' Ing the latter by Iotnore than

commas Lesrsnsrcnr. ‘

Hoes: or Asss:assr.r, March 1868. DEBATE ON THE SALARIES BILL With respect to this Bill, Mr. (‘tux firsr gave notice. in the rilrr Bonk, that he wool‘ more for leave to introduces Hill to establish at fired Sl- tsry for the Queen's Printer; hrii, when intro- duced, it was. by its title, (II‘c'-IIIEII to he a Bill to procidefirsd salaries [or (In Attorney Guunral and Me QILCCIPI PTI7lIt'1'. III its pi.zJ:~.~.s iliriiuult lltr Coniitiittee of the whole llonse. .-oiisidrrarble ulter- ariorrs and addiirnrrs, liriiwver, were made to it; and, when it finally pzrsssd, it \\‘:ts rrsa Bill iiititu~ letl “ An Act to establish the Salaries payable to tho Attorney General, and Solicitor Gerri-rail, and Clerk ofihe Crown, and I’roilroirotsr_t of Prince Edward Island. for tlrter public servrt:es.”] he Bill was read the firsi time on lllt‘i9III March. On moving for leave to intr as it. Mr. Cuax very briefly stated ttis object of it, which he explained to he the esiatrtistiriig of fixed salaries, in lieu of fees and charges, for the Attorney General and the Quseri’s Prirrter,,otI ac- count of al usiness,or worlt, which should be done. for the Government of the 1.0l0ll_V, b_\ the geiitletrteti who held these appointments. Such a trto-le of paying these Otficsrs for their services. he said, \M‘ItltI be much more satisfactory to the country, tlisti the present one, as they would llleti positively ltriow wltat they had to pay for stated public services; and it would also, he thought, he more acceptable to those Otiicr-rs tliemselves, be- cause it would relieve them from all annoyance, caused by any cavilling about. orcanvassing oi", the items of their charges; and the fixed salaries which it would be just and reason.-rble to allow them. could easily be determined by taking the rive- rsga of the fees and charges allowed and psi them, y the Government, for the last three or four years. Hon. Mr. Psutait spolre at some length in favor of the principle of the Bill. In doing so. he took an opportunity to institute a pretty close compari- son between the chrrrses of the present Queen’s Printer rind those oi his prodect.-slur in oflice. on uccnuttt til work done for the public or the Go- vcrniiroiit : with the intention of showing that the charges tiftlte forrner greatly exceeded those of the latter. 'I'lre hon. and learned gentleman said, that a comparison of the charges made for work done for the public, by the present Queen's Prin- ter, in I851, with those made, for similar worlt, by his predecessor, would shew that the former extravsgantly exceeded the latter. He would. he said. first s alt of the charges made by the present Queen's rittter, at the outset of his business in that capacity. in 185], miin_v of which were unne- cessary and uncalled for. First, then, he would instance his charges for adverii~ing the the Pro- elamatiomreapectinz lhr i’ostOll'ice Bill,—7s. 6d for advertising the Prticlatnatioii. corrtrniraiions 48. 0d., and printing and posting oi ltitttd~biIIs I0s.,— in all .€I 2s. 'l‘lrt-se publications were not at all essential, and certainly the cnniiriuotions ware not necessary, nor was it laid down as a rule that they should made. Such continuatitms were not held necessary except with respect to Proclamations concerning the Assembly. Now, unless it could shawn, that that Priiclaination was one wliiclr should havebecn published fourteen or fifteen times ii:was clear that that charge—-- i -s.—was un- necessary,fur it had been previously advertised iiithe old Gazette. on theiith .Iuly, and the vi hole charge, mails by Mr. Has:-tril. for the oriciiiril insertion a-ril the c'IlIllllII.'IIl0IlI was only lIs- 3d. Aizniri, by_compitring the accounts of the late and the present Queen‘s Printer, it would be found that the latter charged 11s. 3d. for advertising the appointment ot twelvo magistrates, whilst the former char d only 5s. for it similar notice. Hon. M!" on. The char e of 5s. made by Mr. Hitszard,was for advertising the appoint- ment of one magistrate only. on. Mr. I. The dilference in space between the two would, on a corn rison, be

- O

HASZARD’S fiazerrn. APRIL 30.

