i

(mntinued f - m» one)‘

rP ovlnces; he r990" W" gozftovvrtlist the .never did ‘up "lug. As e met . of factme M; knoiw that e move. W1‘! by these entlemeh. g the period rillfl W|l|°h Msritlme ‘Prov s WON l!" lbral rule fro ther. ‘Absolut he, and thlt euld eXPWfl ‘ imrother stat 6M. 0 panama rend.‘ Y ml! as that 11w fcrrctl to the es. 1 will co’ t’ to my m; a , i want s

glwthia matte in. 1924. “gown rrfcrehco wn 011.5?! M? OHM". 9‘

(wmchn Sec taries, in Novem- r "ppm, ye , I sent a telegram

. d’ W!‘ h x the

r e ‘it nothing wul just what we plause.) (pl-Ion. M1‘- hon. friend

lion. Mr, i aham; lust bowl?

and received the l-t is dated Nov. 7. t0 myself, Char-

coriferen lowing Willa ‘.‘. gaildressi etown: ' .' -

"Before your message.‘ it. n. not the tendon to discuss- jurriwrry taxation on Thresduy next." '

GEORGE P. GRAHAM.

i had asked at that time I the mister ‘of Railways, who was rtly irrstrirmeilillal in ceillngthli! rrtcrorri-e. to h,ave_ this rafter acoil n11 the agenda for dis rsslnn rho conference; and there ishls‘ ply that it would not be dis- rrsssoil. That was practically a i-rrr- before it was brought. up by lri- Jlailway Committee of lilo imso of Commons, according to irc I-Xifilttt road by my hou- flt-tlil. ' \ Milt. ISiAIIIINiDPJIl-S: 'I‘hat~'_"»i.*l not OlTlKtl; it was in 1923 when Mr. lrirhum wins (lolug the talking. He uiii thriri» yi-nrs IIPFOPG this it 11nd i-r-rr brought up by Mr. Rouel. MtiildMildit STEWiAlItT: You read but, ho. hail communication‘ with lic ‘Provincirll Prorrricrslh, 1922i, ho itpparcrrtly did nirthlngfl r. ouel is clricf counsel for Canadian trtlomtl llallwxtys, tho liigal Vice ros-rlilierrl. I have some communica- linre from Mr. ilouol which .1 will road later. l lrad been endeavor- ng, as 1 will show, to have a gcn- rul lntirrlPrtovlnclal iOonferondo oiled, betaause i h-nd learned that hat was tho only way in which lrls matter could be disposed of . . _ tan agreement heitiween the Pro- ceo. Some on‘ ‘the rm-ovinceo ‘alrcuily receiving tlrls = xation. Other Provinces, more J’ pfllfifllly‘ the Maritime Provinces, “ shes to gctllrelr share and a trihutlon could not be made lthout an agreement between all _ re Provinces, 0n the 8th of rMnrclr; 19:6, I wrote Mr.‘ Rmrel -with regard l.o that, as follows:-

‘ilirai- sir: l uutiorstand the matter of permitting the provinces to tux tho Canadian- National. Rail- ways has been under con- sidorutlim for some time.

I would‘ he very grateful ‘to ho informed just what pro- gress is being made, and what (‘UllTl-HP, if airy, will he taken.

Yours faithfully, J. D. STEWART.

~.i\nil l ltavegn reply here from Mi‘. Jtniiill dat8IMarcli..13tih}'1W6. which l lgulil. is rrotqnecelseary‘ for mo o head it, except the last ipzrragraphI lic"-explains thesitrlu- liorr in n girneral wiry, as “have Jilffiflily outlined then hoj _ :

“My owu view is thdt“"tive will never get. anywhere through discussion with the. ‘Provinces individually, and that it would be expedient that ‘ representatives of all the Pro- vinces should get together and iIli-liilllzifl tire trucr-rtion amicably with the Dominion Govern- mont, ‘rjtu the view, ‘of oquulizaipn." - ‘Plmt/waadlrisr view art ‘that time.

