Mr. SAM. HUGHES.

Mr. Speaker, I de-s're to draw the attention of the House to

an item which appears iu this morning's ' Citizen.' I took the liberty of notifying the Minister of Militia this morning of the item and of asking him to look into it. The item reads as follows :

London, Ontario, June 11-(Special).-As the by-election here on Tuesday is likely to be close, whichever way it goes, the government is putting forth every effort to deter Conservative voters from exercising their franchise on Tuesday next. The latest scheme has been worked through the Militia Department. Six soldiers at tVolseley barracks have suddenly been ordered to report for duty at Niagara tomorrow. Every man of the six is a Conservative, and there is naturally a deal of indignation among Mr. Gray's friends at this mean political move on the part of the militia authorities.

I have not any further evidence before me than what is contained iu this item ; the facts are, though, that there is at the present time a camp in the city of Loudon, aud one would naturally suppose that this is the camp where these soldiers would be employed. The headquarters in Toronto for the permanent force is the source from which instructors would usually be drawn for Niagara. It may be stated that some of the soldiers from Toronto have been drafted away to Halifax to form a garrison there, and that therefore the London camp must be called upon to furnish men for certain duties at Niagara, but the fact stands forth that the camp at Niagara does not open until to-morrow, the date of the election, and the troops will not reach Niagara until tomorrow night. Therefore, there was no necessity, under any consideration whatever, to order these men from London before they had an opportunity of casting their ballots in the election to-morrow, whichever way they cast them. It does not matter to me how they vote, but they should have had this privilege, and then they could be in camp at Niagara to-morrow night in ample time for any instructional duties they may be called on to perform. Thg camp will not begin instructional work until Wednesday at the earliest. I trust the minister will be able to let us have full information in connection with this matter. It must be borne in mind that although these men are members of the permanent corps they lose none of their rights as citizens, that a soldier has every right which is possessed by any other citizen, and he should have his franchise the same as if he were an ordinary citizen. For some reason or other, the permanent corps, although the wages paid are high, as the rate has been increased, is not kept up to the establishment at all ; they are several hundred, I believe, short of the establishment at the present time.

Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.

No.

Mr. SAM. HUGHES.

Although the pay is better than the men would get in the ordinary walks of life. The minister will

be able to tell what tbe situation is. While explaining this matter, the minister might take the opportunity of explaining some correspondence which I understand he had with the Liberal candidate in Toronto in relation to the increased pay of the soldiers on the eve of the last election. It is very strange that this correspondence should take place between the minister and an ordinary candidate, but perhaps the minister knows nothing about this London affair ; it may be another case of the Minister of Agriculture and the Eastern Townships-that he is the minister of the district ; it may be that this time the minister of the district of London is exercising his functions in sending these men off without the authority of the minister. My object in speaking to the minister this morning primarily was that he might take some steps so that the men might not leave London until to-morrow. The train leaves in the afternoon in plenty of time for them to reach Niagara in the evening. If the men who are taken must be Conservatives, I take that as a compliment. The great majority of the men in the militia are Conservatives, and when they are selected as instructors I venture to say the great majority will still be Conservatives, because they have always been found to be tbe most Intelligent men in the militia.

Sir WILFRID LATJRIER.

That seems to be peculiar to the force, not to the rest of the community.

Mr. SAM. HUGHES.

Although I take it as quite a compliment to the force that the Conservatives predominate in it, and are the most intelligent in it when called upon for service, I would like to know the explanation of this case, and what steps the minister has taken in this regard.

I beg to move the adjournment of the House.

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that it would have been sufficient for my hon. friend simply to have made his inquiry without trying to weave into the discussion a number of things which have no bearing upon it. I do not intend to follow him, but I will give to the House tlie best explanation I have of the matter to which reference has been made in the papers. I may say that this morning my hon. friend called me up by telephone, not so very early, and asked me if I had read this article or comment in the ' Citizen.' Ai that time I had not read it, but later on I did, and at about the same time I received a telegram, which was at my office when I arrived there this morning. It was in the following language :

London, Ontario, June 12, 1905. Sir Frederick Borden,

*Minister of Militia, Ottawa.

