‘Ill’. hi: JULY (lltu m a; the we'll)" 9mm‘ into this matter because it is quite n"g;;,‘,‘,',_“;;'; 15%;?‘ 13L Mo“, was m! we hfld i0 I ‘d m cal-gym; on all the gov- ental services of the Province. ‘mm as you know, the revenue is Nowlm of subsidy from Ottawa. affine balance from tax“. 1199"" :2, etc. We had been pressing in!‘ “ma, years to get more subsidy [mm ottawa. I shall not deal with m, matter just now, except to say o, 05m, in obtaining In additional ‘uhsldy Q1 $155,000 fllllilliiyl 3° mat must be added to the revenue ‘flayed by this Government during Lu the time they have been in pow- er, More than that when we went but of oflico we had motor license [m 5nd gasoline taxes. At that time m, number of motor cars in the. provififie was very limited; the tax m, gasoline was a comparatively gmlll item. and neither of those “mo; of revenue afforded very much more money. After they came m“, pews.- the number of motor ‘,1... increased very orently. as did p... number ail over Canada, and wisequently the revenue, both mm license fees and gasoline tax. m, vary greatly augmented. . 1w!!! ask you t0 Pardon me for ymying you with figures, but I am going to make a comparison of the revenue collected by both Govern- ments. I shall leave out, in both was, the election years and re- fers only to the years 1924. i925 ‘and 192s as against the years. ma. 11929, and i930 under the present liberal regime. . v g STRIKING COMPARISON r . wIn 1924 the total ordinary revenue plus motor license fees and gasoline tar, was $745,011. In 1925 it was $748,208, --ulmost the same. In i926 we received the first pay- ment onl the railway taxation which we had obtained as a result of the inter-provincial conference of that year, and so the revenue was in- creased in that year to 8852.000. Now let us compare the years ‘.1928, 1929 and 1930. I shall take the yery some figures-the ordinary rev- enue, the motor license fees and the gasoline tax: ln i928 the total revenue hum line sources W“ 80111011111:- ' 1h 192B it was $1,052,411» In i090 it had increased to ll.- ‘10145. . Mliilll’ an avenge revenue from these sources alone, under the prea- ‘lll Gllvllfllmtni». of over a million llollsrs a year. 011s total revenue for the three [ms was 92,36,269. Their total revenue for the cos- hmndins period was 53,442,231. In other words, they received $1.- il96.968,more than we did. or an Iverage of over 8865,00!) g yo" m"; '19 than we enlilycd, to carry an‘ Public services of the Prov- on sun new narmvn a lhlt $1. Ma b: additional “mne- Idd It u. the difference be- wu our debt and theln, and you find that they went farther be- ‘l “"98 their verloc in ofilce by million and one-hall dollars, than h iiiii in the Oilrrggpflndmfln‘ "u. N ll" "lime. (Loud applause). I have shown how much they have gone behind, and how much 711010 revenue they ind, 341w 1 wmt make another comparison, to “WW lust, how they spent the mo... I that is. their internal house- Pillg as compared with ours, other they were as frugal in tak- W-N of the public services dur- “mi lime; because 1 take it lllleinecnie will admit the pub- Wvices have been taken care of 5° ‘"11 dnrlne our tune-and u‘ will‘! ii Inlldly whom! say ‘momma ocuranrsosi “M! take om the Department mfilgsticcdn 1926. our-last fullysas- n ‘°°- tllll department coat a1,- ‘unilhlritomtlllyilliunlg. Illlll this Gavel-union of hum!" dollars. t‘ “mix; 1m um depart- Mm Jlastyluritccat i "Motion: h" taoesoo. Pflnenwccu: 9105.579. m ma: m‘ ‘"5318: lllclically my.- ’ "m"!!! Collars men than In m ‘"1 "n w» w living o... not wmrmfl- In fact. it was less last mom u. ma; last thine: could be bought chas- "Wllllllndlne that. it cost Nimomlnoro to manage Pal- 1 mama". t did in our corres- m, we succeeded, during our term i Iriterest pile on the indebted of the country. I am giving the fig- ures now from the ist and 2nd pages of the report of the Provincial Auditor: In 1936, $74,046. In i930, $147,137. Legislative grants: $10,419 in i926 930,476 in 1930. Office of Provincial Auditor: Coat in mo. arsro; in 1930, um; practically double. Pmvinnlnl Building: 00st in 1020. $5.867; in 1930. $8.624. or more than three thousand douars of an in- crease, almost double the amount under our corresponding year, If you have followed those figures you will note that in every depart- ment the cost was greater last year than ln 1926; and I would invite your attention to this point, that the comparLson can be continued all the way through; it is just an iuusmuch of wbstyas happening every year during their fflime as eoanparcd with ours. CONSERVATIVE ECONOMY During our period of oflice we endeavored to practice rigid econo- my. I do not think it will be claim- ed by any person that we ztinted the public services. Certainly it cannot be said, as it has been said of the Bell Government. that we ilfiklected to pay the bills that should have been paid for necess 1y expenditures incurred. But wc did exercise a. certain amount of ccorio- my. lust as a business man would do with his own aflairs. And I may say now, that if~ returned to [lower wc will continue to practice the same care and economy in a-onngg. tlon with the public services cf the Pr ' (Applause). 