Mr. F. F. PARDEE (West Lambton):

May I be permitted to draw the attention

of the Secretary of State to something which may not have been intended in the last revision of the Franchise Act. Paragraph (g) of section 70 of the Dominion Elections Act provides that: .

Every person accepting or holding any office, commission or employment, permanent or temporary, in the service of the Government of Canada at the nomination of the Crown or at the nomination of any of the officers of the Government of Canada,

-shall be debarred from offering himself as a candidate for the Federal House. By the Act of 1915 to amend the Senate and House of Commons Act it is provided that serving in the naval' and military forces of Canada and receiving emolument therefor shall not render a man ineligible as a member of the House of Commons. Now the question arises whether under the last revision of the Franchise Act any member or candidate to the House of Commons would be disqualified if he accepted a position on any of the tribunals and received his expenses therefor. I think that point ought to be taken into consideration, and the Act amended so ae not to disqualify any person undertaking that work.

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

My impression

is that there is nothing in the Dominion Elections Acts which affects the matter one way or the other. The statute to which my hon. friend alludes is the one relating to the Senate and the House of Commons. Therefore, I would not consider that any legislation passed, at this session has any bearing upon the question which my hon. friend has raised. However, his observations will appear in Hansard, and I shall direct the attention of the law officers of the Crown to the point which has been raised, and if there has been any omission or oversight it could probably be corrected under the War Measures Act, after consultation with my right hon. friend who leads the Opposition.

Hon. ARTHUR MEIGHEN (Secretary of State):

As I understand it, hy the WarTime Elections Act, it is made the duty of every returning officer to divide his constituency into geographical polling divisions. That '.applies everywhere throughout Canada.

Mr. CARVELL:

Would it apply to a province like New Brunswick or Nova Scotia where, by statute, the country is already divided into polling divisions?

Mr. MEIGHEN:

The Act covers the point clearly, I think. My recollection is that the discretion of the returning officer is exercisable only in the western provinces. I do not know whether it is exercisable in New Brunswick or not, but I do know that the returning officer is directed in every case to utilize the polling divisions already established, unless for some reason they cannot be utilized.

Mr. CARVELL:

That was my view of it, but I wanted to have the opinion of the Secretary of State on Hansard. I did not imagine the returning officer would have the right to interfere with polling divisions in provinces like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Sir HERBERT AMES (St. Antoine):

Is there anything in the War-Time Elections Act to prevent women from being appointed as enumerators?

Mr. PUGSLEY:

It raises the old question whether she is a person.

Mr. MEiIGiHEN: I do not think that the section relating to enumerators used any particular word, but whether it does or not, I do not hesitate to give the opinion- I know that it is generally unwise to give legal opinions on cross-examination in the House of Commons, but I feel sure of my ground in this case-that it would be quite within the law to appoint a woman as enumerator.

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

Mr. Speaker, a number of amendments of a more or less important character have been made by the Senate to this Bill. I understand that so far as those amendments are concerned they are not likely to be of a controversial nature, provided the motion which I am now about to make should commend itself to the judgment of the House. There has been a conference with respect to those amendments between gentlemen on both sides of the House, and as the result of those conferences I now beg to move, seconded by Hon. Mr. Meighen:

That the Senate amendments to Bill No. 133 be concurred in, subject to amendment of such amendments as follow:

(a) By striking out of paragraph 2 of subsection 5 of the new section 65A, provided by said Bill, the word "made" and inserting instead in each case the word "completed" as said word appears in lines 19 and 21 of page 1162 of Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.

(b) By striking out of said paragraph 2 of said subsection 5 of section 65 A provided by said Bill the words "except the issuance in any necessary case of a certificate in form W3 under paragraph (g) of section 6T," which words appear in the 33rd, 34th and 35th lines of said Votes and Proceedings.