a sheotof8 pages, his predecessor, for a similar service, under contract, had received only £2 9-: and ifany gentleman would take the lrlittlllb.‘ to compare the work of the former with that of the sttsr, he would find Mr. I:lsasard‘s to be several lines longer, and also broader, in a page; an , what was also very material, he would see that the paper was also very much superior to that of the other. In that of the present Queen‘s Printer, it was observable that. in the tint part, the paper wris var good. but that, in the remainder of the work, it was very irlfcrior. The diflcrenccs which ho had ulr-.-ndy exposed were suficient to shew how much the charges of the present Queen's Printer exceeded tltusc of his predecessor, und wlittt II. vtist dif- ference there was between the mode in wit the business of tho oilicc to which they rofci-red wits (‘0lIl.IlI0ll'tI by its present incumbent, and that in which it wits managed by his predeces- littd it been convenient for hint to devote bn additional hour's time to an inspection of the Accounts of that Oflico for 1852, he would, he had no donbt,havo been able to show, in them , siiriilur excess and extravagance of charges. Of 1852, the lust t uurtor was not laid before the Ilousc 2 why be new not; but he did know that, for- merly, it had slwitya been sent in, in time to be on by the Committee on Public Ac- counts. The excess and extravagance which he had already pointed out, were, however, he thought, quite snliioicnt to show that, with respect to the oflice in which they had occurred, some better protection for the nblic was re- quired than that which was a ordcd by the B(.‘l‘l.lI.IIIIOB of the Executive Council, even under tlrc Responsible System ;and, he wits of opinion, that the best romcdy would be the establishing, its for its possible, of is fixed Sslur , for the performance of the duties of the 0 on, as wits pfioposed by the Bill, which should, therefore, vc his support. Hon. Mr. Cones. It was not to be expected that he should be qtiite as well able to enter into a minute examination ofthc Queen's Printers Ac- counts, as the hon. member for Charlottetown who lisd just sat down; that gentleman having, its believed, been assisted, for a month, by Mr. Hssaard, in comparing accounts, and in making out the statement, the particulars ol which he had just detailed to the House. It did not, however. reflect much credit upon the hon. gentleman. and was certainly very far from being impartial and complete. One remarkable omission which he had made was his having been silent as to the reasoit why, in Mr. Haas‘-ird's otlice. a contract, had been taken by Mr. Hasa.a1't‘l’s son, not by lrirnself, at the reduced rate of £2 9s 0, when his own charge, a few years ago, for similar work was £2 l5s 0d. The reason \\ as that the printing of the Laws be- ing put tip to tender. Mr. I-Iaszsrd could not com- pets, with any chance of success, in his own name, without admitting the extravagance oihis general charges for similar work. and without running the visit of being cut down, in future, to the rate of his own tender. It was, no doubt true, that, in the course oi a minute comparison between the charges of the present and the late Queen’s Prin- ter, ii might be fouird that, in one or two items, the charges of the former it very little exceeded those of similar items in the accounts of his pre- tlecessor in otiice; but he was satisfied. as well from his own krioivledze of the accounts of both, ttltbou b he had not indeed compared them very c oscly, as from the information which he had received concernin thctri from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary on other mem- bers of the Government whose duty it had been strictly to investigate them, that is general com- parison would prove that the present Queen's rinter was much more modern in his charges than his predecessor had been. It was, indeed, is fact that the amounts paid to the present uocn‘s Printer, since he entered u n the oliice, greatly exceeded what had annual y been paid, in a like period, to his predecessor; but the

s-. O 5"

found to be scarcely any thing, whilst the in- crease of the charge was at the rtttc of 125 per cent. Next he observed in the Account of the resent Queen's Printer (Journal for 1852, pit. £10) two chitrges,amountin to 0s for advertis- ing the it potntment ofH. . B rne,Esq. tobe Justice 0 Peace, and of Mr. ‘hreshcr to be Deputy Secretary. These were simple un- nounceinents of the ap intments; and t ey had been twice previou y ublished in the old Gazette: he therefore, hal the publication of ‘them by the present Queen's Printer to necessary, and the charge, consequently, im-

0 r. Pr[Hi>n. .\lr. Cons. They were published then by Mr. strtrd hen he very imprope assumed to himself the right of continuing to issue the R0 al Guzette.] Three of the Acts of the Session 0 1851 had also, it it peered, been

ublished both by the litte an the present een‘s Printer; for which work the former charged £2 6s. 3d. and the latter £5 55. 0d.