1 think 1 have "W" you that we are able to do it, that we have demonstrated, dur- illl i116 in!!! yea-rs we were in power that we have the ability and the inclination to handle the business of the Province in that way. I do not suggest for a moment that we should be parsimonious, that we should starve the public services. Those things are not in. eluded within the meaning of the phrase "rigid economy." It simply means that ordinary, business-like care and supervisiorrwill be exer- cised by the Government over all the different departments‘ of the public services. NO TAX INCREASES Another thing of which I can as- sureyonisthattherewllibenoln- crease of taxation on the people of this Province. (Applause). I think tbalwehsvesrecordlnthstre- gnrd. that whenever it was possible we reduced the taxes upon the pec- ple cf this Province; we gave them I nsideration on every occasion. And we have been blamed for that! We have been accused of injuring the country by reducing taxesl 8o far as that charge is concerned, we plead guilty to the extent that we did prevent this Government from squander! more ‘of your moucy during the past four years. To any- thing further than that, we do not plead guilty- (Applause). When we took oiIice in i929 one of the planks of cur platform was that we would press for further subsidy from the Federal Govern- ment, and upon attaining to that, that we would give the benefit to the people in reduction of taxes. We obtained an increased subsidy, and we kept our promise by reducing tho taxes. We are accused-and just think of who accuses usi-of doing that for the purpose of pan- dering to the electors on the ova of an election; of endeavoring to "buy the people with their own money." Doesn't that come very finely from the lips of men who have done what this Government has done within the lsst few mouths? Are those the cues to cast a alone at anybody for buying votes! (Loud applause). The difference is this, that the present. Government docs not seem to understand what it menus to keep its word to the people. That is what we did: we promised that if we obtained a certain thing, we would give the taxpayers the bene- ntwccbtsmscmmiwsiicptciu word. And if/wa hsd bcanreiurned tcpoweriniiifblamfrecioaay thsiyouwouldnctfiudthefinanc- ea in the condition in which you llnd them today. (Applause). LIBERAL INCONBISTINOY Int us see what was done at that time. You will remember that a rc- ducticu of taxation was made in the session of 1927. just prior to the cbction} because it was just shortly before that that we obtain- ed tho additional subsidy. In fact. it hcd not then been received, but wcwaicsurethstitwouldberw- cslved, and wc accordingly proceed- ed to Implement our prcmiie. net us sea what the attitude of the liberal members was at that time. m. sounder-was their leader of the Oilllnslticu. and hero is what he ssiecabibsirestbsmusipar- / ty, on the fioor of the Legislature, as Nllorted in the Patriot of March l9, 1927: "As leader of the Liberal party, I want to say that one of the planks of the platform of the party if returned to power will be at least a reduction in the auto tax and a downward revision of “X19911 ".- I make this hill-amen! and mime it so that there may be no mistake about it." The assurance is repeated, prac- tically in the same words, in their platform which they put out during the campaign. Now let us see how they turned their coatl At that time they were vielng with us- they were attempting to put cut a more attractive platform. just on the eve o! the election. The election passed, and they were returned to power. Then they began to find out that they needed more money. Let us sec what they did. i-lere is the statement of Premier Saunders, two years afterwards, as reported in the Patriot of April 15. 1929: “Had the taxes remained the same as they were in i920, I think we could have acceded to the de- mands of the teachers. But un- fortunately through the weakness of the late Government who were " playing politics 1n order to hold their position, the taxes were re- duced. with the result that we are now lu the unfortunate position that we haven't the revenue to meet essential demands." You see there the difference be- tween locking out and looking ini In 1927. when they we're seeking the '9'"! °l 110W". they were prepared to reduce the taxes. In 1929, when "lily had tasted 1W0 years of [NW5 l-iifly wanted more money, and tho people who reduced the taxes were “wt-ak" and committed a crime against the country 1n making that reduction! “BROADENIING our" That was the statement repeated also by Mr. Mclnt-yre in the legis- lative session of 1920. He said, on that occasion: “When I hear the Opposition say to reduce taxes, to cut down expenditures, I say that it is time that both parties should broaden out. . . . We should gel clear of this small politics and say: ‘We are going lo spend more money.