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Attorney--General Gorgon Conant was assailed in the Legislature last night by Opposition members for his declaration that he would not send Provincial police into any municipality without first receiving a request from that municipality. Estimates of the Attorney--Gen-- eral's Department were under con-- sideration by the House when the question of law enforcement was raised by W. J. Stewart (Con., Parkdale). It developed into a three--way argument with Leopold Macaulay and George S. Henry launching vigorous criticism at Mr. Conant. "The answer is obvious," said the Attorney--General. "We stepped in once and next day the head of the municipality and two of his council were in my office and were very abusive about the whole business." "So what?" asked Mr. Macaulay. "So what?" retorted Mr. Conant. '"We are not going to do it any more." "Better put some one else in then as Attorney--General," commented Mr. Macaulay. "It would be a local improvement." "'They kicked him out in a month," interrupted Mr. Macaulay. Mr. Henry recalled that thirty. five years ago an Attorney--General had made the statement that he was not a policeman for the Prov-- ince. "If there's a murder in Hamilton, does the Attorney--General wait un-- til he gets a signed petition from the Mayor of Hamilton before he sends his Provincial officers there to in-- vestigate?" Mr. Henry asked. "No, the officers are there almost before the local police." Jealous, Says Conant. "And you know what they did to him----" he began. "A local jurisdiction is very jeal-- ous of its rights," declared Mr. Conant. "We have had experience of that before. We went into a municipality once and afterward we were horribly abused. It seems to be a case of home rule." CONANT ASKED WHY HIS POLICE NEED INVITATION "If gambling assumes serious pro-- portions, why wouldn't you step in just as you would in a murder?" demanded Mr. Macaulay. "If they want us to step in, all they have to do is ask us," retorted Mr. Conant. "Why don't you step in and --shut up these gambling bastilles?" per-- sisted Mr. Macaulay. JEALOUSY -- BLAMED Macaulay, Henry Turn Guns on Him Because of Jurisdictional Row Mr., HMHenry Steps In. It was at this point that Mr. HMHenry brought up the case of thirty-- five years ago when an Ontario At-- torney--General made the statement that he was not a "policeman for the whole Province." "And the Attorney--General is tak-- ing the same attitude today," de-- clared the member for East York. "Me is responsible for the admin-- istration of justice in this Province. Because of some local petty jealousy he says he won't interfere. The people of Ontario are asking what is the matter with law enforce-- ment." "No, they are asking their local officers," shot back Mr. Conant. "Why don't they go to their reeves and mayors and their own police? "They are the one closest to the situation. If they want our assis-- tance, all they have to do is ask for it." "Whom are they asking?" queried Mr. Conant. '"'They are asking you," declared Mr. Henryv. "History is repeating itself and next time there is an election the Attorney--General will hear from the people," warned Mr. Henry. "All right, I'll take my chance," declared the Attorney--General. When estimates for magistrates and justices of the peace were reached, Mr. Macaulay moved $25,-- 000 be lopped off the amount the J.P.'s would receive. "How much of that amount will justices of the peace receive?" ask-- ed Mr. Macaulay. "I haven't got the figure broken down," replied Mr. Conant. Says J.P.'s Broken Down. "Well, a lot of the J.P.'3; are broken : down," commented Mr. Macaulay. Later Mr. Conant received a note from the law clerks saying none of the $156,000 was for justices of the peace. Mr. Macaulay then asked to have produced a list of all the J.P.'s in the Province and the amount of fees they have received under the county jurisdiction. R. D. Arnott (Con., Hastings West) wanted J.P.'s paid a nominal sum and the fee system done away with. "Oh, there are only about 200 in the whole Province," spoke up Mr. Henry. f "Well, if we have enough paper I'll be glad to furnish the infor-- mation," said Mr. Conant. FEBRUARY 23 SAYS TEACHERS POOR IN FRENCH As estimates of the Department of Education were being considered, Mr. Belanger rose to make a strong plea for stricter examinations of persons seeking specialist diplomas. French, he said, was being taught as a dead language, and not enough emphasis was placed on oral work or conversation. Many French specialists holding certificates in Ontario schools can "neither speak nor understand" the French language, Aurelien Belanger (Lib., Prescott) said in the Ontario Legislature last night. '"Many will seek excuse in say-- ing they understand only Parisian French," he | said. "Canadian French is the best of Parisian French and some of the worst French possible is spoken in Paris." When Premier Daladier or Presi-- dent Lebrun spoke over the radio, he said, their vocabulary, accent, pronunciation and grammar was identical with that of French Can-- ada. He cited the King and Queen, Lord Tweedsmuir and "other cul-- tured Britons" as masters of true French. "The Parisian French myth grew up when a number of Frenchmen who could not earn their living in their own country, came over to On-- tario as teachers of French," he said. "In order to draw pupils from Ca-- nadian teachers they resorted to the excuse that they were teaching Parisian French." He urged that, in future, French specialists should receive diplomas only after rigid oral examinations in French by people properly qualified to conduct them.