Mr. O. E. TALBOT.

In addition to what my hon. friend from Montmagny (Mr. La-vergne) has just said, I would beg to remind my hon. friend the Minister of Railways and Canals (Mr. Emmerson) that last year I drew his attention to that fact. It is a great inconvenience to us in our district that we cannot have the ordinary express on Saturday to go down upon and on Monday to come up by. Every one suffers by this arrangement because we have either to leave one day sooner or come back one day later if we want to visit our homes. If a remedy could be provided it would be of very great service to us.

STOCKTON (St. John city and county.) I recognize the fact that it -is somewhat difficult to arrange a time-table to suit all the people along the line of the Intercolonial Railway, but yet I am satisfied from the representations that have been made to my colleague and myself from the city of St. John that there will be general dissatisfaction and general inconvenience by the change proposed by the hon. Minister of Railways and Canals (Mr. Emmerson). Under the proposed change the first train going out will be, as the hon. Minister of Railways and Canals has said, at six o'clock in the morning and there will be no other train going out from St. John after that until 11.40 a.m.

Mr. EMMERSON.

There is a freight train.

Mr. STOCKTON.

Oh, a freight train 1 People do not travel on freight trains.

Mr. EMMERSON.

Between local points they do. It has passenger accommodation.

Mr. STOCKTON.

We have got over the day of corduroy roads and freight trains. People travel by Pullman passenger ears in these days. These are growing times. It *will be very inconvenient for the people of St. John and the travelling public generally and there will be another inconvenience. It is too early for the despatch of mails and of newspapers. They will close at five o'clock, an hour before the mail goes. The representations that have been made to my colleague and myself have pointed out very strongly that there will be very great inconvenience indeed. At all events I hope, having brought it to the notice of the hon. minister, that he will see if some change cannot be made. I recognize the fact that we ought to be economical in the running of the Intercolonial Railway, but

not too much so at the expense of the convenience of the travelling public generally and the people in our own community in whom I am more particularly interested.

Hr. A. C. MACDONELL.

Mr. Speaker, I desire to refer to a matter of considerable importance to the city of Toronto; that is, the proposed erection of the new post office. I notice the absence of the hon. Postmaster General (Sir William Mulock). I understand that his absence will be somewhat prolonged, but notwithstanding that fact I think the city of Toronto is entitled to some answer from the government regarding the present condition of the burnt area where it is proposed to erect this new post office. That disastrous fire occurred in Toronto considerably over a year ago and there are still acres of the burnt district remaining in the same condition in which they were on the day after the fire. Nothing has been done there. Owners and lessees are greatly prejudiced by the inaction of the government regarding the selection of the post office site and also by the delay of the Railway Commission in stating whether or not the balance of the area is to be expropriated for station purposes. The matter has been called to my attention recently by an article in the ' Globe ' of Monday last which states :

The Dominion government will expropriate all or a portion of the property on Front street between Bay and Yonge streets for the new post office when the surveyors have decided just how much of the land will be required. Mayor Ur-quhart obtained this information from the Postmaster General during his visit to Ottawa.

No information of that nature has been given to the House or the country as far as I am aware and I would like to know if that statement is authentic. The article proceeds :

Mr. Alexander Asher and a number of other lessees of the property complained to the mayor that the uncertainty as to what the government would do was seriously interfering with their plans.

I personally know that to be the case. Several industries have left the city of Toronto because of the inaction of the government and the uncertainty as to what is to be done regarding that burnt area. It comes under two headings: first, that portion of the area that would be required for post office purposes; and second, the balance of that area which is now under the consideration of the Railway Commission as to whether it shall be expropriated for station purposes. Information as to either or both of these matters would be gratefully received by the people of Toronto and particularly by those who are interested as owners or lessees of this land.

>

Hon. W. S. FIELDING (Minister of Finance). So far as proceedings before the

Railway Commission are concerned we are not in a position to give any information ; that will have to pursue the ordinary course before the commission, and of course we cannot' say as to what the determination may be. With respect to the post office site I am aware that the Postmaster General and the Minister of Public Works have had some conferences on the subject, but I think no final decision has been come to. I would not like to say that the property in question is not to be taken, although officially I think the matter is not yet determined. That is under the consideration of the two ministers. It may he that the Minister of Public Works and the Postmaster General have had an understanding but in the absence of both ministers I would not like to give a more definite answer to my hon. frionds' question.

