lished n and Semi-weekly by THE BRITISH WHIG PUBLISHING €O., LIMITED, KINGSTON, ONT. ~ W. RUPERT DAVIES ...... President OUT-OF-TOWN REPRESENTATIVES: INTO=--F. W. Thompson, 100 King TORO! West, Toronto. MONTREAL F. Calder, 23 St. John Montreal. Letters to the Editor are publish saly svar tke agtual mame of thi The cireuniation of The British Whig is autheacicated by the Audit Burean of Ulreulations. DROP IN THE GOVERNMENT'S JXPENDITURES. ------ The King Government has brought in its budget showing a reduction in estimates for 1926-27. And the reduction is seubstanital, over five and a haif million dollars. Premier King and his Cabinet associates are certainly to be congratulated on their success in paring down the expenditures, on an outlay of §345,- 771,000, and making such a deci- sive cut. The act of the Government will add to its popularity among ' the burdened taxpayers. If the Go- vernment had not to complete the Hudson Bay Railway, and had not $0 provide money to .carry on the . eustoms probe, the decrease would have been over three million great- 'than it is. The various departments of Gov- ernment have during the past year been scrutinizing expenditures and "have, with considerable success, made commendable savings in costs. is very satisfactory to read that principal items of reduction in the general estimalés are: $1,125,- 000 in the appropriation for soldiers fand settlement, §1,004,450 in that . for the Department of Trade and, Commerce, $1,998,460 in capital expenditure on public works, $2, 756,480 in income expenditure on public works and $412,201 in the appropriation for immigration and _ colonization. ' ' The war debt and other public debts call for over $132,872,000 for "interest, more than one-third of the total estimates of expenditure. The war debt is a very severe tax on the people, though they loyally and cheerfully bear it for the sake of the maintainance of the Empire. } so fund the debt that the be adjusted and the debt taking tolls from the war /meet current expen- es. With the debt stabilized if . it will diminish th its disappearance will get relief in re- made on the y | Bone to Montreal had not the storage The paper says the| ing him warning. Mr. Sowards, it is| claimed, wes doing all he could to] remedy the defects and the unwar-| ranted publicity given the company | is quite inexplicable. THE LATEST PROPOSITION. United States Secretary Hoover was in Chicago the other day and he talked glowingly of a Mississippi system of barge lines running through a nipe foot canal from Chi- cago to the Gulf of "Mexico, and sup- plied with water from the Great Lakes. Then he switched on {o the diversion of water holding t the engineers of the United States re- ported something less than one- sixth of the lakes level due to the diversion from Lake Michigan at Chicago .and five-sixths to the <lim- atic cycle. His opinion was to plan to hold mote water in the lakes. "Lawyers," he opined, 'and courts cannot hold it there--but the en- gineers can. I ask all the lake re- gion to consider that before fits controversies go farther." He was quite convinced that the money which will go to lawyers could be better spent on cement and steel to 1ift the upper lake levels. He went on to say: "Our United States engineers tell us--and we. have the best engineer corps in the world--that they can restore the level of the lakes by curtailing the outflow at Niagara until the lakes fill up. They tell us that proportionately to the gigantic outflow it is a small job. "lI am in hopes that we may be able to enter upon friendly discus- sion with our Canadian friends up- 'on these problems. I believe that upon examination, it will be found there is complete mutuality of in- torest between the two countries in these matters, and that we shall be able to propose solutions of cement and steel which will protect all the cities and interests upon the lakes, whether in Canada or the United States." The secretary talks as if the lakes concerned are all west of Niagara. What about Lake Ontapio and the St. Lawrence river? Are the waters east of Niagara to be further lessen- ed to help navigation above the falls. That will fiot be.permitted by the Canadian government. The whole system from Duluth and Fort William to the sea must be consid- | ered as one proposition, and all the waters of the northern watershed must We allowed to flow through the natural channels that have been created in 'the long past. IS FIRM IN THE SADDLE. Mr. Albert Carman, of the Mont- real Star, a very able journalist, and representing a paper that has always been regarded as very Conservative fn politics, has found it worth while to make the admission that "the King government has now a firm seat in the saddie." This is quite a slam at the paper's friends' in Ottawa, who for eight weeks displayed a strategy ' that only added to the prestige of the Liberal advocates in Parliament. The confession ' can be regarded as an event of very great significance. The Star is feign to say, and in as gentle words as it can summon: "The Government has passed from the most precarious situation to a posi- tion of reasonable stability. The op- position has steadily lost ground." This confession comes as the conclu sion to a long series of tactical errors committed by the opposition. The Montreal sjory of it may be summed up in a few words, The opposition { "flivvered" at all the important mo- 'ments of the crisis and it is Hen, Arthur Meighen who must bear the responsibility. In other words, the Star says bluntly "we lost power at the very moment when we had the best 'chance of winning it. By our own fault! A thousand times by our Lown fault!" 