.thc excess being £2 18s. 9d. Also in comparing the chrrgps mode by the lute und the present Queen's rinter for advertising it proclamation res ting the o ning of Ports to ' vessels,it would be seen that the former charged

6d. whilst, for exact] tor, the former char 22s.

5a. is , or tsdvertisin for tenders for II. Steamboat for Charlottetown Ferry, the resent Quecu’s Printer, it would be soon. by re erence to his Account, had charged £2 2s. 6d. whilst for a similar advertisement, Mr. llasmrd had charged only £1 10s. 0d. the excess being 12s. 6d.' ' Again, it would be found that, for work, in tho ublicittion of the Acts of the session of 1851, or which the ltttc Qucon’s Printcr was

allowed play £4 10s. Oil. the present Queon,s

Printer cliarypsd, and been itllowed, by the Executive Counc , £6 8:. 0d.-—tbat was £1 18s. lid. on the same amount of worlt, over what was allowed to his predecessor ; the Exe-

cutive Council havingstruck oifone-oi hth from

Mr. Ilssaitrd's charge for printing t e Acts of tits session of 1851, whilst they ud allowed,

as would be seen b reference to the Journal of

1852, pa. 210, in t 9 charge for publishing the

Act for incorporating the Trustees of Prince

Town yalty Churt-li,tt ntucli higher charge

to his successor in clfice. By rofcrrin to page

Zld of the some Journal, it would found

that the resent Queen's Printer liod char ed

£2 10s. . for advertising a List of

-v —- ‘<

3

o E ‘< 0-! N u .

reason was tbitt, since the chitn in the Govern- ment hsd been efiircted, the usiness of that olfico had been trobled, if not quadrupled ; and. if the comparison institute by the hon. and learned member for Charlottetown, had been entered upon, on roads, in a fair and manly spirit, such facts as he had named, and others of a similar kind. which he might nanie——suc for instance as the resent Queen’s Printer, on his entering upon 0 cc, having had to supply sets of new blank forms for all the Government ollices, rnnkin considerable items in his account —-would not ave been overlooked. The ac- counts of the present Quesn’s Printer had al- ways been strictly scrutinized in the Council. an it fair comparison made between them and those of his predecessor, with a view to the de- tection of any overcharge or increase in the rates, if any such should have been made ; and the result was always, upon the whole, flavors- blc to the present occu nt of that oficc. He had not, indeed, himse I‘ always been present upon such occasions, nor did he mean to any that an actual conipnrifiin had been made re- specting every three nnd four penny charge , but he was perfectly satisfied t at a full and fair investigation of the present Queen's Print- or‘s accounts hnd nlways been mu ' Coun- cil ; and that such Investigations clearly proved that the charges therein were hirly mode; and, although in some trifling items a little above, yet, upon sn average, considerably below those of Mr. Hussnrd.

lion. Mn. Wntirri-rots stated that having, as be hard been directed, writbn to the Colonial Secretaries of the neighbouring Provinces for information concerning the rates of the charges for public printin , in each of them, he had been favored with pnrticulttr replies; and the were such its enabled him to stttte, that the c argcs for public printing in this Colony, were much more moderate than thops which were made and allowed in the Provinces. ’Ilo shew, however, that, as asset-trd by the hon. the Leader of the Government, the late Queen's Prititer's cbarfis were is neatly much "higher than those of t is present, c would merely state, as one instance of such excess, that Mr. IIssssrd’s charge for the printing of the Iowa to strut Home had been £20, and Mr. Whelan's, for similar worlt, although to it greater extent, and on superior gilt-cdgr-d paper, wits onl £10. Another iri- stance of excess in Mr. I asaard‘s charges over those of Mr Whclan’a, which he might mention was that the former had char 5a a hundred