‘ It would be in the interests of the farmers themselves if they would agree to pay more taxes. if we spent it on the roads and put them in good shape." Nothing else needs any money but the roads, according to Mr. McIn- tyre! we have never been given to in- creasing taxes, but we have reduced the taxes, and we assure you now that ff we get into power we will not ‘ crease 1hr: taxes on the people of this Province (Applause). Have you had any assurance of that kind from the other side, from the present Government? Iiave they told you they would reduce the taxes. or that they would not in- crease them if they got another lease of power? What has been their history in that regard? What has been the record of the present Premier with retard lo taxation? lie has always chimed that he was the father, the Instigator of the Lea Tax Act. He was most indignant at us because we took off, the Poll Tax and made other reductions in the Tax Act at that time. Has he ever suggested that he would re- duce the taxes? Baa not his whole record pointed in the other direc- tlolly-just like Mr. McIntyre’; who says wa should ‘broaden out"-wc should my moi-s taxes-lo that m. Mr- McIntyre will have more money to spend on the roads? (Laughter). That, ladies and gentlemen. is a matter which you should weigh in this campaign, whether or not this Province, at this time, when the whole world is endeavorlng to prac- tice economy, when eoonorny is necessary, when in many cases it is a matter of economize or perish- should you elect to power a govern- ment that has preached increased taxation, and for what purpose?- in order that the Government might have mole money to spend. Is that the kind of a Government you want inpcwerinthesedaysfAsIsald before, we don't want parsimony; we don't want people to work for nothing in the public services; but wodcfccltbatltisatimewhsu expenditure should be whely super- vhed, and that ucmoncy should be thrown away-whether upon the roads ce otherwise. (loud applause) AMAZING PEBIOBMANCE I was rather amused, in the Pat- riot ncwspsper-‘a account of the Liberal meeting at Hunter River, to read that Premier Lea had shown "very clearly" how all the plsnh intheirplatformof lbflhldbcen “fully implemented." in fact more than implemented! The Patriot said that the hail fairly rocked with sp- plauae. The ihlng that surprises ma is that after a statement of lbui kind ihcbslldiduotfallovcrlhair cars. (loud laughter and applause). Letusseew tthat famouselcc- tion platform isted of. The first plank read as follows: "At the Inter-provincial Con- ference to be assembled this fall we will, if returned to power at the ensuing election, exert our ‘ * us: ‘ our claims for subsidy for our Pro- vince. 0n o ‘ ' ‘ increased subsidy a. downward revision cf taxation." That was their own assurance. embodied in their election platform of 1927. Ilave they curried that out? What have they done about it? I want to say, with all the emphasis that I can command. that that question ofsubsidy is the most im- pcrtaht matter that can engage the attention c! the electors in this campaign. If there is one thing that this Province is in dire need of at the present time, It is more rev- enue; and, as l said before. we cannot afford to place any heav- ier burdens of taxation upon our people. It is a great struggle, even in this Province, toexist. There are just two avenues to further revenue: the first is increased taxation on our people; the second is obtaining the implementation of the Duncan Commission report. You know the early history of that matter, that there has always been a struggle for a subsidy settlement from Ot- tawa, and that practically su the increase of subsidy that has been obtained for this Province had been obtained by the Conservative party. (Applause). SLEEPING ON THE JOB When I first entered the House in i917, that matter of subsidy was pretty dead, because we were fac- ing the War and the expenditure of the War, and it was felt that that was no time to press for additional subsidy. So the matter rested. But the War passed. and the Liberals came silo power. They were in pow- 61'. fls you remember, for four years. from i919 to 1923; and during those four years nothing at all was done in the way of ,_l'€d8li18 our subsidy claims. Something could have been obtained by the Bell Government, but it was not, because no effort of any kind was made to secure lt. They simply slept on the job. I remember, in one of my early years in the Legislature, listening to a. full dress debate on the sub- ject of our claims. It was taken part in, for the most part, by Liberals. They were splendid debaters on that subject; but they never got be- yond debating; they never got Into into the sphere of~ action, and so the whole mailer ended in that full dress