Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

I might say to my hon.

friend opposite and to the House that I had expected to make a statement to-day with respect to the royal commission on maritime claims. Unfortunately, I have been delayed in the matter. I will promise it by Monday at the latest, but I hope to be able to give the statement to the House on the orders of the day to-morrow.

Mr. M. LUCHKOVICH (Vegreville):

I

have received more than a dozen letters in the last week from farmers of the west asking me what the government is going to do in regard to the measures that were before the House last year, but which failed to become law owing to the dissolution of parliament. The farmers of the west are very anxious to know what is going to be done; they do not wish to see these measures go by the board, and they are afraid that some of these measures might not be re-introduced in this parliament at all. I have a letter here from P. B. Anderson, of Tofield, Alberta, dated March S, 1927, and reading as follows:

Dear Sir:

At the untimely dissolution of the last Dominion parliament there were several important measures that went "in the wash". I am referring especially to the Agricultural Credits bill and to the amendments to the Grain Act. Those two measures, it seems to me, are of the greatest importance to us farmers of western Canada. We are therefore keenly and anxiously watching and waiting to know what will be done with them at this session of parliament.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order. The hon. member cannot by way of quoting from a letter state what he could not state verbally himself. He has put his question to the government, and he cannot go on to comment on the grievance.

Mr. LUCHKOVICH:

I would like to ask the Minister of Trade and Commerce what is going to be done with the amendments to the Grain Act.

Hon. JAMES MALCOLM (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

I can assure my hon. friend that the amendments to the Grain Act will be brought down in due course. I fully expected that they would have been brought down before this, but other legislation had to take precedence. They will be brought down following the report on the maritimes.

Mr. T. E. KAISER (Ontario):

I should like to read a resolution passed by the corporation of the town of Whitby, opposing the Georgian bay canal-

Mr. SPEAKER:

The hon. member will kindly table the resolution or place a question on the order paper. That is the regular proceeding.

Mr. BENNETT:

I asked the minister the other day a question regarding the amount of business that had to be transacted before the section could apply. The matter is one of regulation?

Mr. ROBB:

Yes.

Mr. BENNETT:

I daresay that other members have received, as I have done, a circular letter from the Retail Trade Bureau of Canada dealing with this phase of the bill, and if the matter is one of regulation it is unnecessary to discuss it further than to ask the government to give it that attention which the memorandum warrants.

Mr. ROBB:

The minister who administers the act has the matter under consideration, but it is not sufficiently advanced to justify a report upon it.