"flit! is *1 reply to him, dated the Nth.‘ arch. 1926:—

"i W51 Htoothanlc you for ypurieiter- offhe mu instant. n‘. Provincial Taxation. '

“i may/hay that before. re- flelvlnslydur ‘letter I wrotoao

tho 13'9"“ 6. l1 , _~ that a joint ovin lat ~ Conference _ _ _ held as soon as tho ‘Le w {of ttige Provincial i; a ures a ver. That, I jéfiilllk-t he 91km ‘i-propor ‘l "l, ‘ rupand settle this miter so Yer-as thcrProvinces (m! concerned. 1 gather that n_l.lre b ‘sl of

i!

' . 1W a mi May ti“. “Iflrwlltlme the ProivlrrctlFfldrr- f" hill! been irr-mused font,

ti! farther reference to. tits Railway Taxation, ‘

‘i, ed ‘in ”'l'v.;'.ii‘.i° 3;“- ~ -t t not be e good °""""“""lv or .lebtlln p above matter‘! ‘ g ‘f? ' . u Yours faithfully, M J D

fingadjtguiall‘ o ‘the-e

clnl Conference Ottawa on. the ‘

,5: ‘ t‘. fix

r1‘

~ that ‘time through the assurance. to

rs, of Ontario and {essury

l

. thom,—knowing whet '-t-.he_ il-Iotl. J.

, “itlifigqbéecnes

3w». w. ‘i .' mo» virdldir,’ sot

. "I i . . I , _'~ up here on June 7th." , " G. A. BEI‘.L. -’

5 “ gghiflth was the fir-snotty ot the hi e rig of‘ the. Conference. ‘rim, .1 thipk, eubctcntistes my claim, Mr. ,gsesker. that towns throughmy '5 one» ‘that Jilat tnstjter, was brought up at the Inter-Provincial Conference. "(Applarise.) Later y on 5 l will-fiend sometorres ndence betw ‘ply-myself and Premier ‘Fer- guso ," to show tlrat I had that matter placed on the agenda of the Conference for discussion.

Tribute to Premier Ferguson

'i‘he Leader of the Opposition ' has said that I topk no ‘part in that discussion-that I was not there. I want to assure him that. I was present from the beginnlugi to the end of the Conference. if hefneeds‘ anything further than‘ my word I can very easily get, him all kinds of testimony, (Applause) :' Furthermore, I was present when Mr, Rouel, was there. I cause him" to be__-n txlfied of the time '_ hen . thin ml: 6'1‘ would be'brou9ht' up. My hon. friend reads there- where Premier Ferguson stated that the Maritime Provinces should get this subsidy. 0f course he said it. Premier Ferguson was the friend of the Maritime Provinces from be- ginning to snd of this Conference. (iApplauscJ Hesuid ll, ‘becausehe was chairman of the Conference and he was our spokesman and communicated the decision of the meeting, naturally, to the delega- tion tlrut was there from the Rail-

way.

My. Iion, friend quotes Mr- B01161 as shying that. Messrs. ‘Rhodes. Baxter. and myself said rrothilll-‘t- Well, we ‘were all present at the conference. Jviessrs. Baxter and Rhodes nraile t-lre announcement to‘ the meeting. iIB it o/crirno orr my purl. t.o have allowed my colleagues u» annolince our agreement to life members. it‘ so i am willing 1010i“? ‘the blame for iii-at. I do give great qredlt to my hon. colleague: iMessrs. Baxter and Rhodes for getl ting for this Province almost “$10,000 a year more than we would otherwise receive. l have shown however that I was instrumental ln having the matterlof railway. tax- ation brought up and of having [the Railway delegation, including Mr. Raoul, present at that meeting. (‘Appla-usc.) - The Duncan Commission

‘Now there is the presentation or the Duncan Report. The only credit I have ever claimed with regard to that was. that i1 was instrumental in .huvlng,_irbat ilnterprovincial confer- ence called at which this matter was tbrcd to come ‘up for idiscusrr ion. With regard to the Report un-d to our claims against the Federal Government, this is it wrery old sub- ject, 1 will state ‘here in u general way that. the lConserwative Govern- ments ever since this Province en‘. tererl Confederation have u. very proud record in the matter of obtain- ing our claims against. Federal Gov-

419mm

.ha.ve the Intorprovlnblal Confer.

