Air. LEMIEUX.

Does my hon. friend think that Air. Jardine is not to offer any friendly advice in a case like this?

Air. J. D. TAYLOR.

Friendly to whom?

Air. LEMIEUX.

Friendly to the community.

Air. J. D. TAYLOR.

Friendly to Jardine.

Mr. LEAIIEUX.

What benefit does Mr. Jardine derive from a change of this kind? Has he any pecuniary interest?

Mr. J. D. TAYLOR.

As I told the minister the administration of the patronage in the New Westminister riding is worth mere than the salary of a cabinet minister.

Mr. LEMIEUX.

Aly hon. friend makes a very serious charge there

Air. J. D. TAYXOR.

Absolutely correct.

Air. LEMIEUX.

Against Mr. Jardine.

Air. J. D. TAYLOR.

Against the government.

Air. LEAIIEUX.

No, but against Air. Jardine because Air. Jardine would be the man who would illegally and unlawfully profit by any such rake-off. I understand that this is the meaning of my non. friend's language. I do not believe that on second, sober thoughts my hon. friend would insist upon stating that Air. Jardine makes any such rake-off as that out of this patronage if you can call patronage the advice given as to a change in the site of a post office.

I believe my hon. friend (Mr. J. D. Taylor) is exaggerating a little, but I think after hearing the report of my officer he will come to the conclusion that I personally could not take any other course than I did. I do not wish any injustice to be done to the people of Central Park and so I shall take the file again .and look

over it closely and see that justice is done.

Mr. J. D. TAYLOR.

I am much obliged to the minister for his promise that he will look into the circumstances of this case, and if he does there can be only one result. I have known Inspector Greenfield for many years; I knew him before he and I ever were in British Columbia, and knowing him as I do I am all the more surprised to hear that report.

I would remind the minister that he has numerous reports from Mr. Greenfield about the Central Park post office, among others the one I read to-night dated so late as last May, and in none of these reports has he given any intimation that that office should be closed. On the contrary, in the very last report before the one read by the minister, he points out the growing importance of Central Park. The Postmaster General should not confuse Central Park and Keefer's, because Keefer's is not Central Park any more than Aylmer is Hull or Ottawa. It is a station on a by-road while Central Park is on the main road between the two cities. No resident of Central Park would be called on to go to Keefers for any business purpose, whereas on the other hand the people of Keefer's would go to Central Park. However, the settlement is large enough to have a post office at both places, and as I have said it would cost the Postmaster General only $200 a year to leave Central Park open and establish a new office at Keefer's. As to patronage I wish to reiterate in all sincerity that while it is impossible to say what the rake-off is on any single transaction, and while there must be transactions with no rake-off because the administrator of the patronage like any other administrator must do many 'thank you' jobs, yet I state in all sincerity that in my riding the administration of the patronage is worth more than the salary of a cabinet minister. Who pays? Who but the public? If the patronage were abolished the public would save in that riding alone that amount of money every year. The minister will notice that the inspector never reported any suggestion of a change until he was approached by Mr. Robert Jardine. We know the position that such an official is in. If he dares to go contrary to the advice of the local administrators of the patronage, promotion of all kinds is closed to him, he becomes immediately persona non grata, his official career is ended; he is dragooned by the system now in vogue into following just so far as he can the direction of the local nabobs to whom this government trusts the administration of affairs. I am perfectly certain that if Mr. Greenfield had been left to himself and if it had not

been put up to him that this was a matter of necessity he would not have made that report which the minister has read. Mr. Greenfield like every other man is only human; he is an official of this government, he must carry out the wishes of this government if he is to have any standing in the service at all.

Mr. LEMIEUX.

Does the hon. member suggest that in this matter tnere is any rake off?

Mr. J. D. TAYLOR.

I do not. When the Central Park post office was removed to Keefer's would the postmaster be paid on the basis of the business done at Central Park the year before? At Central Park the salary would be larger than at Keefer's.

Mr. LEMIEUX.

The postmasters in such offices would be paid commission on the basis of the actual revenue.

Mr. J. D. TAYLOR.

He would not get a salary this year at Keefer's on the basis of the business last year at Central Park.

Mr. LEMIEUX.

He gets no salary at all.

Mr. J. D. TAYLOR.

Yes, I find by the Postmaster General's Report that at Central Park the postmaster gets commission on money order business and on postal note business, and a salary of $195

Mr. LEMIEUX.

Oh that $195 is the percentage he receives. It is put under the head of 'salary,' but it really is a percentage. There is no fixed salary.

Mr. FRASER.

Before this item is carried, I wish to say a few words as to the post office service in the province of Prince Edward Island, and especially in my own riding. Let me say that I have no specific fault to find with the administration of postal matters, but I wish respectfully to call the attention of the Postmaster General to the necessity for increased mail services. As we all know the statistics show that the province of Prince Edward Island is settled ten times more densely than any other province in Canada; in fact, the whole province is entirely settled, and as times goes by, the people feel the necessity for this increased accommodation. I am glad to say the Postmaster General is granting this accommodation, but perhaps not so rapidly as to satisfy the people. We have now a great number of free rural mail delivery routes and we ought to have in a very short time a complete System of rural mail delivery. But the principal thing I wish to urge is that in some places, perhaps not more than five or six miles removed from a railroad or a central point, which have only tri-weekly or semi-weekly mail delivery, a daily service should be oiven. I have received many petitions on

this subject, and I am sure that the department has received many asking for a daily delivery. I was glad to hear the Postmaster General say that his wish and his instructions to the different postmasters was to keep this matter entirely free from all politics. I feel that his predecessor in office did a great deal for the Post Office Department and put it on a fairly high plane, and I only hope the Postmaster General will be able to carry out his wishes as he expressed them to-night and continue to keep the post office on a high plane, because it is a service fraught with great consequence for good or evil, according as it is properly administered. Would "the minister tell me either now or at another time the revenue of the Post Office Department from the province of Prince Edward Island, and the expenditure in that province?