Mr. HANSON:

That is why the minister

is1 where he is.

Mr. LEGER:

I wish to draw the attention of the minister to an item which seems to have been neglected by the agent in the district. I refer to a very important light on the mainland, at Richibucto Cape. I understand the keeper has asked the agent to look after it and get it put in proper shape, but it has not been done. Some complaint was made last year. This place is open from the shore right up to the light and the cattle go in. The agent paid no attention to the complaint and it has' not been remedied. Therefore, I call the attention of the minister to it so that he may see that the matter will be attended to in the future,

Mr. LAPOINTE:

The hon. member is not the only member who is in such a position. There are many others. We are asking for repairs of that kind. This vote formerly was $1,000,000, but it has been decreased to $850,000, and the unwillingness to increase the appropriation is responsible for certain necessary repairs, such as those my hon. friend mentioned, not being done, but I will try to meet his views.

Mr. BOYS:

It was only $800,000 in 192021.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I mean a few years

ago, especially before the war

Supply-Marine and Fisheries

Mr. HANSON:

While this may not be

exactly relevant to this item, I should like to get some information in regard to the tugboat Murray Stewart. Last year there was an appropriation of $100,000 in the estimates to replace the Lambton that was lost in lake Superior in a gale with large loss of life. On that occasion the minister, in making an explanation, stated that no decision had been reached whether a boat would be purchased or one would be built. Later on it was discovered that the minister had purchased from one, Mr. Stewart, a gentleman living in Toronto very close to Mr. M. J. Haney, president of the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company, a ship called the Murray Stewart. This vessel, I am instructed, was built at Port Arthur some few years ago. I am informed that her hull was new but her machinery was old, having been transferred from some other vessel; that the purchase price paid by the department was some $80,000. I am further advised that that vessel had been sent down from the Great Lakes to the harbour of St. John, not under charter, but in the hands of agents for sale, and that at any time that boat could have been purchased for $25,000. Later on, after the Lamb-ton was lost, friends of the government, including Mr. M. J. Haney and his friend, Mr. Stewart, of Toronto, had this boat transferred from the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company to Mr. Stewart's name, and they unloaded her on the the Minister of Marine and Fisheries at the sum of $80,000. This boat was intended to replace an icebreaker. I understand that she is absolutely useless for that purpose, and that the $80,000 expended for that purpose might just as well have been thrown away; that this spring boats had to be hired to do in Midland harbour the work that she was designed to do. I should like to have some information about [DOT]this boat other than what has been given in -answer to an inquiry made through the order paper.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I must say that this

boat was to replace the Lambton, as my hon. friend has said, and an appropriation of $100,000 was voted last year for that purpose. The department was in immediate need of a boat for the work which had to be performed by her. Only three boats which were suitable for that purpose were offered to the department. They were visited and inspected by the engineers of the department.

Mr. HANSON:

What are their names?

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I cannot give the names just now.

Mr. HANSON:

The deputy will know.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

The Murray Stewart

was recommended to me by the officers of the department as being the one best suited for the purpose. It is a steel tug, length 119 feet, beam 26 feet, gross tonnage 234-46, registered tonnage 92 25, speed 11 knots. It was built in 1918 by the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company, complete except for the engine, which was rebuilt at the time of the construction of the hull. She was purchased for $80,000 from James Frederick Martin Stewart, of Toronto, to replace the Lambton which was lost on lake Superior in the spring of 1922. The boat will also be used to render assistance to ships handling grain in Georgian bay ports at the close of navigation each year. Although she is not intended for an icebreaker, she is much more suited for that work than the one she has replaced.

Mr. HANSON:

That may be true, but

if she was purchased for an icebreaker sha could not perform that duty.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

She never was purchased for an icebreaker.

Mr. HANSON:

That was the explanation

given by the minister last year.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

To assist ships in handling grain.

Mr. HANSON:

I think I can refer the

minister to the pages of Hansard. Is it not a fact that the engines in this boat were second-hand engines taken out of another boat, and that when she was purchased she had no engines?

' Mr. LAPOINTE: The engines were in

excellent condition, although second-hand.

Mr. HANSON:

That, of course, is not

answering my question.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I said "although secondhand."

Mr. HANSON:

I beg pardon. Did the

minister see Mr. Haney in regard to the purchase from Mr. Stewart? If he had any correspondence with him, I would be glad >f he would produce it.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I do not know the

gentlemen. I would not recognize them anywhere if I saw them

Supply-Marine and Fisheries