W office ewe, found’ this situation:

"l9 Nwrdu 1a your office he nuulei filrfflmlolis effort to secure our‘ cleijue. _., _ . l

rewritten STEWART; I will tell i m! ll"!- friend most emphatically that there were very few records of ‘up kind tetit there. I searched‘

dl, lfllntly avid I hed to go over 1|

eat deal of work tihpt l should not . ‘j hsd to go over if those record; were there that should my; bu" them. . TflQSE RECORDS WERE ‘Hoyvlii need 3 pqwgflul" yvnlproscopejo find any of Mr, new, ‘records oi lnyttflng that he aid to present those claims. (Loud Arr, blouse. )‘ , - I i (Mr, Saunders did not reply.)

inter-Provincial Conference

i i

I a-m now spins ‘l0 shew you, Mr. Speaker, what efforts I moire w ence called. we came ‘into Politically (there was an adverse Government at. Ottawa. Facing the “alias. on from this point .thc must effect ve method would probably he to approach the Federal Govern- ment wlth u wmprehenstve sclrenro d, ling with ,a.ll the Provinces. ,ln otr er words, we would abe much more likely to succeed if we had be- hind us .the support of ail the other Provincial Governments. With that in view I began quite early to have an imerprovlncicl Conference ar- t’. , ‘i, because previously on very many oocesions the matter of cu . eldiee had been dealt with in this way; more than one that. resulted in increase of subsidy to one or more Provinces, and on‘ one ircr-irs- ior1, in 1907, in a complete reuiljtrst- ment. In December‘. 1923, a couple of months after- ‘taking office, i wrote to Premier Ferguson of Orr-i tcrlo. At that time, I want you m1 note, Premier Ferguson trrril rrryzsirli", were the only Conservative. l'rcm-‘ iers in ‘Canadu:—~

Charlottetown, l". l~l. l. Dec. 27th, l '. .\iI-y dehr Mr. Ferguson:

You will remember thut when ‘we "were. In Quebec we lrrril a sort of tentative aruurrgorrrvril. that mi lirterprnvlnciztl (‘inrfi-r- encc should be ire ii some firm- ln- the near future. We lrcrc irr (the Murltimeulruve bccrr giving this tnuttcr further corrsiiitrr- ation and are most imxlirus that such cuulcrorrco should be iii-Lil. i suppotsir it is inripossiblo llu to have it before the sessions oi‘ our. several Legislatures. Worllil the month of May he it suitable time?

l would be very glad to have an expression of your opinion. l ‘think you will: remember that. yourself arid Mr‘. 'I‘uschereatr agreed that you would call this cortferctrcc when t‘he time was arranged.

Yours faithfully, ' J. D. STEWVART.

At the last lnterprovincial Con- ference, l think in 1911 or 11118, a, rcsolnrtion ‘was passed that future conferences should be called upon trh-e joint request of the Premiers of Quebec and Ontario. 'i‘lrut is w-hy, ‘when Iihad‘ the conference with ‘tlrc two oi; them at Quebec, in October rszzfr pill. that matter or them. 1 have a reply back, ilatcd Jan. ilril, 192i, from Prerrrior‘ ilk-r- guson:——

Dear Mr. ‘lltewart:

ernments from time ‘to time. I need. not go-any further brick than. tihci your 1912 to establish that, when ‘the largest individual‘ amount ‘of-i pllbgldyaygver granted to this Prirv-l ‘lnce wasobtalneil by the Mathiesou; Government, and. lltut without shut-I ting olfour future claims irr any Wily. fever. ‘n; u‘. our years that preceded 1928, during the period my hon- rrlend’: Government were in office, whet was done to implement any of our claims? there. For the grcaten rpart of that time there were two Liberal Gov- ernments in line. What. do ‘we find "in. regard‘ to the financial situation duriuguvbat time? We find: at. the time‘ they came into power that. our revenues ‘were very apparently in- adequate. Zlt WES impossible, and everybody knew it, to make revenue and expenditure meet. As has been said before, they obtained power at.

