That the House will resolve itself into committee on Monday next to consider the following resolutions :-

1. That the Governor in Council may from time to time advance and pay to the corporation of the Harbour Commissioners of Montreal, in addition to the moneys authorized to be advanced to the said corporation by the Governor in Council, by chapter 10 of the statutes of 1896 (first session) and by chapter 47 of the statutes of 1898, such sums of money, not exceeding in the whole the sum of one million dollars, as are required, to enable the said corporation to construct such grain elevators and other terminal facilities as are necessary properly to equip the port of Montreal.

2. No such advance shall be made unless the plans, specifications and estimates for the works to be performed by the said corporation and on which the money so to be advanced is to be expended have been first submitted to and approved by the Minister of Public Works.

3. The said corporation shall, upon an advance being made, deposit with the Minister of Finance and Receiver General debentures of the said corporation equal in par value to the advance so made (which debentures the said corporation are hereby authorized to issue), and such debentures so issued shall be of such amounts as the said Minister of Finance and Receiver General determines, and shall bear date on the day when such advance is made and shall be repayable within twenty-five years from the date of their issue, and in the meantime shall bear Interest at the rate of 3 per centum per annum, such interest to be payable half-yearly, on the first day of July and the first day of January in each year.

4. The principal and interest of the sums so to be advanced as aforesaid, to the said corporation shall be paid by the corporation out of the revenue of the corporation mentioned in section 8 of chapter 10 of the statutes of 1896 (first session), and shall be a charge upon said revenue in the same manner and to the same extent as If the sums so advanced had been borrowed by the corporation under said chapter 10 of the statutes of 1896 (first session).

sequently I am at home and have nothing to do. I have a large family to support, am a Canadian and cannot get work on a Canadian contract let by your government. What am I going to do? A foreigner can come here from the United States if he is a member of the union, then can go to work while I may sit and starve. If we are going to have unions, let us have Canadian ones, and let them be controlled by the government, so that they cannot coerce any man by extortion, but let them be fair and honest in their dealing. I have this day mailed to the editor of the Labour Gazette, Department of Labour, Ottawa, a copy of my grievance. Will you kindly see that it is brought before the proper parties, or before the House, so that I can go to work.

I am yours,

(Sgd.) ROBERT W. SAUL,

Camden East, Ont.

It appears to me that this is a matter that comes directly under the control of the Department of Labour, and I am sure that the hon. acting Minister of Labour, now that his attention is called to it, and his department will, no doubt, have a copy of the complaint, or I can let the hon. gentleman have this letter, will see that justice is done to a Canadian citizen who desires that he shall have a fair show to work on a contract given by the Canadian government. I am sure that there is no stipulation in the contract that will prevent Mr. Saul from having a fair show as a citizen of Canada on the work that is going on to which he refers. I would ask the hon. acting Minister of Labour to look into this matter at once, so that justice may be done to Mr. Saul and to other Canadians who are placed in the same position. It looks to me intolerable that Americans

He said : I beg to say that the subject of these resolutions having been brought to the attention of His Excellency the Governor General, he commends them to the favour of the House.

Mr. N. CLARKE WALLACE (West York).

Mr. Speaker, before the Orders of the Day are called, I wish to call the attention of the House, and particularly of the acting Minister of Labour (Hon. Mr. Sutherland), to a letter received by the hon. member for Addington (Mr. Bell). The hon. gentleman was called away from the House to-day. and is unable to present this letter to the House. II will read it:

Camden East, May 10, 1901. To J. W. Bell, Esq.

Dear Sir,-I went to the city of Kingston to work cn the Royal Military College to build an addition, but was stopped by the international union unless I should pay the sum of $25 to join the union. I offered to join if they would take the regular price, but objected to pay $25, con-

Mr. SPEAKER.

If the hon. gentleman wants to enter upon an argument, instead of just simply asking a question, he will have to conclude with a motion.

Mr. WALLACE.

I do not wish to make any further statement, only to call the hon. acting minister's attention to this matter, and to say that it looks to me to be intolerable that citizens of the United States can come in here and work on that contract, while Canadian citizens are debarred, although they are willing to become members of the union, if that were necessary, under the regular and ordinary conditions. My hon. friend from Lanark (Mr. Haggart) asks why they 'should be compelled to be members of the union. That brings up another subject. A Canadian citizen should not be compelled to be a member of the union, and there should' be, and I presume there are, safeguards placed in government contracts so that any Canadian citizen, whether a member of any union or not. is placed on even terms with any other Canadian, and on better terms than any American citizen.

Hon. .TAMES SUTHERLAND (North Oxford).

Mr. Speaker, I fear that in the Act

Mr. FIELDING.

487?.

establishing the Labour Department tliei'e is no special provision for dealing with a matter of this kind, but, I may say that after hearing the statement I shall be pleased to ask the officers of the department to investigate the matter, and endeavour to ascertain the facts. If it is possible we will find some way of seeing that justice is done in the case if the facts are as has been stated. My hon. friend (Mr. Wallace) knows very well ; the work referred to is being done under contract and not by the department.

Mr. WALLACE.

I would like to know what the department is for if it is not to deal with cases of that character.

Hon. Mr. SUTHERLAND.

I should be very glad to have an Investigation made into the case, and if it can be dealt with it will be dealt with, and report will be made to the Department of Public Works.

Mr. WALLACE.

The minister will inform the House as to the result.

Hon. Mr. SUTHERLAND.

I suppose this was an application to the contractor on the work ?

Mr. WALLACE.

I presume the Department of Public Works let the contract for this building, and surely they must have taken precautions that a Canadian is not to be thrown out and a citizen of the United States permitted to come in and continue the work.

Mr. CLARKE.

Is there any evidence of that ?

Mr. WALLACE.

This letter here.

My attention has never been called to that state of affairs.

Mr. HUGHES (Victoria).

Before the Orders of the Day are called, I would like to ask the Prime Minister if he would be good enough to communicate to the House the terms of the congratulatory telegram which I trust he has sent to Australia on the occasion of the opening of the first parliament.

I must inform my lion. friend that we have not received a telegram from the hon. gentleman who represents the Canadian government as to what he stated yesterday when the parliament of Australia was opened. We sent no telegram for the very good reason that we had no information, not even an informal notification, of the day the parliament was to be opened. But we have sent the Hon. Mr. Mulock and I have no doubt he will discharge his duties properly.