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

The Premier described the reports iv. a "double play from the Toronto "Star to the Ottawa Jounral." He yalso made mention of a report in (the Star which quoted Hon. Angus ,Macdonald. Minister of Defense for 'Naval Affairs. as saying in a Wer, land by-election speech that remarks by Premier Hepburn. Opposition Leader Drew and Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen were being quoted by enemy propagandists. PRESS REPORTS 'l)()lBlfi1hlf,' "This was "bellous." said the Pre. mien "Mr. Macdonald denied say- ing it, and the Star published a re- traction. but this does not excuse its publication nor detract from the libel action that iniriiiiiGF At this point Mr. Hepburn read from Hansard his remarks to the conference concerning the Sirois Re- port and his attitude concerning it. He said Mayor Mmrison of Hamil- ton had attempted to correct the impression that the Ontario delega- tion had walked out of the confer- ence. "Did Not Walk Out." The Premier then referred to an item broadcast, over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on his trip to New York last Sept. 23, in which it was announced he would speak on "Canada's War Effort and Amer- ica's Lack of Preparation." This was incorrect. said Mr. Hepburn, and when he checked with the CBC he was told the report was obtained trom a reliable news service. "We did not walk out," said the Premier. "Those who wrote that story sat in the gallery and saw us sitting there." "This reliable news service was the 'Toronto Red Star,' which I con- sider to be the most unreliable of news sources." declared Mr. Hep- burn. The Premier said these news- paper reports had created an entire.- ly wrong impression in the public mind. He read a report in the Ot- tawa Joumal concerning the Ottawa conference on the Sirois Report, in which it was said' the Ontario dele- gation, headed by the Premier, walk. ed out of the conference. "That, Mr. Speaker. was the im- pression spread abroad." said the Premier. "it was not correct. The delegation did not walk out on the conference." Declaring that he felt it was his duty to call the attention of the House to "erroneous reports" which had been published in cmtam On. tario newspapers. Premier Hepburn rose before the orders of the day in the Ontario Legislature yesterday and referred to newspaper articles which had appeared in the Toronto Star end the Ottawa Journal. HEPBURN SAYS Public Given Wrong impression by Certain Papers, House Is Told REVIEWS R ECOR D Febvuam V6 l As a result of that, the Province lhad offered to give hospitalization Itor mental and tubercular cases, fwithout any question of pension in- :volved, providing they were dis- 'icharged as suffering from these aii- 'ments. within ninety days ot the Idates of enlistment. I "As a matter of tact," the Premier 'read from the letter, "in some in- istances where we have accepted Isoldiers in uniform into mental hos. lpitals to diagnose and report on Ftheir mental condition, they have 'limmediately been discharged while Istill in our care and left in our in- 'stltutions. even though they may have originally been residents of an- lether Province. "For this reason we t ' . use "have had to real" 011m elf-lulu Got Mott Intel's. The Premier revealed that he had received oven 1,000 letters of protest concerning remarks attributed to him "I connection with the United States Navy. At no time had he made any offensive remarks COno rerning the American Navy, he de- clared. "The controlled press spread the unlruth. hut tith not spread the de- nial l made," said Mr. Hepburn. "I didn't say that 45,000 were dis- charged because they had devel- oped colds and tuberculosis." he re- peated. "I said many," adding that while they had no accurate figures on the number of men discharged, "we can tell of the number we cared for." He then read a tabled letter from Dr. B. T. McGhie. Deputy Minister of Health in Ontario, which said that. notwithstanding the Province's offer to treat tubercular and mental cases among Ontario soldiers, no adequate provision has been made by the Dominion Government for the care of these men upon their dis.. charge. Mr. Hepburn then referred to a ttttttempnt given in the House of Commons on Feb. 16 by Pensions and Health Minister Ian Mackenzie "who Is responsible for the total luck at war preparedness or is a total goal at Mackenzie King." Mr. Hepburn denied flatly hav- ing made the statement as quoted, and declared he had said that "in the early days of the war many had developed colds and tuber- culosis through the lack of proper clothing." He recalled that, in those early days, Ontario had loaned 8.000 blankets to the armed forces, and that he, personally, had seen the barracks where men were lying on newspapers. "I am going to say that. the Do. minion Government has broken taith with us again, in spite of our generous offer to provide hospital- ization. Now Ottawa has deliberate. ly backed up on the agreement. and the 90-day agreement is not going to be lived up to. Find Accommodation. The statement charged as false and alarmist a report which quoted Premier Hepburn as saying that "45,000 men have been discharged from the armed forces mostly be- cause they developed colds and tuberculosis from lack of proper clothing." "Now we find that many young men who served for more than ninety days overseas are being re- turned and are being discharged suf- tering from tuberculosis and mental illness, and the Dominion Govern- ment is refusing to deal with them in the light of pensions. We have to find accommodation for them," he said. The letter said that in the case of ex-soldiers discharged because of tuberculosis disease. "where the Federal Government does not award a pension or dependent's allow- ance," the Provincial Government places the wife on mother's allow- ance. discharged from the army on re- turn from overseas because of mental disease because of the fact that the Federal authorities had made no arrangements for paying the maintenance of these ex-soldiers in Ontario institutions."