the people ct" this Province that they would practice economy and would do everything that was nec- in order to nluke the iilnanc- lalhltuutlon of the Province what it shouiitl‘ be with .the than existing rovirnues. Yet when they came lu- we know whutthcy dlil. It they were in earnest, with the ‘history of this Province on open ‘book before

A. MIIIIIIOHOII had done in similar strait it was their manifest duty rip ma o some effort at least tofiob- tain m that. source, the revenue , but instead of ‘hieklnfany 1m‘. t» um dlredtipnj’ they”; c their hands into the pockets of o r own. people; and from that day on- wards, until they went out of office, there wee not one move‘ mutter-not of» dttempt pf redllntlon, so fir n there '_ls shy record, of the‘ claims ' ofl this Province for Increased sub- sldy; ~ .4‘ |d 1 ‘Ifenhsps I am going too for/There we an academic debate in this ' e ‘and: some speeches war hon, trlendfiuade i! con- laet‘ your. ne hefle ' ‘ii {form of a, o‘ not go very ‘ are not. followed up, as" .

n elem-la‘ delnonetutod by tn v air dlilmal- _ ct. A

, _ failures nine

. ~) y hob. frlo n

or! . ..ir.“l‘§

which I ented‘ M. u

. irifihi

r

fit! ‘Wffii,

The opportunity was '

some year:

‘ ‘Mt.

out . ‘my §N|ll,1ndfI_ I lngorvwimiresarii to m -‘ , _, 511m on‘) {sway what he has stated w” ‘

THE‘ Pouaumrriiioiivh GUARDIAN

‘i-kuow that the matter of ‘Railway lillwllon has been eu- sltllltt the attention ot the Federal Department or pa“. ways and uu lnterproviuctal ‘Ciillffirellce has been proposed iu that conneciilorr. ,,

I would (be very glad to dlear from you concerning the whole matters at your convenience. l\V‘lih kindest personal regards.

Yours freithfully, J. D. STEWART.

Further Action By Premier Stewart.

Thcrfl, you sec, the matter was mentioned again with regard iofloviernnrcnt‘ lSo the corres- Jendenice ‘goes on, until finally it; was dropped because ot‘ the inubll- of several oi’ the other Premiers to atiieud. 191' Feliuuson was rrnalble to get the attention of iiho other 111mm. iers in the mattenand I want to remind my Hon. frlicnd lihat they "They were unable or. unwilling, or for some reason they iliil not agree. 11ml so the. conference hail to go ~lo 1925 it was absolutely impossible to t-lrlnk of such a thing because of the several being held. There was a Federal election dur- ing the summer and elections irr News Scntia auil ll think in other Provinces; at least. the season for

Railway taxatiion.

ltY or refusal

were Liberal Premiers.

over ,t'or that your.

elections ‘that we: e

r

filled with elections

again.

.\iy dear lhcrrricr- Ferguson:

For some years ulre'.Govc-rn< rrrent of this Province ‘has hail irr (iOlllumllllilltill malt-lug appli- cation to tlri- Fiwlieritl Govern- ment for u. furilrur increase in Provincial suibsiily. l now nort- |,lr:ri among lire Fiftitffiil limits- ures foreshadowed in one ro- rsror-iug or ‘lrunillrlg over ‘to tho l'l‘()Vllli'.i: iii‘ Alberta llUl‘ rrutur- iii rcsuirrccs. This will no iloirhli lri- firliolvcil by similar‘ lrczrtmerrl. lo uiro other “Zest- crrr Provinces, and so the qrri-s- "lion of .~r gi-rrvrhl ro-irdjrrslrnerri of Provincial slnlrsiiiii-s will be rziisvil. IIIHIPPII, ‘I feel that. 0,, gfellfllill principles nlro lirrrc has it-rrl-veil when such "gener- ti] ‘lfl-‘tllljlllillllfllli. siruultl ‘he rnzriiis, l hail ilciziilieil to ‘alllily to the Fcileriii (hivorntrrcrrt for‘ up (lpllfirlilllity in presulil. Hr.- (‘litllll-H o1‘ this ‘Province, hilt it. has occurrcil in rue that iv!- slrirulil ‘have utr lnliavr-provinciul (‘orrfcrcucc at whiolr- some general plan of rc-iriijustrrtirut might be agreed upon. which could be slrbnrittetl to the Fcd~ eral (lirvearrrmerrr. ' hy all rllrc ‘Provinces jointly. As you irro trlvurc, there are questions of great importance to all tire Provinces, ‘consider- ation oi‘ wiricir has 1011;; irocu awaiting silch =a ‘conference. ‘Arr attempt has recently ibcerr rirrude ‘by smne of the lrvesinrrr ‘Provinces to iietll with some of these problems irrdlviiltritlly‘. Such a policy, l .tlrr'nk, is pridi- gal and irr-effective. \Ve (‘an ‘only arrive at results a1. a general conference.

'Ymr will rcmem-lrei- that I have already written several times to yourself and Prcnr icr Tascherrcurr ringing such a. conference. burr orr each occa-

“ Ixruite well remember tlrc ‘uuders rrdilng at Quebecjirttt there s ould be some Itirtlrt-u Unterproviuclql Conference ur.» ranged, and the month of May, as you sirggest, would be satis- factory to me if the arrange- . ents were mails for abmlt tire

ll st of Mayi \_ Prompted by your letter,- i-um Wrltlllvg Mi‘. Tuschercau ‘tiriiay risking lrlm for his ‘view, and suggesting that ‘we cull-which u

' conference together. , Yours faithfully,

G. ill. FERGUSON.

Again in March Iwroto: ManCh 11th. 192i My dear Premier Ferguson:

While Iamvery loath to trouble you during your ses- sion, I am atrxious. to. know as definitely as possible whether on not we can count on, an irr? terprovincial Conterelilce in May- coming.

We are just now entering ill'p0fl outfllogislative session here and a definite knowledge on ‘this matter would he valu- obleto mo, y Yours faithfully.

J. ‘D. STEWART-

.‘l have his reply. March 14th, the

l

J i

My dear Mr. Stewart:

I Ihiwle ‘before m0 your let- ter 0t‘ tiho 11th lnsoarrt.

I am very much.- interested‘ in the proposed Intcrprovincist Conference. 5,] om ‘writing ‘lhevnrlous ‘Prime Mlnlstors‘ to set.‘ their views upon the sub- and asking them w-hut imuvitters they suggesLJthal. would be ‘brought ‘before such conference, .1 hope ‘to ‘be able Ito arrange ltln rlihe early part of Mey, as you will remember that is the date we tenialiively agreed upon, should such a confer-aloe be ‘arranged.

ll= hope that you will ‘have e Wairy 1 .1 D‘ ' a | s. \

‘- Your! faithfully, 0- FEQQTIQON.

IWWOIQ

ence" Premier Fflr!

slon something intervened. \\'oulil it the [rossihle lo hold sin-h a conference this iSprlng tiftcr our Legislatures rise‘! Personally, lshall ‘bu. ready any time in April. My opin- ion is llrrri. you until Premier 'i‘asi-lrcreau should pelremptnr- iiy i-nll tltis r:ouferenee, setting llri- dhlc. if we ‘watt for con- sent front all the‘ iI-‘ritvlnccs, tlri- (‘irrlli-zerrco, i fear‘. will rri-vcr- be lit-ill. l would be much irliligeil for your decision at an early (la-we. as I am ‘committed to the course mentioned iu the first part oi‘ this letter, so far as this Province is concerned. I our wrltiiug a similar‘ let- tcr to Premier ‘Taschereau. Yours faithfully.

