Mr. R. L. BORDEN.
What was done with respect to the amendments that were suggested?
Mr. FISHER.
If the hon. member will read the reprinted Bill, he will see that we incorporated the amendments proposed by my hon. friend from East Lambton (Mr. Armstrong), making them apply to the officials, but not to the members of the commission.
Mr. R. L. BORDEN.
My recollection is that there was one portion of these amendments which, it was thought, might be made to apply to the members of the commission.
Mr. FISHER.
I understood that the hon. member for Brandon and the hon. gentleman (Mr. Borden) had a discussion on that matter privately, and they thought there would be some * difficulty in making that apply. The hon. member for Brandon so reported to me, so I did not carry out that suggestion.
Mr. R. L. BORDEN.
I think it was suggested that provisions of that kind might be considered by some hon. gentlemen on both sides of the House, and presented as a further amendment next session.
Mr. ARMSTRONG.
Is it understood that a committee should be appointed for the purpose of arranging some, kind of an amendment to the present Conservation Act whereby the commissioners would be in a different position from the one they now occupy?
Mr. FISHER.
It is understood that an attempt will be made to frame an amendment of that kind.
Mr. R. L. BORDEN.
I do not think the suggestion was that a formal committee should be appointed, but that a number of gentlemen on this side of the House who are interested in seeing this legislation in the best possible condition, would meet some members of the government, or other gentlemen opposite, and endeavour to frame a suitable amendment for the purpose.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. SPROULK.
Mr. FIELDING moved the second reading of Bill (No. 126) to correct a clerical error in the French Convention Act of 1908. He said: Repeating the explanation I gave at an earlier stage, this Bill is to correct a clerical error as respects a single figure in the French Convention Act. In one of the schedules of the treaty, reference is made to certain wines of a strength up to 26 per cent. In the French version of our statutes it is correctly printed; in the English version it reads absurdly, it reads from 23 to 23 per cent instead of from 23 to 26 per cent. But being correctly printed in the French version, it is already law. However, to remove all doubt it is better to correct this error in the English version.
Mr. HENDERSON.
I would ask the Minister of Finance, as we may have occasion to use some of these schedules that were prepared at the time the French treaty was discussed, whether any of these printed schedules, giving the rates of duty, both of goods going into France and their rates converted into dollars and cents, are still available?
Mr. FIELDING.
If I find any available I will be glad to send them to my hon. friend. But I may remind him that the French Chambers recently made a revision of the French tariff, and I think some of the items concerned have been somewhat changed. There are certain rates on both sides which are not specially mentioned, that is to say that, we get the French minimum rate and they get the Canadian intermediate rate. Both countries have the right to change these, and the French legislature has exercised that right in some respects in the revision of the tariff which is just about being completed. But I will send to my hon. friend, if I can get them, these printed documents, though it is possible that in some respects they may have been varied by recent changes.
Motion agreed to, Bill read the second time, considered in committee, reported, read the third time and passed.
Bill (No. 195) respecting Currency, read the second time, and House went into committee thereon.
Mr. FIELDING.
I sympathize with the view expressed the other day by the hon. member for Halton (Mr. Henderson), that when we are making any numerous amendments to a Bill it is much to our advantage to re-enact, if not the whole Bill, the clauses which are to be materially changed. I think there is a convenience in that from the layman's point of view, and even from the lawyer's point of view. In this case we 1 are proposing to amend the Currency Act,
and we do it in the form of a revision. While the Act is somewhat lengthy, it is for the most part merely a re-enactment of the existing law. The important changes ate those which I explained to the House the other day with respect to the gold standard; that is practically the only important change in the Act'. The House, while it may wish to follow the various sections, may feel sure that the important changes are those to which I have already called attention. The clauses that are amended are all printed in italics, so that attention may be drawn to them. Though we may pass the Bill through committee today, if it is desired that it shall stand for the third reading, I have no objection.
On section 3,
Mr. DANIEL.
Is that the gold standard of the English sovereign?
Mr. FIELDING.
No. My hon. friend, I suppose, was not present the other day when I explained this. Our currency is on a gold basis with the British sovereign of the fixed value of $4.86f. We have also another Standard with a fractional difference, because the American gold* coins are legal tender in Canada. It might be assumed that as we have these two standards the value is relatively the same, but in reality there is a fractional difference. If we should now, in making our gold coins, produce a $5 gold piece on the basis of the British sovereign, the result would be that we would have a coin intrinsically worth less than the American five-dollar gold piece. What we propose to do is to make our five-dollar gold piece exactly equivalent in intrinsic value to the American five-dollar gold piece. There is a fractional difference as between that and the British sovereign, but it is not important enough to affect any commercial transaction. It amounts to the one hundredth part of a cent on a five-dollar gold piece. It will never be of serious importance to any commercial transaction, but I am sure hon. gentlemen will see that it is rather desirable that our coins, being of the decimal currency, should be in every respect equal in value to the American gold which may be placed in competition with it.
On section 4: value and currency of
standard goods, silver and bronze coins. &c.