4 KEEPING GRAIN IN CANADIAN CHANNELS. The Oswego, N.Y., Times points out that the 937,000 bushels of grain in the elevator there would have been available. structure was reared to keep trade in American channels. A . govern- ment elevator at Kingston would be a great desideratum to keep the grain trade in Canadian channels. The government should get wise to this idea and have accommodation at the foot of lake navigation avail- ready. to do business. . able when the new Welland canal is} * EDITORIAL NOTES. Death and taxes---the land which has too much of the second courts the first. a Montreal grows at the rate of 50,- 000 a year. Congestion is so bad that legislation is needed to clean up the horrid conditions. Cognac, 150 years old, is being sold_in Russia for $8 a bottle,which may account for the populace seeing red all the time, They say cigar ashes are good for house plants -- a suggestion of the man who was railed at that smoking was bad for curtains! The liquor dispensaries in On- tario in 1925 turned in to the gov- ernment a profit of $846,823. The consumers paid high for their grog. The announcement that the con- tinued cold spell threatens to dry up the American Fall§ refers to the scenic Horseshoe--and not to the city, as might be supposed. Missionary Refuses to Leave Post, says a headline, which church-going people will be pained to learn re- ferred to a race horse and not to what they thought it meant. The Quebec legislature is to ceasd printing stubs on the ballot papers. This will add to secrecy of ballot. Another thing, it will not be neces- sary for candidates to publish elec- tion expenses. Municipal forests in Europe, estab- lished, often at high cost, due to land values, are producers of revenue for their owners, and serve in some cases as security behind bond issues or loans. "Babe Ruth can drive a golf ball as far as any of the professionals when once he gets a good clip at it." --Sporting paper. So could most of us, but golf is just that--getting the clip that connects. Fashion paper says that hair bracelets and hair rings, once so popular, are returning to favor now that shingled women have so much hair to spare. This seems a dread- ful fate for woman's crowning glory. If television ever becomes an ac- tual fact and in common use, the boss will be able to sit in his office and see that all the men in the fac- tory are busy on the job, without waiting to get a photograph of the same. Hon. James Lyons, minister of lands. and forests, resigned his port- folio in the Ontario cabinet, because the job was seriously interfering with his private business, This is an inside view of politics. An ordinary cotton petticoat, the possession of a Los Angeles woman, may prove to be worth $200,000 not because it is the only petticoat in California, but because an eccentric relative wrote his will on the hem of it. The Oshawa Board of Education has handed over the control of the school nursing and dental services to the Board of Health so that the city's health work will all be con- solidated under one authority. A 'hint to Kingston board. The Victoria, B.C., Times says Canada has ' 9,000,000 people and enough material resources to support more than fifty times that number. Surely, it adds, the time has come for Canadians to quit running after the bright lights across the border. Our own store- house of wealth is waiting to be un- lotked. The key can be fashioned by native enterprise and intelligence: There is no hardier or more optim- istic race in the world than the peo- ple who live in Canada. Can not they foster a real Canadian spirit? THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG LOOKING AROUND From what one can hear, the re- ported contest between Attorney- General Nickle and Mayor Angrove will not be at the polls but at the Conservative Association nomination meeting. The report is that the Wets will put up Mayor Angrove and the Drys will insist upon Hon. W. F. Nickle. It may be a merry contest. The word is that a certain com- pany, just establishing here, will of- fer to pasteurize the milk of all the smaller vendors so that they will be be passed by the city council. Such an arrangement would meet a lot of the objection to pasteurization. People Sunday were amused to see a large "To Let" sign on the front of the verandah and beside it a baby car- riage containing a bright little tot who smiled at all comers. Assuredly the cheapest and just as satisfactory way for townships claim- ing that they are assessed too high by the Frontenac county council is to appeal to the judge. Reeve Jamie- son had the assessment of Storring- ton township reduced by $65,000 two years ago when he entered an appeal and made a name for himself "in his constituency. Those Toronto newspaper men for- get that Kingston's member, the At- torney General, has Scotch blood 1n his veins and is very canny. They surely do not expect him to. unfold his plans regarding Peter Smith, whom he visited in prison. But you can depend upon it that Peter will be paroled before long. The age of the debtors' prison has passed, and men are not going to be kept incar- cerated when they cannot pay al- leged indebtedess. The women of Calgary will 'have to get their