That Mr. Bristol be appointed a member ot the following select standing committees : Privileges and Elections, Railways, Canals and Telegraph Lines, Printing, Public Accounts, Banking and Commerce and Library.
Motion agreed to.
Hon. FRANK OLIA'HR (Minister of the Interior). I desire to place on the table tbe reply to tbe following question of tbe hon. member for Lennox and Addington (Mr. U. AATilson), which I was unable to answer yesterday. The question is : 1. Has the government, or any official on their behalf, had any correspondence with Mr. C. Kin-lock Cooke, author of an article entitled ' The Emigration of State Children,' published in the April, 1905, number of the ' Empire Review,' or any one on his behalf, or any official of the imperial government, on the subject treated of in the said article ? 2. If so, will the government lay such correspondence on the table of the House ? The answer is : 1. Yes. 2. Yes.
On the Orders of the Day belug called,
Mr. W. F. MACLEAN (South York).
Mr. Speaker, I would like to call the attention of the government to item 3G :
Second reading of Bill (No. 148), an Act to amend the Act respecting the incorporation of Live Stock Record Associations-Mr. Fisher.
The farmers and live stock breeders, especially of the province of Ontario, are very much interested in the passage of this Bill. A lot of shipments of live stock are now being made and the certificate of pedigree must accompany them. I believe they are delayed in their work, and I would ask the right hon. Prime Minister (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) to direct the attention of the hon. Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Fisher) to the fact in order to facilitate the Bill going through.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER.
We are engaged in the consideration of a Bill now, which, I hope, will not take much time, and as soon as we dispose of it we can take up the other Bill.
MAtlLEAN. That is not much satisfaction to the farmers. I think you will .dispose of it before that.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER.
If my hon. friend will facilitate the business, we will be able to help the farmers.
Mr. W. F. MACLEAN.
All right ; the farmers can wait.
Mr. H. S. CLEMENTS (West Kent).
Mr. Speaker, if it be necessary to keep mysell right, I will conclude with a motion. I desire to call the attention of the government to an important question which, I think, is deserving of a more explicit answer from the government than that which has been given. It has been rumoured for some time back that the government propose building several hundred miles of wire fence in the Canadian Northwest along the boundary line between the United States and Canada. On Thursday, April 27, I placed the following questions on the order paper :
1. Has the government decided to erect wire fencing along the southern boundaries in the Northwest Territories ?
2. If so, has the contract been let for the construction of same, and what firm received the contract ?
3. Were tenders asked for by advertising, and
what length of time were tenders open ? If so, was lowest tender accepted ? [DOT]
4. If contract is let, what is the price to be paid per rod, and what style of fence, height, &c. ?
Now, this question was answered by the right hon. Prime Minister on May 1st, as follows : That the government had this under consideration, that no contract had been let or tenders asked for. Some correspondence relating to this fencing has been placed in my hands, and I feel in duty hound to bring it before the government. The Page Wire Fence Company of Walker-ville wrote the following letter to me, under date of April 18th, 1905 :
Walkerville, Ont., April 18th, 1905.
Clements,
Ottawa, Ont.
Dear Sir,-About a month ago we heard what we supposed to he a rumour to the effect that the government were figuring on building wire fencing along the southern boundary line of the Northwest Territories. We at once wrote the Department of Agriculture, asking them if there was any foundation in the report, and Mr. Fisher referred us to the Department of the Interior. We at once wrote that department, under date March 20th, but did not receive a reply until under date of April Sth, a letter signed by Mr. P. G. Keyes, stating that the government had already let the contract for the wire fence. In the meantime we had got a friend to write Mr. R. F. Sutherland for information regarding this matter, but he professed ignorance and only just a day or two ago a letter was received from him stating that he found the contract had been let to McGregor, Banwell, a firm in this town. ,
We take the liberty of writing you regarding this matter, as our two members from the Essex riding are friends of the McGregor, Banwell people and we have reason to believe they were instrumental in putting the deal through. Mr. McGregor in the fence company is a son of the late Mr. McGregor.
We supposed if the government intended carrying out such a project it would have advertised for tenders, but it does not seem possible that this could have been done, or some of our friends would have seen the advertisement, and reported it to us even though we, here, heard nothing about it direct. We have about 1,000 agents scattered over every civilized part of Canada, and they are all interested in our business, and it seems as if some one of them would have reported the advertisement to us.
We did not go to Ottawa to personally canvass, thinking the government would surely advertise and that we would have a chance to tender. It would look as if the deal had been put through very quietly, as a matter of favour-itsm. If we are not asking too much of you, we would consider it a great favour if you would find out for us if tenders were adver-
tised for, as we wish for our own satisfaction to find out how this matter was put through. Yours very truly,
Limited, (Sgd.) Merton Church, Secretary Treasurer. I will place before the House the correspondence which took place between this firm and the Department of the Interior. On March 20tli the Page Wire Fence Company addressed the following letter to the Department of the Interior : Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Ont. Gentlemen,-We have heard that the government intend fencing the boundary in the Northwest between the United States and Canada, and that several hundred miles of fencing and steel posts will he required. We, of course, are much interested in this, and take the liberty to ask as to what official will have the matter in charge, so that we can communicate with him. Thanking you in anticipation, we are. Yours very truly,
Limited, (Sgd.) Merton Church; Secretary Treasurer. On April 8th, in answer to their letter of the 20th March, the Page Wire Fence Company received this letter from the Department of the Interior : Ottawa, Sth April, 1905. Gentlemen,-Replying to your letter of the 20th ultimo in reference to the erection of a wire fence at the southern boundary of the Northwest Territories, I beg to state that the government has awarded the contract in this matter. Your obedient servant,