Mr. GALLIHER.

I could not tell the hon. gentleman. He has travelled through there, I have no doubt. It is a very small town in the west around which you cannot find a few hangers on.

Mr. HUGHES (Victoria).

A town of four houses ?

Mr. GALLIHER.

[DOT] My hon. friends need not be so much exercised over this because Sinclair is no friend of theirs. I thought they might be under the impression that some friend of theirs was being very hardly dealt with.

Mr. CLARKE.

Mr. HUGHES (Victoria).

No, it is injustice to a poor Liberal.

Hon. Mr. TARTE.

The hon. member (Mr. Galliher) recommended him ?

Mr. GALLIHER.

I recommended him myself in 1901. The whole crux of the case is right here; that man was not a foreman for 1902.

Mr. CLARKE.

The ex-minister suggests that in order to refresh his memory the whole correspondence should be brought down.

Hon. Mr. TARTE.

I did not mean that, but if the hon. gentleman wants the correspondence I suppose there is no objection to it, but the item should be carried all the same.

Some resolutions reported.

By command of His Excellency I lay on the Table correspondence in relation to the German tariff.

Mr. SFROULE.

I wish to make a remark as to certain correspondence that was read to-day by the Finance Minister, and some of which was three or four years old. It seems extraordinary that this correspondence was not brought down to the House before today. I think it was asked for several times, and yet the first we heard of it was when the Minister of Finance read it to-day.

I do not think that Is treating this House with the courtesy to which it is entitled.

I have no recollection of the correspondence having been asked for. If any motion were made and passed for an Order of the House for that correspondence, it certainly would have been brought down.

Mr. SPROULE.

A motion was not made, but a request was made across the floor of. the House.

The MINISTER OF - FINANCE. It does not always follow as a rule that it is wise to bring down correspondence on matters of that sort. However, I have no recollection of any motion having been passed or of any request even having been made. I expected to be able to lay this correspondence on the Table at 6 o'clock, but I may say that I have sent a copy of it to the leader of the opposition.

Mr. KEMP.

In 1901 I asked for this correspondence, and last year the hon. member for Jacques Cartier (Mr. Monk) moved for it in the House and there was quite a debate upon it, but it was refused by the government.

im

That is another matter. If a motion was made and refused, of course it was refused for good reasons. It is not always wise to bring down correspondence, especially in matters of an international character; but I think considering all the circumstances, that it is open to debate whether any good purpose would have been served by bringing down the correspondence. The time was spent in an effort to come to an understanding with the German government, but I am not sure that it would have been promoted by bringing down the papers and broadening the scope of the discussion.

Mr. SPROULE.

But this correspondence is four years old.

There is plenty of correspondence over four years old that has never been brought down.

Mr. MORIN.

And never will.

And never will, as my kon. friend says, for a good and sufficient reason, that the public interest would not be advanced by bringing it down.