he ar- rsnts paid at the Treasury, whilsi, by a reference toMr. Hauard‘s socounts,it would be found that, for a similar ublication, with a very trifling did‘.-rencc, he c urged only £1 10s. it, in ps I o the same Journal, it would be hurt? that the present Queen's Printer £1 15s for advertising a List of the Licensed Isllsrs ofspirituous Liquors, whilst hr the same ss_rvioe-the sdvertissittsnt bait: shorter by 15 litiss—)Ir. Ilssssrd had cbsrg lbs. Also, in the same play, it would be found that, for advertising a st of _,,Wsrritnts, the assist Queens Printer bad char ed £2; whilst, ors similar service, it would to soon by bit. IIssssrd'y account, that be charged only 15s,, titers bs ng but a slight dilrirencs as to length between the sdvortlseaieiits, the former exceed- th bl nfwtlird wirht-cs cttc spu ,tiono e us, would bOP;0|llId tlict while the present

:8.

for blank road-returns, whi at the latter had charged onl 4s. On a fair comparison of the accounts 0 the present and the late Queen's Printer it was evident, wcver, that their rates of charging were nearly the same; sl- thoitgh, in some instances,as he had not shown, those of Mr. Iirtsssrd greatly ex those of

Mr. Whclsn. on. Mr. Cons. Yes; and he would also like to knot; wihy, WI'IIIII iprstsndin to be so accents on in nuts n h a com sons, hon. and learned member but norshewn that the son had bad the benefit, for his contract, of what the father printed snd was paid for, as the Queen's Printer, In the Eibllcssloa of the Laws ofitprysassi ; zomltlrat Ibct were twigs or w vr wssact u on once. a noted that the lion.sntl learned I her would

bctors uirics wlii h be

Queen's Printer Md charged and been paid £8 I7s6d for

. the had pt-cvolsd me ended, IIITII would lidva been both tr Q lnvs lstfiptfimshns o ‘ -

Mr. Loivuwoa-rrr. The old Government had

been held up to rrorttompt and cxecrtrtii>ii.by the tarry now doniiiirriit, when out of [NV-'l‘l‘, for

nving iillowcd such at system of ciiiirging its that of which, now that they were in ower, they had not only gladly smiled thcmsc ves its II precedent, but w iich they had allowed to be greatly exceeded. ut what else could be ex- pected when the Printer himself had ti soutin the I7..\'ecutivr- Council? Ihc comparisons which had been made, limited us they wcrcnrcrcquitc sutlicicnt to shew that :m tinjtistiliuble increase hurl liccn rntttlo in thc r-lirrrgcs of the proscnt Quer-ii’s Printer over those of his predecesr=or~— an increase which. be wad int-lirit-tl to believe woiild not lrttvc boon pcririittod under it system of government less favorable to corruption, than tliut which 8IIO\tl‘i.'(l public nllii-r-rs to sit iii the Council Board us niiditors of tboir own no- cnurits. It wits true that Mr. Ilnszurd httd cbnrgcd nent-ly—pt-rliitps q|lII.I‘—-IIS much for publishing the itppoirituit-ut oloiic iridividul to tho oliico of ii niugistritte, as he would have cliitrgcd had Iivc tipointiucnts been included in some notice ; but what could justly be found fault with in that? The work. whether it in- cluded one name or live names, would be nearly the same, and it would occupy nearly the some space in the icr. In Mr. Ilnszurrl's time such publications, liowcvcr, were neither so fre- quont,nur so prolitublc its at prcscnt. Formerly itppointiricnts to tho nrugistrucy wot-c made at long intcrvitls; now, nliirost cvcry Gitzctte con- taincd u list oftheiu, its well its other minor ttsgointiuents. Indeed the frequency with which is itions were riiudc to the Conrmission of the Peace, und the slums and quulilicittions, gene- rally speaking. of those who were now appoint- ed to it, were such as to bring ylic oflicc into contempt.

