Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

My hon. friend from Rouville (Mr. Lemieux) made inquiry about communications from provincial governments with regard to proposed'assistance to be given by them to the Government or people of the mother country. Two official communications have been received by the Government. One is from the province of Alberta stating the intention of that province to make a gift of 500,000 bushels of oats, and another is from the Province of Nova Scotia advising us that the contribution of that province would be 100,000 tons of coal. We have observed in the press the statement that the province of Quebec proposes to make a gift of 4,000,000 lbs. of, cheese. No additional communication with regard to that has been brought to my attention. I have no doubt that it will be, in due course. We have also had informal notice that the province of Britich Columbia proposes to make a, gift, but I am not yet advised as to the exact nature of the assistance it desires to offer. Hon. gentlemen will have observed that the Premier of Ontario has made a communication to the press intimating that that province also proposes to offer assistance. We have not yet had official communication with regard to Ontario, British Columbia or Quebec.

Mr. PUGSLEY:

I would suggest to my hon. friend that the personnel of this corporation is not sufficiently extended nor is it thoroughly representative of the whole Dominion of Canada. Another objection is that the premiers of the several provinces are by name made members of the corporation. As to the Lieutenant-Governors, I see that special provision is made in the Bill in case of change in that office. In the same way I think that the section should make the premiers of the several provinces for the time being members of the Corporation. They are made members of the corporation because they are premiers, and when one of these gentlemen ceases to be premier his successor in the premiership should take his place in this corporation. I observe also that the office of the corporation is to be in the city of Ottawa. Necessarily, therefore, it is in Ottawa that the principal executive work will be done. And yet the number of gentlemen belonging to the city of Ottawa who are included in this list is very limited. One could recall to mind many representative gentlemen living in Ottawa who might very properly be members of the corporation.' There is also a marked omission in this list. One gentleman in Canada has contributed half a million to this fund, and yet his name is not included here. I think that the list of names should be very thoroughly revised, and my hon. friend ought to consider whether the number ought not to be enlarged in accordance with the suggestions I have made.

Mr. ROGERS:

I am sure it is the desire of everybody who has had anything to do with this proposed Bill to make its provisions with regard to the names of incorporators as wide as possible, and to add any names which it would be desirable to include. There is no objection to the hon. gentleman's suggestion With regard to the premiers of the several provinces. When we come to that clause which provides for the case of the termination of the term of office of a lieutenant governor, we shall be glad to amend it to meet the hon. gentleman's suggestion. With respect to Mr. Ross, of course there is no name in Canada that it would be more desirable to place on the list than his. He has made a very handsome contribution indeed. Of course, his contribution does not go directly to this particular fund; nevertheless there would be no objection so far as I know to his name being added to this list.

Mr. H. H. McLEAN (Sunbury and Queens, N.B.):

I am sure that the names mentioned in section 2 are those of representative men of the Dominion. But I would call the attention of the Minister of Public Works and of the Prime Minister to some of the general provisions of the Bill. We all agree that this Act

should be broad enough and should be put in such a condition that the objects of incorporation may be effectually worked out. Very large, sums of money will be placed in the hands of this corporation. It was stated yesterday by the right hon. the Prime Minister that the Government proposed to supplement the amount subscribed

by public bodies and by private individuals so that the fund would be large enough to provide for the families of men who go on active service. It does seem to me that the corporation should be representative of the different parts of the Dominion.

Let us look for a minute at the practical working out of the objects of this corpor-.ation. The head office is to be in the city of Ottawa. Meetings will have to be held constantly in order to provide for the distribution of the fund; but we can hardly expect that all the gentlemen named in section 2 will be able to give any great personal attention to this work. For example, the governors of the different provinces, the members of the Government and the members of the opposition, would not be able to give the personal attention to me work that it would require. Therefore, only a few of the members residing in the city of Ottawa will have practical control of the fund and be active members. Amongst the names mentioned in section 2 I find only five outside of the class I have mentioned who would be active members residing .in the city of Ottawa. There are named in section 2 no representative men who could give attention to the administration of the fund in the different provinces. Then, under section 8 the corporation shall have power to establish .branches or local organizations. Section 14 provides for the appointment of members to fill vacancies, for the internal government of the corporation, and for the carrying out of the objects of the Act. A few of the active members, therefore, have the absolute right to name who shall be members of the corporation and who shall be their successors in office. The administration of this fund will probably extend over a number of years, and we know that in the course of eight or tdn years very few of the men named in paragraph 2 win be able to take any active part in carrying out the objects of this corporation.

It seems to me that this fund should be made so representative that all the provinces, all private individuals, all municipalities, should be able to subscribe to it. We should not have one fund in one city and other funds in other cities or provinces, all of them carried on by different organizations, one clashing with the other. That was the trouble that was experienced at the time of the South African war. We . had a fund in New Brunswick; there was a Dominion fund; there were funds in the different cities; and there were funds in the different provinces. A consequent clashing

in the administration of these funds was the inevitable result.