Reported several men from barracks ordered to Niagara to-day. Tuesday is election day Mr. SAM. HUGHES.

here and I should like it arranged to permit the men to vote before they leave.

(Sgd.) C. S. HYMAN.

So evidently, although the ' Citizen ' seems to have absolute knowledge, and my hon. friend also, as to the politics of these noncommissioned officers and men, my friend (Mr. Hyman) seems to have a different view with regard to them.

Mr. FOSTER.

There is a state of uncertainty.

Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.

So I think, so far as politics are concerned, we may consider the matter square, and not of very much consequence in the approaching election Now, as to the military side, 1 shall read a memorandum which I have received. I may say that when I reached my office 1 at ouce asked for an explanation of the item in the ' Citizen.' I had heard nothing ot the case, knew nothing of it absolutely, and this is the explanation which has been sent to me by the Adjutant General :

The non-commissioned officers detailed to proceed from London to Niagara, were detailed for the following reasons : .

1. The number of infantry to be trained at Niagara being largely in excess of that being trained at London necessitated the employment of a larger number of non-commissioned officers of the permanent infantry for instructional duties than could be furnished from No. 2 regimental depot (Toronto).

2. No. 2 Company, Royal Canadian Regiment (Toronto), is under orders to proceed^ to Halifax and may have to move at any time on a few hours' notice.

Under these circumstances, it became a matter of urgent necessity to make sure that, as far as'possible, a sufficient supply of experienced non-commissioned officers would be avau-!*hio fnr dnt.v at eamo at Niagara.

This is the regimental order, a copy of which was sent to me by the Adjutant General :

Extract from Regimental Order No. 330.

8th June, 1905.

Detailed for duty :

The undermentioned non-commissioned officers will proceed from No. 1 Regimental Depot, Royal Canadian Regiment, to Niagara camp for instructional and other duties in connection with the camp there. They will report to the C. S. O. at Niagara on the 12th instant on arrival. These non-commissioned officers will, at the conclusion of the camp, be taken on the strength at No. 2 Regimental Depot until further orders.

No. 3407 Q.M.S.I. E. H. Price.

No. 3536 Q.M.S.I. A. B. Blake-Forster.

No. 3005 Col. Sergt. D. Cranston.

No. 3095 Sergt. M. O'Connell.

No. 3776 Sergt. W. Beales.

No. 3040 Sergt. G. Evans.

Q.M.S.I.'s Blake-Forster and Price -will report to the Adjutant of the Canadian School of Musketry on the morning of the 3rd proximo.

On receiving the telephone message from my hon. friend (Mr. Sam. Hughes) and the telegram, which I have read, from (Mr. JUXE 12, 1905

Hyman), I made inquiry as to the whereabouts of the men, and I found they were some two or three hours on their way to Niagara. Consequently I sent this telegram to Mr. Hyman :

Ottawa, 12th June, 1905.

Hyman,

London, Ontario.

Am informed by the Adjutant General the order cannot be cancelled as the detachment has already started for Niagara, and services urgently required there.

(Sgd.) F. tV. BORDEN.

Now, one word more in conclusion as to the men going on Monday instead of tomorrow : I know enough about the camps

to know that it is always important to have a number of non-commissioned officers on hand at the beginning of the camp to assist in laying out the ground and to carry out the instructions of officers in preparing for the large number of troops who are to come in. This is all the explanation I have to give, and it seems to me it ought to be accepted as ample.

Mr. A. B. INGRAM.