beer in some other places than the beer parlors, for the hotel proprietors of that city refuse to serve beer to mothers, wives, sis- ters and daughters. In Kingston, the women do not worry over being served in 4.4 parlors. The drink does not appeal to them. It would have been a good thing if more of the hulks in the lower harbor had been set afire years ago and made to disappear 'from the marine graveyard. A number of the old-timers were removed last year, being towed out into deep water and sunk. Now the lower harbor looks better. Portsmouth penitentiary continues to have distinguished men added to its population. The financial de- partment of the prison, especially, Is favored, and those in charge can take their pick of finamviers to do the routine book work of the insti- i tution. Kingston Baptists are not con- cerned over the quarrel regarding the orthodoxy of McMaster Univer- sity, Toronto. They know that at heart the teachers of the institution are all right and that many so-called unorthodox men or higher &ritics are really orthodox and that their teachings only tend to throw light upon things that 'have appeared strange to us. Quebec Viewpoint Le:Canada has more nice things fo say of the manner in which Hon. Rodolphe LenWeux has presided over the deliberations of the House of Commons during the present session. "We cannot refrain, after the long debate which has just come to an wend at Ottawa, from dwelling upon the attitude of such dignity and the untiring patience shown by Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux. In his quality as Speaker, Mr, Lemieux was compelled to remain in his seat throughout all those long and altogether uninterest- ing sessions. He has had, at the same time, to render a number of impor- tent decisions as a result of the ob- structionist tactics of the Conserva- tives, and each time it was with the | | semie impartiality and dignity that he rendered them. This fortitude |of Hon. Mr. Lemieux earned for him not praise but also the of thé members." La Patrie comments upon the leek" law now before the Legis- _ "Eatablishments on whose doors able to continue in business should ; compulsory pasteurization of milk' passing a residence om | of the néw models. 150 Suits to choose from. Sizes 34 to 3890. An exceptional value at All smartly tailored, In an wool fabrics *18.00 MEN'S FINE HOSE 100 dozen to choose from: Fine Cashmere, Art Silk, Wool, etc. Regular 75c. and 90c. values. BIBBY'S Three Big Specials Young Men's Suits to match, fords, etc. BIBBY'S SPECIAL 50c pair BIBBY'S Men's Fine Shirts Tooke, Lang, Arrow and Strand makes, Sizes 14 to 17. 'English Broadcloths with separate Collar ?, Neat stripes and ete., in Zephers, Oxe Regular $2.50 to $3.00 values. BIBBY'S SPECIAL 1.95 4 Effect of Assessments | (Stratford Beacon-Herald) It has been stated several times that the assessment rate on proper- ty in Stratford is low. That in it- self is not a defect. The real prob- 'lém is to have efuality in the assess- ment figures, and that is not doubt the reason why Stratford is working on a system that wiil measure space in buildings and use that as a means fcr defining assessment. Such a system should never be used for making a perpendicular in- crease in assessment values. There are cities where this has been done to protect the borrowing powers of the municipality, but this need does not exist in Stratford. There are other cases-- fortunately rare -- where it has D8bn used to keep down the tax rate. Assessment figures mean little in themselves, neither does the mill rate. It is a combination of the two that counts, and when each is high the taxpayer is in for a bad ses- 'sion. The trouble of increased assess- ment is that it opens the way for increased expenditure. As long as the expenditure has to be raised from & fairly low assessment figure, the tax rate serves the purpose of giving an emphatic warning when expenditure starts to rise. The peo- [TALIAN PUBLIC UTILITY CREDIT INSTITUTE 7% Bon at 200 per cent. of the amount of the mortgage. Price to yield over 7.60% Circular on application. JOHNSTON _~»WARD | Cor. King and Clarence Streets PEE THERMOM For inside the house side. Clear reading and accu with mercury or spirit colum Bath Thermometers in wi en protectors--something ] ought to be in every house where there is a baby. Clinical these are mot much use uni absolutely accurate. We carry only guaranteed lines. and ou * Dalry Thermometers butter and cheese maker. Veterinary Thermometers a metal protectors, DR. CHOWN'S DRUG STORE 'PHONE 348. 185 PRINCESS STREET ©. ple know at once that they are be- ing called upon for a greater levy, an? the council itself hesitates to shove up the tax rate. Experience has also shown that where assessment has been increas- ed and the tax rate lowered, it is only a matter of time until the rate creeps back to its fomer figure, giv- ing a high assessment and a high rate of levy on ft. « One of the greatest assets a city can have is a reputation for being a place where a man can atford to live in his own home, and where those who rent can do so at a price that gives a fair return to the owner that can be aT Clean suything C. COE & P. without putting too great a burden on the tenant. Such a repuation is & ¥frong fac- a little over two pounds and ¢ tains 680 calories; warmth for the Two pounds of Scranton Co not the ordinary kind, co i high as 7,500 calories; tér the entire family this cold