Mr. FRED DAVIS (East Calgary):

I

desire to ask the government if a promise has been made to a special group, or the leader of a special group in the House, that a bill to provide for the construction of the Hudson Bay railway will not be introduced, but that to guard against the defeat of the project by the Senate a substantial amount will be included in the estimates for the work.

Hon. ERNEST LAPOINTE (Leader of the House):

1 would say to my hon. friend to

wait and see. The government has announced in the Speech from the Throne that it is going to see that the Hudson Bay railway is constructed.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

The hon. member asked

if the government of the day had given a promise.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Nothing except what is in the Speech from the Throne.

Mr. A. L. BEAUBIEN (Provencher):

I

desire to refer to a despatch from Winnipeg appearing in the Montreal Witness of February 17:

Claiming they are faced with starvation and without means of preparing their land for seeds, through lack of funds, residents of the Stuarthurn district of Manitoba have forwarded a petition to the provincial government, appealing for assistance. Disastrous floods, caused by the overflow of the Roseau river last spring, ruined the crops of the district.

I desire to ask the Minister of Immigration (Mr. Stewart, West Edmonton) a question, and the reason I ask the Minister of Immigration is that all the people residing along that river have been brought here under our immigration system. Has the minister anything to say, and if so, what action does the government intend to take?

Hon. CHARLES STEWART (West Edmonton, Minister of Immigration):

I have

not heard anything of the complaint my hon. friend has brought to the attention of the House.

Hon. CHARLES STEWART (West Edmonton, Minister of the Interior):

I did not see Sir Henry Thornton yesterday, but a day or two ago I had a letter from Mr. Vaughan, the purchasing agent of the Canadian National Railways, stating that they had instructed the British Empire Steel Corporation that they were prepared to increase the order of

120,000 tons to be mined and banked for future delivery to 135,000 tons, the additional 15,000 tons to be mined at the Princess mine. Just the other day he informed me that they had received word that the mining company were not prepared to increase that order by 15,000 tons; in other words they were not prepared to bank that coal. That was the state-

The Address-Mr. Cahan

meat I received from Mr. Vaughan. I do not recollect, but I think I am safe in saying that the excuse given was that it was going to cost too much money. Since that date I have heard nothing further in the matter, but I did hope the mining company would go ahead, mine that small amount of coal and bank it. I cannot see why it should make any material difference to them in an order of the magnitude of 135,000 tons.

Mr. J. A. CLARK (Vancouver-Burrard):

I call the attention of the government to a report that fifty families of immigrants are being settled on lands on the Fraser river, British Columbia, lately vacated by soldier settlers who were not able to make their payments. I understand these immigrants are being settled there at valuations less than those originally placed upon the lands. I should like to inquire whether it is a fact that immigrants are being settled on vacated soldier settlers' lands, at valuations below those originally placed on the lands, and if that is the. fact, why those lands are not revalued1 for our own soldiers who formerly occupied them or who now occupy them?

Hon. CHARLES STEWART (West Edmonton, Minister of the Interior):

With

reference to the first question, I will have to get the information from the Soldier Settlement Board. I do not know of that particular locality being set apart for the settlement of British settlers, but I presume the information is correct. With reference to the second question, in regard to the placing of these British settlers on the lands at a lower valuation than that placed upon the lands for the settlement of the soldiers, I have heard that complaint on two or three occasions. I will also make inquiry to find out what are the facts in that connection.

Mr. H. C. HOCKEN (Toronto Wrest Centre):

I would like to direct the attention

of the Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) to some remarks recently made with regard to one of the statutes of this country, and ask him if in his opinion it is competent for any judge in trying a case to say that the law he is administering is a barbarous law and unworthy oif any Christian country?