debate. I do not suppose any- body outside the walls of the Leg- islature heard of it; certainly it never reached the ears. of the Do- minion Government. And so the matter rested until the election of 1923. Alter we came into power, I had the honour of taking it up. My first difficulty was with the two Liberal Premiers of Nova Bvcotia and New Brunswick and I could not make very much head- way because they did not give me very much encouragement. I was told by one of them that there was absolutely nothing in our claims. He took the same attitude that Mr. Saunders took in the Legislature when he said it was merely a mat- ter of "chestnuts." Those pcoplc never had any faith in our claims against Canada; and before you can succeed in anything you must have faith-faith in your cause, before you can win anything. That is the first stepping stone to success; and these gentlemen, by their words and by their deeds, demonstrated that they never had any faith in the merits of our claims against tho Dominion Government. (Applause). ACTION BY STEWART GOVT. However, I felt that as leader of the Conservative party and Premier of_ this Province a responsibility had fallen upon my shoulders. and that I had a. right to bestir myself and see what could be done. You know the rest. You know that in the first place we obtained $40,000 for rail- way taxation, and that was only obtained because we succeeded in calling an inter-provincial confer- ence. bringing ii to the attention of the other Provinces, getting the assistance of those Provinces, who already had that money, and prea- Illlt it Iron the Canadian Natlcusl Railways. It was simply a mailer of exerting our-selves u little! With regard to our subsidy claims that matter, you will remember. arcusecflhe whole Maritime Provin- ces. You will remember also those words of Mr. Mackenzie King: “What arc Maritime Rights?" I had the pleasure of attending a grsatmass meeting when that cam- paigustsrted in the town of Am- herst, N5. There wercaiscpresent Hon. m". Rhodes, then Premier of Nova scotia. and Hon. Mr. Baxter, who was than leader of the Opposi- tion in New Brunswick. Ircur that meeting alerted the campaign which resulted-in the election of almost every Conservative candidate from the llarillmcs to the House of Com- nnunaudevsutuallylulhasp- t run GHARLOTTETOWN GUARD’ -_ ~ ggressive “Policies Oatliried By_ Conisie rvdffiv T polntmenf. of the Duncan Oom- nrhalon; because Mr. King found out that it was absolutely necessary fcrhim to hear-ken to the cry of the Maritime Provinces, to give some " to this if he wish- ed to save his position and his Gov- eut. (Applause). _So the Duncan Commission W“ appointed. I need not go further in- to that matter; you know the IB- sult, you know how the claims were presented by the Premiers of the Maritime Provinces, and how we succeeded in getting $125,000 inter- im subsidy for this Provnice, a. pay- ment, so to speak, on account. That payment opened wide lllfl door, because the recommendation of the Commission was that it Wll only a payment on account and that a very much larger amount was due and should be paid. It WM only a question, then, of account- ing, to finding out just how much each Province should receive. .. A4 THE 1927 CONFERENCE That was the situation when the Saunders Government came into power in 1927. Further than that, a conference had been arranged for and was about to be held in the month of October, i927. NOW. there was the opportunity of obtain- ing our rights-a splendid oppor- tunity, an ideal opportunity, that should never have been passed 11D by any body of men who had any intelligence, any thought or care for the Province which they were attempting to govern. What happened? They attended that conference, three of them; They presented a brief, showing that we were entiled to more sub- sidy! That, of course, was already admitted by the Duncan Commis- sion; it did not require any argu- ment at their hands. The only matter that remained to be settled. as I said before, was how this Ml- judicstion was to be made, how they were to decide between Can- ada. and the three Maritime Prov- inces the cunt that was to M paid to each of the Provinces. You would expect ‘that these gentlemen, having presented their claim, would have been ready 10 offer some suggestion to the Ion- ference as to the manner in which those claims should be met! Yet we have the minutes of that collie!