Mr. BENNETT:

Anyone who has seen

the hon. gentleman's correspondence with the former president of the Canadian National Railways as to the establishment of an executive officer in Vancouver will understand that he is an authority on expenditure. Take the question of loans to provinces.

Mr. HANBURY:

It was stolen from my

files.

Mr. BENNETT:

I think not.

Mr. HANBURY:

I know it.

Relief Act, 1933-Mr. Bennett

Mr. BENNETT:

All I know is that I saw a photograph of the document which came legitimately and properly before the committee.

Mr. HANBURY:

How did you get possession of that?

Mr. BENNETT:

Through the mail.

Mr. HANBURY:

From whom?

Mr. BENNETT:

I cannot say whom; I

cannot carry it in my mind.

Mr. HANBURY:

I accept the Prime Minister's explanation that he did not go into my files.

Mr. BENNETT:

But at any rate the hon. gentleman admits it is correct.

Mr. HANBURY:

Absolutely.

Mr. BENNETT:

There is no reason why

he should be so ashamed of himself.

Mr. HANBURY:

No, I am not the Prime

Minister.

Mr. BENNETT:

If he is not ashamed of

himself, he should be.

Mr. HANBURY:

Not at all.

Mr. BENNETT:

He was willing to waste

public money. Of course he was, provided he got some political advantage out of it; that is all.

Who would be able to say how much money should be loaned to Saskatchewan or Alberta, for instance, until the crop conditions were known? Who would be able to know, until all the facts became apparent, what should be done?

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

How did they know in war time how much was needed?

Mr. BENNETT:

In war time it was a

question of buying and selling munitions of war, and a question of the cost of putting so many men in the field, which is known to almost a dollar per head per year. It is all worked out in great detail, and there is no trouble about it in the world. But will any hon. member say that any federal government dare accept the responsibility of providing for a limited sum that would admit of no elasticity with respect to crop conditions in any province of which we know nothing at the time? How would you know how much to advance in connection with any of the items respecting the assistance of agriculture and matters of that kind? Let us get down and grip these facts as facts, not as theories of irresponsible people. Let us grip them as facts, and what are the facts?

The facts are that in its first session this government asked this house to vote $20,000,000 to assist in the extraordinary conditions that prevailed in this country. This parliament granted that money. That money was not expended during the fiscal year that ended March 31, 1931, but it was spent subsequently, the whole of it practically in public works-there was very little of direct relief- which afforded employment to many thousands of men during the winter and enabled them to get through without accepting direct relief.

In the next year, as the right hon. gentleman has said, the government asked parliament for power to enable it by order in council to deal with peace, order and good government in this country. What happened last week? The congress of the United States for the first time in its history, put through its senate and House of Representatives between a certain hour in the afternoon and that same evening a resolution to enable the comptroller of currency to march into all state financial institutions to prevent them from being destroyed. We anticipated that. We took care to ask this parliament that we might be able to deal with every matter that might arise in connection with the government of this country in order to maintain the integrity of our institutions, and by reason of that fact no Canadian bank has shut its doors, and no financial institution of any importance in this country has ceased to function or carry on its business. Why? Because we had taken the necessary steps to foresee and do what they are now doing in congress to deal with the situation. Just since I have taken my seat here a message has been placed in my hands that the currency circulation in the United States in the last week increased 8732,000,000. Seven hundred and thirty-two million dollars! And that they are in a very grave state of apprehension with respect to the whole financial structure. But we asked this parliament to give us the power to deal with peace, order and government, and pass the necessary orders in council that did save the integrity of our institutions and enable this country to carry on. I would like the most captious critic in this house to say where we would have been if we had not had the necessary legislation to enable us to do so.

Mr. BOUCHARD:

Whom did you save?

What about the farmers?

Relief Act, 1933-Mr. Bennett