Mr. A. C. MACDONELL.

The people of Toronto certainly think that the government should take some immediate action. The fact as to whether or not they are going to expropriate for post office purposes and the extent of the expropriation for that purpose should be decided on by the government at once. This is intimately connected with the other question as to the balance of the land which is now before the Railway Commission, and it is reasonable to ask that the government should help -to advance the matter by deciding one way or another with reference to the post office site. We think that the government should do something and can do something to expedite the proceedings before the Railway Commission. The matter has been standing for many months and people are abandoning their property in that area and are actually removing their industries to other cities.

Mr. J. BARR (Dufferin).

I wish to call the attention of the House to a letter which has been sent to postmasters by the post office inspector at Toronto, and which I think to a certain extent infringes upon the franking privilege of members of the House. The ietter is as follows :

Post Office Inspector's Office,

Toronto, May, 18th, 1905.

Dear Sir,-The department is informed that under date 20th April last a package of government publications addressed to you was posted from the House of Commons, the contents of which were apparently intended for distribution by you at your office, contrary to instructions contained in departmental circular of the 15th April last.

Be so good as to let me know precisely what this package contained and what disposition was made of the contents by you.

(Sgd.) J. HENDERSON,

Post Office Inspector.

I may say that this package was sent out by me to a postmaster in the county of Dufferin and signed by my frank. In re-

ferenee to government publications such as the reports on agriculture and other reports which are of importance to the agricultural community but which are scarcely important enough to send in separate envelopes, it has been my practice and the practice of many other members of this House to have an understanding with the postmasters in the rural districts by which they would place these documents on the counters of their stores, so that the farmers coming to the post office could take copies if they desired. The postmasters were quite willing to do this, and it was a great convenience to the members of the House as well as to the agricultural community. The circular of the 15th of April referred to in the letter which I have read appears to have contained instructions that postmasters must not continue this practice. I made an effort to see this latter circular and I telephoned to the Deputy Postmaster General-the Postmaster General being absent-and he informed me that the cir-

Mr. J. HERRON.

Before the Orders of the Day are called, I wish to inform the right hon. Prime Minister that I have had several communications from gentlemen who reside in the district through which the Crow's Nest Pass Railway runs, complaining of the high passenger rates charged on that railway which I understand amount to four cents per mile. These gentlemen consider this rate very high and they have requested me to bring it to the attention of the government and to inquire if it is not one of those matters which might be brought before the Railway Commission for investigaion.

Sir WILFRID LAURIER.

This is a matter which ought to be referred to the Railway Commission. I do not think the government can have anything to do with it. I shall look into it and have it investigated by the Railway Department.

cular being a departmental matter it could not be seen. For this reason I am unaware of its actual contents. We know that the corridors of this House are piled up with reports that involve too much work for the members to send out In separate envelopes, and it would seem to me that the practice to which I have referred of distributing them through the medium of the rural postmasters, is a practice that ought to be encouraged rather than prevented. At all events I am unable to see what right the inspector had to ask the postmaster to find out what was in the mail parcel that I forwarded from this House. I presume he may have been looking for such infringements as hon. gentlemen are said to have been guilty of in the past in sending out advertisements, &c., but there should be other ways of finding that out without violating the secrecy of the mails. It seems to me that this letter should not have been sent out by the post office inspector. I draw the attention of the government to the matter with the expectation that some explanation will be given. I may say that we do not hold the postmasters responsible for the distribution of mail matter sent in this way ; we merely send each postmaster a private letter asking him to place this departmental literature on the counter of his store if he has no objection, and I cannot see what harm there can be in that.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

The government has undoubtedly the right to interfere if it sees fit.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

I would like to mention what has already been discussed between the First Minister and myself and that is the date at which we shall take up the remaining clauses of the Autonomy Bill. I understand that, owing to the indisposition of the Minister of Justice we camnot take them up to-day nor before Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

Sir WILFRID LAURIER.

Some time next week.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

My right hon. friend is not able to fix the exact date ?

Sir WILFRID LAURIER.

No.