‘- ence, and you will be amazed when I tell you that no proposition 0| any kind was submitted by the dele- gates from this Province. They were dumb as oysters, when it came l4) that matQr. I THE LOST OPPORTUNITY There, as I said, was their oppor- tunity, where they had representa- tives from all the Provinces sssemb led, together with representatives of the Canadian Government-all the parties to the contract were there, prepared and ready to do business, and only waiting for a pro posai as to how it should be done. Yet these geniclmen, going up there at the expense of this Government —at YOUR. expense, with YOUR money-hadn't the sense to sulkfli a way out, to suggest means of making this adjudication, and so the matter ended, in ‘cxrltlllflfll of sympathfl-and not one dollar of additional subsidy from that dfly to this. What does Mr. Lea say? Of course. Mr. Les does not know very much about this matter, because he was not let in on these confer- enees until the last one, to which I shall refer later. He says, how- ever, that this Government could not do anything with our claims until the Western Provinces were dealt with. That, too, is a matter to which I shall refer in a few min- utes. DBIFTING ALONG The provincial delegates cams back from the 1927 conference with- out achieving any result, and so the. matter stood until January. 191D. I-‘rcm October, i927, until De- cember, I929, absolutely nothing was done by this Guy r-nrnent; All this time they were drifting along, go- ing further into debt, oornplalulnl became the taxes had been reduced by the Conservatives and they did not have enough revenue. Thoy were not able to bestlr themselves, ap- parently, not able to exert them- selves sufficiently to get that mon- sy which was awaiting u at Otta- wa- (Amflause). , In January, 1930. Mr. Baund made a visit to Ottawa. His return. in the usual course of events, was followed by a glaring front pa; article in the Patriot newspaper, under the heading: "Claims of Prince Edward Island are beinl Adjusted by Audit Board Compos- ed of Expert Accountants." "Special Memorial With Regard to Our Claim for Increased Subsidy In Lieu of Public Lands Fylsd st Otta- wa by Premier Saunders last Tues- dayMm-ncou. Premierfiniiarview- I ed by Patriot On His Return Last Night From Ottawa, Where He Had s Satisfactory Conference with Members of the Government." Then follows the statement that "Hon. Mr. Saunders, accompaniedby Senator McArthur. left for Ottawa on Wednesda, the 15th last, to con- sult with the Federal authorities regarding matters pertaining to various Governmental activities, and, in particular, to press our pro- vlncial subsidy claims." “Premier Saunders then stated that an Aud- it Board has been‘ appointed by the King Government to make this final adjustment (under the Dun- can Report). The members of the Board so appointed have been chos- en with the greatest care The Board is at present at work on our claims, making the adjustment re- commended by the ‘uuncan Com- mission. They are llutructed by the Federal Government, m‘. Saunders stated, to review representations from any or all of the Maritime Governments." GLARING MISSTATEMENT It turned out afterwards that the Board was not appointed for this purpose at all-—that it consisted simiply of men who were regularly in the employ of the‘ Dominion Government for the purpose of d0- ing certain auditing work which was allotted to them by the treas- urer of the board. So that when Ml‘. Saunders stated that this was a Board appointed by the King Gov- eminent to make a final adjustment of our subsidy claims, that state- ment was absolutely incorrect. You would have expected from that newspaper report, that we were very near the fruition of our hopes. gut time drifted on, and nothing resulted-nothing. illal is t0 "Y- uhtii the time that the King Gov- ernment went out of power. It will be recalled that durins all this time, at every session 0i the Legislature. we asked that in- formation be tabled with regard t0 how the matter was progressing. what negotiations were being carri- ed on, and so forth. What was the answer? That it was not in the public interest that this information should be divulged. In other woods, that it was not in the interests of the public that they should in" their own businem! (Applause)- MR. KING'S STATEMENT Now Mr. Lea says the reason the matter has been neglected — 91' "postponed,"—is that the West had to be dealt with first. Is that state- ment correct? Is there anything to that effect in the interview with Ml’. Saunders, who was dealing with this matter? Did he say that the settlement of the Waters claims had any bearing on the Duncan Report one way or the other? Not a word. His statement wasuthat the Audit Board "has begun their work." that the settlement was “now under way," and that it would be con- cluded shortly. What did Mr. MacKeuizle Kill! say? The matter was brought to the Prime Minister's attention in Par- liament On February. i929 when Dr. Murray MacLarcn. of St. John, in- troduced the matter. Here is the then Prime Minister's statement, as reported in Hansard of that date: MR. MACKENZIE KING: Mai’ 1 jug]; say to my hon, friend, in reply to his last suggestion, that that is precisely what took Dill“ the year before last. We had n. conference of the Premiers with the members of the Government. and it is as a result of that 0°11- ference that the Dflm-iflion i153 proceeded to deal more liberally with the Western Provinces than it was prepared to do