The lion. Minister of Militia (Sir Frederick Borden) has referred to a telegram sent to him by lion. Mr. Hyman, also his answer to it. I do not understand from his remarks that he intends to give these men opportunity to vote tomorrow in London. Now, I wish to point out that this is a matter which has been talked of pretty freely in London, and has found its way into the public press in that c-ity. I may say to the Minister of Militia also that the politicians in London are regarded as a ' slick gang,' to use an expression that they themselves would use. This little by-play has been very well arranged, and I have no doubt it has worked out just as the hon. gentleman has stated. And any one who knows the facts knows perfectly well that if these men had been left in the city to vote they would not have voted for Mr. Hyman. So, it is arranged that they are not to be there, and this little by-play is gone through for the benefit of the public. There is the whole ease in a nutshell. I am surprised that the Minister of Militia and Defence makes no effort to arrange that these men are to have an opportunity to vote.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

It would be interesting to know the precise time when this matter came to the attention of Mr. Hyman. It has been referred to in the press of London this morning, and it seems a little peculiar that no telegram was received from that gentleman until reference had -been made to the matter in the public press both of London and of Ottawa. It seems a little peculiar, to say the least of it, that Mr. Hyman should know nothing of it except from the press. We have had a somewhat higher opinion of his knowledge of what was going on at the present moment in the city of

London than to suppose that he needed information on such points as this from the public press. I heard of it before to-day myself. On Saturday night I heard the rumour; that these men were to be sent away, and I got a telegram on the subject very early this morning from certain Conservatives in London. It is rather remarkable, certainly and, whether remarkable or not, it is quite timely, that Mr. Hyman should telegraph when he did.

Mr. BARR.

After the men had gone.

Mr. R. L. BORDEN.

When they were two or three hours on their journey, Mr. Hyman, because considerable indignation is aroused in London, sends a telegram. And this telegram, the minister produces with a certain smile and a certain look out of the corner of his eye. And he turns to my hon. friend (Mr. Sam. Hughes) and says : ' It

does not look as if there was much politics in it ; besides the men are two or three hours on their way and it is impossible that they can be recalled.' It looks like a very well devised piece of play, a very pretty little game. But I do not think that any one's understanding of the real situation will be altered by the fact that Mr. Hyman sent a telegram at nine or ten o'clock this morning after the men had gone and when he. no doubt, thoroughly understood, that the decision of the Department of Militia would be that they should not be recalled. The telegram I received spoke not of six men. but of seven men who are supposed to be Conservatives, and who only on Saturday were ordered to start from London to Niagara this morning.

I think it would take a little more than Mr. Hyman's telegram or any such explanation as we have had this afternoon to convince any man in this House, or in this country, that there was not some little design in all this. It was very easy to bring in a pretty little report from some gentleman of the Department of Militia pointing out the necessity-the ' urgent necessity,' for it is stated that this is not only a ' necessity,' but that it is * urgent '-that these men should start on Monday, the day before election. I think we shall all have our opinion on the subject. tVbile their instruction may be necessary for camp on Wednesday, there is not a word in the communication read by the minister which, to my mind, leads to the conclusion that the men are wanted there before W ed-nesday. The minister speaks of the necessity of having a number of men on hand to make preparation for the camp. But. surely, with the hundreds of men to be assembled there to-morrow every preparation for the instruction which is only to begin on Wednesday could have been made without bringing these seven men from London. We are not to believe the reverse of that even from the minister's statement. Well, it seems tome this is a pretty small piece of business I to come down to after all-on the eve of an

election in London, a by-election, the verdict in which, according to the statements of members of the administration will be significant, it is a pretty small piece of business to send seven men from London to Niagara under circumstances that do not leave much room for doubt in the mind of any man who examines the evidence as to the real motive which led to the making of the order at that particular juncture.

Hon. D. TISDALE.

I think a little inquiry in regard to dates may be of interest here. The general order has no date, but it must have been issued some time before the regimental order. The general order is the order changing the usual practice and providing for the sending of noncommissioned officers from London instead of from Toronto. An apparently good reason is given for that by the Minister of Militia-the fact that the permanent corps at Toronto has been ordered to Halifax-

Mr. SAM. HUGHES.

It is not going for some time.

Mr. TISDALE.