Hon. Mr. WHELIN. If hitherto I had no dc- sire to tukc part in the discussion now going on, I think, indeed, I would be fully wtirriintcd in rcplyin to the ullcgutious \\'I|II.‘II have just been dirccte uguiiist iuysclf iritlividuiilly, with so much rtsncotir und iiijtrstii-c. from the other side of the House. Wlrori I Iirst rcud the notice on the Order Book, sonic few weeks ago, that it was the intention of the lion. member for Darn- lcy (Mr. Clark) to introduce ti. Bill to commute the charges of the Queen's Printer for it stated snlury, it was my (It‘lt‘!'il'lIIl:I.llttII—II. dcti.-ritiina- tion not only in tIt‘t‘tll‘(lIll'I(‘C with the practice of the Housc—hut frilly in accordance with m ownjudgtncnt, to uiitintitin it rigid silcncc in re- gard to it Bill of that nature. But when the

on. mcmbcr—ttctiiig, no doubt, under the ad- vicc of certain gentlemen of the minority of this House, had thought proper to trick on to tho Bill the ollicc of the Attorney General, and by mak- ing it general iissitult upon both, secure the ass ofit measure by which the interests of either the one or the other would be damaged,- I felt that I was no longer restrained from ex- pressing my opinions upon the Bill : and I now mg to warn the hon. nit-iriber for Durnly, that if I be disposed to handle hitnselfttrid his bttntling sotncwlint ron hly und uni.-ourtcouslv, I do so, not because I fitcl tlriit I out irssirilt-d in on open and miinly mttiiner, but because he thinks it safer to whip trio on the Attorney Geno.-rul's back, und to whip the Attorney General on mine. Ihttvc no doubt the lion. member will disclaim pcrsonul iriotivcs in bringing forward this measure. It is uite litsliionublc to do so. Zeitl for the public interests will no doubt be leaded in justification of the stop he has to- en. Perhaps the hon. gentleman may be actu- ated by sncb it patriotic intention. Perhaps he may be itniniated by tho ttntbitiori to signttlizo his public life by the introduction of one origi- nal measure into’ this Assembly. He has been for seven ears it member of Purlitrinont, and it may be, t at he does not wish his career to be brought to on lnglorious c|osc—it niny be that he burns with the desire of being able, in after yeurs, to tell his present constituents thitt he as been instrumental in placing at least one dcbateable Bill upon the Statute Book. I ins wrong, however, in impnting such vanity to the hon. member. But if I am wrong, he cer- tainly bus titkcn no ins to guard one it inst the error. The Bill its been ongcrionglrfiizfore the House to have enabled him to put every hon. member in ossession of his views on the subject. It has n lon enough before the otisc to have enabled the on. member tocome down here with such tin array of facts and figures its would have been suificicnt to convince every other member around me that the time had at length arrived when it was necessary to commute the fees of the Attorney General and Queen's Printer for fixed salaries. J itdgiiig from the time which intct~vened——cxtending over some weeks-—froin the introduction of the Bill to the motion now made I confidently expected tlntt the hon. member wits fully prepared to show tlirtt both the Queen’s Printer und tho Attorney Go- nerttl httd practised the most nrrunt cxtortions upon the public, rind that it was now time to ut it stop to such practices. But what has n the result of the lion. gentleman's long dc- lilierationsl Why, simply nothing. Not i.| speech-not s fact-not I\ figure has he condos- ccnded to vouchsnfc. Yet, if hr, himself hns been wanting in this respect his new friends in the minority hove moat graciously come to his relief; and I am sure they will feel grittcful to 'm for the udmirable opportunity lrc has afforded to them of making their annual fling at the Queen's Printer. It has been it favourite pastime with the gentleman on the other side of the Iiotisctomalte thc chtiritt-tcr,botli public and private, of the Queen's Printer it target foi- their indcct-nt and unjustifiable ussitults ; und if the lion. rut-tuber for Ilitrnlt-y hits bot-it nriult-, it tool on this occasion to t!|nd('I' to their rnulcvo- lcnce, I presume he wil I'l‘t.‘L‘I\'(‘ from them his rewa , in his private intercourse with thcm,ln the shape ofcotripliutcnts I'or his so-cullcd indo- pendcnce, without thinking that those com li- merits have been earned b the sucriilce oft int confidence and kindly fecllyng which every where subslsts between t incm rs of the lllmtt po- liticnl party. It has often been the subject of slanderous imputation in it certain Ncwsptrpcr rrintctl in tlriti Colony, that the tnitjority of our I ousc of Aaseinbly are bonded together for un- holy niotivcs, rind that ofice-holders cspecinlly, should they hsp ii to be guilty of fraud or pc- cttlation, are an e against scrutiny or challenge, so lon as they can command it majority to sup-