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

§ | '"'The committee feels," says the APR\ L 6 Liberal--complexioned report, "that ltl cannot condemn too strongly the action of Mr. McCrimmon (A. Mur-- ray McCrimmon, dismissed secretary * and comptroller of Hydro) in giving ns evidence that mistakes totalling $70,000,000 had been found in the This report also "completely exon.| | MyG@ro books, and that the auditors erated" the Prime Minister of the| | had to correct these errors, thereby allegation that he had, directly or| |CaSsting on the Hydro auditors and indirectly, been negotiating the| | aAccounting staff a criticism and con-- Beauharnois contract prior to the| | demnation which were proven to be election. '"The first steps toward| | Wholly unwarranted and unjustified, negoliations were undertaken by| | Particularly when Mr. McCrimmon Dr. T. H. Hogg (present Hydro lwas. or should have been, fully chairman) a few days after his ap--| | aWare of the conditions which made pointment as chairman of the Hydro| | the adjusting entries necessary,." Comn)is's:ion. m; Nov. 1, 1937, and no Illolds Claims Unfounded. negotiations of any kind were in-- The Liberal "majority" repor enlrrar omm omncumeemnrmnent :"a"':"'d by any one prior to that | holds that there are no groundspfoxt' o Te s 'the claims of former Chairman' Legislature Probe Urges _ Says Hepburn Knew. | Lyon and former Attorney--General «.. On the other hand. the Mac an ydro Commissioner Roebuck Commission Take StePS | opposition, or BiGONINY" -- g','.fim | Hfha they were dismissed from of-- to Secure Further Righfs maintains: "There can be no doubt| fice in order to get them out of . . * that Mr. Hepburn knew, or should| the way before the signing of the of Diversion at Nnagara have known, prior to the provincial| Beauharnois agreement. nimenmieriminsrrare mss election, of the critical power short-- "All of the evidence," this report age, and that it would be necessary,| SAYS, "leads the committee to the REPORTS CONFL'CT'NG immediately after the provincial| trefutable conclusion that Hydro wee ENE election of 1937, to sign new con--| . Matters had nothing to do with Mr. tracts with the Quebec (-ompaniesl Roebuck's dismissal in April, 1937, Immediate concentration of ef-- in the place of those which had which was due entirely to the CLO. fort to furnish Ontario's future _ been cancelled. There is conclusive i§sue a,?g th%Oshhawa strike situa-- ym 4 f . c evidence that Mr. H j ion. e eauharnois question po\\-ol supplllo\ from dm'cl.t"pn'wnil the public with hiseg?;nllr'pa:s:e;\;eg was not discussed in anquay at entirely within the ;)lO\ll)tC is 'Back to Niagara' policy." the time of Mr. Roebuck's dismissal, urged -- upon _ the Hydro--Electric 'The staff of Hydro and at least| | 44 it is quite evident that even Power Commission in a "majority" _ two me;;nhers of Mr. Hepburn's Cabi-- {'."' sol:ne T;'lnths _afttgr l:iis t;eSig'l'\a' k amnrbut~ _7 o net ---- this report finds -- 1 i4 on he still maintaine at his report flom. the .~pmldl. Hm}m"".('f'» June, 1937 ,hL, (l('magds f(l::?:)w::. disagreement over the C.I.O. ques-- of the Legislature which investi-- reserves "made a new contract with tion was the reason for it. The gated the Beauharnois and Oother _ the Beauharnois or Maclaren Que-- committee, therefore, finds no foun-- Quebec contracts last summer. bec power companies, or both of| | dation for the suspicions and in-- With difficulties arising from them, inevitable." nuendoes of Mr. Roebuck that Beau-- ith -- di ( es efinitely The terms of the new Quebec harnois was responsible for the de-- these "gl.('('nu'lltt n;n\ ajority _ Contracts negotiated by Hydro under| | mand for his resignation, but on but of the way, as these majort' the Hogg chairmanship are "emin--| | the contrary the committee find or Liberal members of the com-- ; mveemasiiasmmumecmmms smmsmmccommms==ll | the ©LO issue and 116 NESNAWA mittee claim, the Power Commis-- 'emly fair and satisfactory from the| strike were the sole reasons for Mr.} sion should take steps to meel @nY / standpoint of the power users of the| Rocbuck's dismissal." | further power needs by -'f\"',u'f"f' | province," the majority report finds. Regarding Mr. Lyon, the Liberal' t ds se e neement mg-'?:ld \ '"'They represent, it says, a tremen--| (EP®TG in part, says: "The commit-- and by securing ;|g|m'm('nlw'\\l P PIESE!! says, tee is satisfied from the evidencel; the Province of Quebec _for de-- 'dous saving in power costs spread| that the demand for the resigna-- | velopment on the Ottawa River over a long period of years, as com--| tion of Mr. Lyon was made on ac-- | H'l;lho 'ilmolni':rlvmlT:(n:l't:):\rx"loztf tl?: pared with the original contracts." ('Ourr:t of his refusal to co--operate ydro, the L "C * ® * «+ i Eky 1t wit the rovinci i committee additionally y'c(fomnlel\d. There is no fOU'l.'ldatIOH' says the financial ma;:ters (c,fa.lma;:';asiumrgo;tri should be made the subject of care-- Macaulay protest, "for the statement | ance, and that the question of a ful study by the members of the that a saving of $92,000,000 is assur--| | settlement with Beauharnois did commission, "so o n ':,,Sr(:-::fl;af.?ir ed under the new contracts. On the| | NOt in any way enter into it. There | such rearrangemen sani= & i j was also the implied understand-- zation as will promote greater har-- c?ntrary it is possible, under certain ' ing, at the time o'f) his appointmertllt" mony and efficiency, consistent al-- circumstances, that the new con-- iin 1934, that it would be for only ways with economy in administra-- tracts may be less favorable to the| | a short period of time. Mr. Lyon's tion." province than those which were| | OWn evidence provides convincing Two Reports Tabled. cancelled." | g;go]githat no set:lemein: :"h Beau-- cce a bnsthest. n I ks | nois was contemplated previous .Tho> _m:'"gl' ':1'\ in';'}';:' LP;L';'::,LP [ *! Ne Raid on Treasury. to election day (Oc?. 6, 19§7). and tion was LRDLE! meut f No justification was found, says| for some time afterward, isnce he ; yesterday _ by Attorney--Genera 5 n l asserts that arrangements for pro--| Conant, who was chairman of last the Liberal sum--up, for charggs that | secutine the Beauhgarnois aDbé lpbe-' year's bitterly fought probe. A the province had made raids on the| fore thi Privy Council wegg aoin "minority" report was also tabled Hydro treasury, but on the contrary | on . ACtiVEl uy t0o the time ogt hiii by former Highways Minister Leo-- the readjustment of financial rela--| regi natiog onpNo 1. 1937." | pold Macaulay, who led the Oppo--| tions between the province and the & N« 4A f | sion attack, in connection with the Hydro have been to the material, Justifies Hepburn Action. | probe, and whose sessional charges ) advantage of the Hydro system by The Liberal report justifiee Mr. of 1938, that Premier Hepburn had | making possible a substantial saving| Hepburn's action in authorizing ne-- deceived the public with his "Back | in interest charges. gotiation and settlement of the to Niagara" policy of the 1937 olcv-" "The evidence clearly shows," the| new contract with Beauharnois, and tion campaign, directly precipitated | _ Macaulay report states, "that there| claims that "the whole cause of the the investigation. | _ was political interference with the: difficulties" from which the Hydro ' The two reports, in nearly 100| management of the Hydro--Electric| Commission had to extricate itself, per cent of their conclusions, are Power Commission periodically dur--| was "the unique and unwarranted contradictory--leaving the long con--| ing the last four years." action of the commissions from 1926 tentious Hudro issues practically as Mr. Macaulay and his associates| to 1930 in making the original agree-- undecided--from the layman's point! claim that the conduct of Qscar ments with the Quebec power com-- of view--as they ever were. For in~ _ Hudson & Company--Hydro auditors| | panies." stance, the "majority" report finds ----Is "open to the most serious criti--« Never at any time--the Macaulay that Mr. Hepburn was fully justi-l cism." They deleted sections of the| document holds--was there any fied in advocating the "Back to Ni--| report which they filed as auditors| foundation for the contention of agara" policy at the time he did.' of the Hydro--Electric Power Com-' government spokesmen 't'hat the "Hon. Mr. Hepburn," it says, "can--: mission, and withdrew another re--| Hydro "faced bankruptcy unless not be held responsible for the fact| port which they had prepared from | the earlier contracts were cancelled. that the chairman of the Commis--| the records of the Commission, for| On the contrary, the commission | sion (then T. Stewart Lyon) refused| the obvious purpose of taking off| had reserves which fully protected | to accept or read the report of its| the permanent record their own| jits financial standing. \ chief engineer, and thus supplied| criticism of the conduct of the com-- '"'The wisdom of the course fol; the Prime Minister v}-ith informa--| mission,. 'lttt)l\ivedre!l;rtslg:tlxl'legssel;ew:.isconr:;:ctss,ol tion not in keeping with the actual ?musch il:)1 issite 28 the uneguivocal| situation. pledge of Mr. Hepburn that he + | would not sign new contracts if re-- \turned to power. In spite of unconvincing nature of some of the evidence, the only reasonable con-- clusion from the facts disclosed is that Mr. Hepburn deliberately mis-- led the public and sought re--elec-- tion upon an undertaking which he was well aware could not be ful-- itilled." is e