J. o. STEWART. int-airy (Ir-iron to on... sortie slcp to;

.\ly letter to ‘Premier Taschor-i ciru \\‘.'rs in tilt! smile tcrmg exact- ‘i lrirve u reply from Premier

llfcrgusorr, tin-lied Alztrch 17th:

y.

.\ly dear PremlerwSterva/rt:

‘l have before me yours of the ltlllr. ii entirely agree, in view of the pending action at. ‘Ottawa-u, some sllepfl should he lirken to bring about u ire-ad- justment. of Provincial strrbsiil- les. l have‘ written Mr. Tas- cltcreau. suggesting what. u rrrccting might lbe cailettirr May lifter the various legisla- tures‘ rhnvo arisen. ‘l note that you say tho-ii you could nllom] n, Conference in April. hilt I ilorrill. it‘ ‘I could ilil lillfll- ll think iii would be =wcli if we coulil have an opportunity of giving tho llliltllli‘ brief cfilliillb

‘crailion lrrrntcdialely utter the liouso, rises. .

ll. would ‘he glad r110 know if n. ilirl-u. somctlnrc about the middle of Muy would the satis- factory to you.

Yours faithfully, ‘G. H.‘ FERGUSON.

As a result of that wwespond- ulon lrehen to " the other vr|_ ' ' ' Prem-

regard to thrprepeses con-

fer-sul‘: ,_ ,

p» , and." tinsllyended in the confidence-being called. think it is necessary that I should continue‘ treading all this corres~ pondonco. _ ‘eleglrwm ffom. Premier Iwfrusn

I do not.

However, lI had ya

‘ ireo-‘rar. ‘ ‘Without a “Will. ‘the

7ifiirsotn-rslrs, . "ioroou iirst noblest -I‘ III '- djltstmerlt or.’

liking for subjects to place on the

(A col)!’ of ‘my reply of ‘ . U19 . t _ im- ' s "Blllnid-

on is, another {"59" i!

_ nda. .

wThen 3i. so, . -' Rellvidy tax“

Prem-

lfllilillg such a cirrrlerence was so and irrtlrer‘ b_,lruslucss ‘that it was absolutely inr- birssible to have a conference lrclil. So it was not urrlill hlzrrch 1926 that l was able to trzrke the matter up I wrote Premier Idergus- I. on on Oiirrch 13th, 1926, as follows:

‘marry other ‘

.- . . . "its . lmflillbvinelal Conference and placing on the agend; m, mllltrfof‘ sliwsy Taxation; and i MVP Pmdltced correspondence to show that "i hid the mangr- i1. forwards hi‘ , l1} ,u gt the Con. ‘lqflnce. '1" e e 0t er papers in my ‘Mild sue telegrams ll received l" rezejril lo she» progress being "Hide in calling the Conference. mid which l need not read at this stage.

Mr. ‘fiaiundijre deflected;

My hon. friend hue-made nu» M1191‘ Chaise: that in the brief which I presented to the Federal at Ottawa no mention is_ made or‘ Railway m“, course -l may say, in en 01 my lrou. fr-lerril, that heilid not know the facts. Otherwise, 1 an sure hc would not rhwve made that statement. because the matter of ‘R-"Wey fixation was mortuary and finally disposed of during the Continence. That brief which he referred to was not prepared, not a word of it was writthl. until the lnFefhrovincial Conference was Ovtir ‘find the matter of Railway Tixillonolsposed of. Why should l put an item In my brief which had already b¢en decided and Whtrc we had thy Lise of the money? {Apmaugey M)’ Bfllliulizues, Messrs. ttvrsenatrlt and Will‘. will bear me. out when ‘l l-Iely that rrrrrueillateiy after the Conference. ‘was over and irh-e prom- 15*’ ‘We 11‘ ‘ell. we began to pre~ pare (hi.- lrrict‘ to bc presenter] to lllB Federal] Goverrrrurent from our nrnterrirl and ‘frirnr tho research work l ilril while l was at‘ Ottawa. do not tirink liter-e is very much more ihlll. l can suy on this Sllltlwi. You know 0i’ l-ize rrrativr str-bseqiretrtly. iron. iricrrii git