburn charged that Dr. Roberts had continually inter-- fered in patronage matters in the North. "On one occasion," he said, | "we had to move the district en-- lginecr's office of the Highway De-- partment from the Sault to Blind River because of that interference. He interfered with the administrae-- | tion of the Provincial Air Service io | the extent that they won't let him \ go near the airport now. But he | has gone beyond that; he has tres-- | passed all bounds. I will read a 'wire to explain why he holds such ! animosity against the Algoma Steel ] Company." "It is not the prerogative of any private member to make such an announcement, as it applies to the whole of Ontario. Sir James Dunn made an announcement concerning his own company's plans. "I propose to tell the House, Mr. Speaker, of some of the difficulties the Government has encountered with the honorable member for Sault Ste. Marie with regard to patronage. Patronage Quarrel. "Have just read Globe and Mail account Dr. Roberts's speech yester-- day. In my statement at Clergue dinner, February fifteenth, I did not presume to announce Government policy, but, as Chairman Algoma Steel, announced our company had provided $1,500,000 in accordance with the agreement made with your Government for ore bounty. Dr Roberts following day accused me ot usurping his rights, maintaining an-- nouncement should have been made by him. He complained generally that he was ignored by your Gov-- ernment and by me. I explained that I had no such intention. On February seventeenth Dr. Roberts complained to company's General Manager Rahilly in my presence that he was forgotten as soon as his services were rendered, that he should have had company's medical work and that he expected medical work growing out of bounty agree T CC L Somncloct Inlulahk *HBanillv ftelt in The Prime Minister then read to the House the following telegram, dated Montreal, March 5, and signed by Sir James Dunn:_ 4 h t d i d -- 1 hn Ah i lc ies < is t c ty We D ment, about which Rahilly felt an-- able to glve him the assurance asked. Since this meeting, Dr. Rob crts has twice telephoned me sayin£ that he v.vanvt'ed a meeting with y94