theretofore. MR. MACDAREN: Yes, but was it not at the same time sudlelted that an opportunity should be given to certain of the Provincec to put forward their claims for compensation? MR. MACKENZIE ICING: No one is denying that oPPOi-tunltyfl MR. MiACLAREN: But so far only the Westegn Provinces are being dealt with. Why not the other Provinces? (MIR. MACKENZIE KING: MY hon. friend said a moment I80 that he was not in a position to present their claims. For some reason or other the claim hi" not been put forward by the Prov- laces. Does that imply that the other Provinces would have to wait until tho Western Provinces were 1091i with? Not at all. "For some reason or other the claims have not been put forward by the provincesflrheie. from the lips of the Prime Mlnillfl of Canada-drone the Illln "will Mr. Les admires so greatly-ls hi! answer-l Our claims were not fle- layed because of the Western claims, but because the Maritime Provinces never presented their claims to the Federal Government at all. (Alilplause). THAT AUDIT BOARD when this matter of an Audit Bcardcamsupcnthcflcorcf the ‘ using now! Legislature, I told the members of this Government that it was only a fake, that it was simply a means of fobbing them off, that it would never mean anything, that the Government at Ottawa was merely taking this way of postpon- ing the matter and getting rid of them. What has been the result? We have a. gentleman at Ottawa who is a pretty strong partisan and who makes himself quite busy politically. I refer to the repre- sentative for Prince County, Mr. A. E. MacLean. Some time ago Mr. MacLean put a question on the or-- der paper of the House of Com- mons, asking for the report of the Audit Board. Fortunately, I have a copy of the report which was tabled in reply. It is dated October 8, 1930, and it states: "On January 00th last by‘ Treasury Board minute (copy attached) the Board of Audit were directed to conduct an in- vestigation and to advise as to the equitable reassessment of Maritime Claims. "The Royal Commission on Maritime Claims came to the conclusion that: (a) the expenditures of the Maritime Provinces are on a reas- onable basis, and (b) that the underlying prin- ciple is accepted by the Maritime Provinces that they are expected to supplement their revenue from sources of their own." The finding is simply what the Duncan Commission found before, and of no _value whatever. But to quote further: “The Board have been some- what handicapped in these in- vestigations by the early imp!”- sion of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that the Board of Audit were to be final arbitrators. Final and corn- plete negotiations must be eon- ducifid directly between the Pro- vincial Governments and the Dominion Gcvnument." That is the very lhilll that I told my honorable friends on till floor of the Legislature at the time. that this Board has no authority whatever to make any flnfllne. l-lllli it was a matter that would have to he settled by the Province! lllfi thrDominlon Government. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick did not recognize this Board in the matter at all. The Premiers c! those Provinces knew perfectly well that it was of no value, that it was simply a stop-flap. a B9801" fill ll" part of the King Government to mark time until the federal elect- ion was over. Bo they did not at- tend the sitting of the Board. We had representatives from this Pro- vince in the person of Mr. Lea and another. Did we get anythiflil? l Will tell you what happened. It cost till! Province a thousand dollars for their attendance. It is charged up in the Public Accounts, and to the taxpayers of this Province it was not worth one five-cent piece-M Mi». King might say. (Arnhem-i MR. LEA BUNGLES BADLY The Government was invited by the Audit Board to present an “id- eal budget" projected on a basis of expenditures for the next ten years. Now you would expect that this "ideal budget" would be bas- ed on our claims for subsidy; in other words, that it would be made in such a way as to disclose that that subsidy was required. Here we have the amount of the "ideal bud- get" presented by Mr. Lea to the Audit Board, and it shows the mon- ey we required to be, roughly, $1,- 26l,000—- practically what we are spending now. They. have not ask- ed for one cent more than they are (Laughter-J They say, at the end of their statement, that the additional revenue required would he $43B,000-—but their argu- ment docs not show it. That ls hcw they prepared our claims before the Audit Board; that is what you paid $1,000 for, to go before a. Board that had no authority of any kind to sdjudicaho or deal with the mut- ter. (Loud applause.) - That is not the only presentation that was made. Mr. Saunders, short- ly before, presented a memorial at Ottawa. My impression is that that memorial only dealt with our claim for want of public lands, and the claim was $408,796.94. But when Mr. Saunders went