How can this be avoided? I suggest that the executive or representative officers of the provinces should be amongst the incorporators, or should be active members of this corporation. It seems to me also that any person subscribing over a certain amount, say JlOO or more, should be a member of the 'corporation. I hope that the Government will take this matter into consideration and have a consultation with the right hon. leader of the Opposition with a view to seeing whether it can be arranged that the corporation shall ibe so representative that it will include representative bodies of the whole Dominion. I suggest also that the by-laws should be approved by the Governor in Council and a statement of the accounts laid before the House from time to time.

Mr. ROGERS:

I think the provisions of the Bill are broad enough to embrace the various conditions in $ie different parts of the Dominion. It is proposed to add to section 6 the following clause, which will perhaps to some extent meet the suggestions made by the hon. gentleman:

The persons whose names are mentioned in section 2 shall constitute the provincial executive committee, and provided that ten of the said persons are present at the first meeting, the corporation may be organized and the executive committee may be selected by them, and until otherwise provided by by-law or regulation made by the executive committee, ten members of the executive committee shall be a quorum.

My hon. friend has spoken of the limited number of names from the city of Ottawa.

I may say that at the meeting held the other day one of the objections advanced from other cities was that the number of names from the city of Ottawa was, perhaps, too large. Toronto and Montreal felt, and very properly so, that they should be strongly represented. The members of the committee who had charge of this act of incorporation followed pretty closely the form of the Bill that we had in 1901.

Mr. MACDONALD:

I think that the suggestions made by the hon. member for Queens and Sunbury (Mr. H. H. McLean) are very apt. The far-away parts of the Dominion, if I may use the phrase, speaking from the Ottawa standpoint, are very inadequately represented in the corporation which is to administer this fund. The official governor or the premier of the province is largely occupied with duties peculiar to his particular part of the Dominion, and I think that there might be found representa-

tive men in each province who would give their services to this organization, and be the means of communication in regard to particular cases that might arise in each province. I apprehend that, on account of the number of men who are going, the necessity for this fund will be very much greater and its operations far more extensive than the case in respect of the jund which was established at the time jof the South African war. It certainly would be desirable and absolutely necessary that those of us who come from the faraway provinces, either in the East or in the West, should have some active, well-known representative on the administrative body, so that we might have some means of communication on behalf of the people who come from our respective provinces. Some one suggested that members of Parliament and senators might be ex-officio members of the corporation. I am not prepared to say that I agree absolutely with that suggestion.

I do think that there ought to be local recognition of men from the various provinces in order that this'plan may workout satisfactorily. As a matter of course, the names of Mr. J. K. L. Ross andMr. John C. Eaton whose subscriptions already have been of such a magnificient character, should be inluded in the list of incorporators; but, as we are all anxious to have this scheme put on a proper basis, the personnel of the incorporators, the names set out in section 2 of the people who are to compose the corporation, should be extended in some degree in order to attain the object which has been suggested by my hon. friend.

Sir WILFRID LAURIER:

This Bill, as has been stated by the Minister of Public Works, is almost a reproduction of the Act passed in 1901, at the time of the South African war. The objection was taken at that time which has just been stated by my hon. friend from Queens and Sunbury (Mr. H. H. McLean), that in that respect the Bill had not given satisfaction in the section of the country which he represents. And there is force in his objection. I can see, however, that at this stage, as we expect to prorogue this afternoon, it is perhaps difficult to make any suggestion which can be embodied in the present Bill. I suggest to my hon. friend that he take into consideration the suggestion of the hon. member for Queens and Sunbury, and perhaps at the next session, we might amend the Bill in that direction.

Mr. ROGERS:

There is provision in section 14 for the addition of names to the corporation. With that in view we shall be able to meet the suggestion of the hon. gentleman opposite of the addition of the names o"f any persons whom it is desirable to add.

Mr. McKENZIE:

The word 'relatives'

of the absentees might be a cause of worry. Parties might require assistance who are not relatives. The word ' relatives ' is not defined in the Bill. In the province from which I come there has been difficulty in assisting parties who deserved assistance, because they were not technically relatives, as in the case of a man who has an adopted son.

Mr. ROGERS:

That point engaged the attention of those who had charge of the preparation of the Bill. The word ' dependents,' which was used in the Bill of 1901, caused a great deal of trouble, according to those who had the practical administration of the fund. The word ' relatives ' seemed to cover as wide a range as was desirable.

Mr. A. K. MACLEAN:

An hon. gentleman behind me suggests that it should read ' relatives by birth or adoption.'

Mr. McKENZIE:

In Nova Scotia we have found that under the Workmen's Compensation Act the person "who takes the place of

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

I should not

imagine that there would be a great many of such cases, and I would be inclined to think that possibly they might be covered by this wording. In any case, if occasion were found, it would be a very simple matter to amend the Act to cover deserving cases.

Mr. MICHAEL CLARK:

The point raised by the hon. member for Cape Breton (Mr. McKenzie) is not a large point, but it is a very cogent point, and I think we ought to

have assurance from some legal member of the Government that the specific case would be covered by the term 'relative.' Otherwise the word 'relative' is not sufficient.