to Ottawa to present this document, he left behind him the present Premier, and it was on this occasion, as Acting Premier, that Mr. Lea made his first vent- clalms. That was the lint occasion that he appeared on the horizon; and he made quite a plunge. Be put forward a brief, published in the Patriot newspaper under his name, for a claim cf 88.811.104.511 (Laugh- for-l flow I want to draw your attent- ion to this. that when Mr. Lea went to Ottawa and preacnted a claim of $498,000 before the Audit Board. he had.ah'cady_,pilblll"4‘rl‘"v“a‘- PAGE ‘FIVE éadci» 1-—- ii for $3,372,166.57 in fbc Patriot newi paper. In other words, when he pre- sented his claim in the Patriot to ‘the people of this Province h! claimed over three million dollars, and when he presented it to the Audit Boa-rd it had shrunk to foil hundred thousand doiluz. If he av- er gets before the Privy Council what will he claim. (Loud laught- er and applause.) ' GRASS STUPIDIT! I have taken up Some time with this subject, in an endeavor to show you what the people cf this Province can expect to obtain from the eflorts of thisGovei-nment by way of implementation of our aub- sidy claims. In the first plscc. we have negligence; wc have want of faith; we have lack of knowledge. That ls bad enolllll. All these thin]! make a pretty bad showing. But when you add to this, cram stupid- ity in the way of presenting theus— stupidity lo such a. dcgroc that Ii holds this Province up to the rid- icule of Canada. then I think you can come to a. fairly accuraio con- clusion as to what you may expect from this Government with Vgegnli to obtaining a subsidy ‘tlemeni from the Dominion cil Canada. (Loud Applause.) Do you think there is anything more important than that? Do you think any issue transcending f-hui issue could be presented to the el- ectors for their decision at an el- ecilon. (Applause) There is not any question that we are entitled to a large increase in subsidy. These gentlemen agree to that. Ii is admitted in the Duncan Report. It is not contradicted by the House of Commons. It is a. matter en- dorsed by all parties. Yet thcy have delayfid. We have been deprived of our money, of our rights, for these four year-s now, simply because o! the bungling of s stupid Provincial Government. (Loud applause.) PUBLIC WORKS I do not suppose that any de- partment of the public service in this Province is so much un- der the eyes of the public, as the Public Works Department, more so now than ever, perhaps, because of the increase in motor vehicles in traffic on the roads, and in the number of people whom we have visiting our Province as tourists and otherwise. All these things add to the interest in this particular de- partment, and it requires very care- ful and very serious consideration. There are a great many aspects and a. great many things to be dealt with in connection with this depart- ment. I shall not attempt to cover this subject tonight, but will con- fine myself to a few observations. as I fear that I have already taken up too much of your time. I have already mentioned the mat- ter of highway improvement. You will remember that work was car- ried on by the Bell Gcvemment and by us. This present Government had no highway projects to carry through. I notice that the Premier at the Hunter River meeting the other night, referred to the funding of the automobile license fees and gasoline taxes, thereby creating a basis for the borrowing of money for highway work. That, of course, is not a new policy. , It was begun by the Bell Government, carried on by our Government, and subse- quently by this Government. The principle is common to the other Provinces. Perhaps there is not very much objection to it; but then may be this objection, that the wis- dom of borrowing money dcpench entirely upon how that money is lo be expended. We must remember that while we are getting the money very easily for the time being, we shall have to pay it back, or leave I legacy to our children and our children's children to pay it, some time, with interest. Don't you thhk it behooves the Gus eminent of this Province, when they borrow isrgc sums of money, to consider wcli the purpose for which thcyy~plsee that burden on the shoulders of our children who are con-ring after and to whom we owe acerisin duty? Don't you thing it bchoovcl the Government to sec that the money ls expended prolfifiy. that ii shall not he thrown with a lavish hand to the four winds’! WASTE AND EXTEAVAOANCE We are not condemning the Gov- ernment because they have funded ure into the matter of our subsidy tho “to license fees and the gas taxes: but we are blaming them be- cause ln raising these large cums oi money they have not lupervhcd till expenditure as they ought; because ftp-spent axlravsgsutly the mane! thstwiiihsvelobclilidbschlll said before, with lulu-eat, ky our sclvcscrthcoewlsccomeaftcrr- nlra the money borrowed for ma! “bntiuuedcnpece” they have wasted alarge amount of,