I shall ask the Secreary of State to make any explanation that may be desired of the other amendments. So far as these were concerned, they were brought to my attention this morning by the hon. member for Pictou (Mr. Macdonald) and by my colleague from Halifax (Mr. A. K. Maclean). I think there is very good reason for the amendment because, as was pointed out to .me the use of the word "completed" gives a definite date, whereas the use of the word " made " does not give a precisely definite date under the law of Nova Scotia in respect of which this amendment is made. In regard to the other amendment, it was represented to me by the hon. gentlemen I have mentioned that, under the special provisions which are made for the province o.f .Nova Scotia, it is neither desirable nor necessary that there should be any further action by the enumerators. I concur in that view. The result of that would Ibe that those lists having been revised under judicial sanction will stand and the enumerator will have no further duty to perform with regard to them. It seemed to me that amendment was a reasonable one, and, therefore, after the conference to which I have alluded, I thought we might accept the amendments made by the Senate, with the further amendments that are em-

bodied in the resolution I have just proposed.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt .the motion?

Sir WILFRID LAURIER:

I do not rise to a point of order, hut I would like to call your attention, Mr. Speaker, and the attention of the House, to .the fact that whenever an amendment is brought from the Senate to be concurred in by this House, the practice has been not to take it into consideration the day it is brought down. I will not raise the point to-day, as apparently there has been an understanding between the two sides of the House.

Mr. A. K. MACLEAN:

Government would have attempted the establishment of a Federal Franchise Act applicable to every province of Canada. At least it would surely have been applied to the province of New Brunswick and to other provinces where there is not, in whole or in part, something approaching a judicial revision of the list. Only one inference can be drawn; that is that this amendment was designed for the purpose of gaining a political advantage in the province of Nova Scotia, and why that one province should be singled out for this purpose is something I cannot understand. I register my protest against it. I say we have a system of revision of lists in Nova Scotia that is as good as that

in any other province, if not better. That revision was last completed in March last. As hon. gentlemen know, it requires a great deal of labour on the part of members of Parliament and of 4 p.m. political organizations to obtain a revision- of voters' lists annually. That list in Nova Scotia was completed but a few months ago. Nobody in my province was complaining -about the revision. I venture to say that no protest or complaint was lodged with the Government by any responsible person living in my province against that revision. I say that this amendment does not originate from anybody except the members from my province supporting the Government, and their only motive in suggesting and supporting such an amendment in the Senate and its passage through this House is a political one. In December next we shall be obliged to commence a revision of our lists again, and concurrently with the forthcoming election members of Parliament in my province will be obliged to undergo the expense, anxiety and labour of carrying on a revision of the lists, something which has never occurred before. Where the system of electoral revision by enumerators is in vogue and where that has been the practice and the established system, it may not be so objectionable; but it is objectionable to-my province, and I believe that will be the judgment of everybody in it, both Liberal and Conservative. Therefore I say it entails an unnecessary amount of labour and expense upon everybody, after having undergone, just two or three months ago, a revision of our lists, to be obliged to undergo the same thing in the course of another month or two. And what for? Just to gratify the unwholesome, the unjust, desires of some hon. gentlemen opposite. Because they think they can gain some personal and political advantage in fMr. A. Xu Maclean.]

the forthcoming election we must go through a vast amount of work and incur a considerable expense. In the end very few names will be added to the electoral lists outside of women, and very few will be struck off outside of those -struck off for reason of alienage. I venture the prediction that when this Bill becomes law and the revision takes place under this amendment, hon. gentlemen opposite who are responsible for this amendment will' regret that they ever promoted such legislation. Further than that, I -say that it adds to the burdens placed upon candidates iin this election. There is that immense soldiers' vote to be taken care of, which requires -a vast amount of organization and expense on the part of all candidates. Then we have the enfranchisement of women voters in all the provinces, and that entails vast labour and expense. One would think that that would be sufficient additional burden to throw upon candidates and party organizations in this election, without introducing this further complication at this particular moment.

I understand that this legislation is justified upon the ground that in Nova Scotia the appeal from the work of the revisers is to the sheriffs, who are political officers appointed by the Government of Nova Scotia. Complaint is made that the appeal should be heard by a judicial officer and not by -such an- officer as a sheriff. At least I have heard that presented as a justification f-o-r this amendment. I -s-ay it is not a sound reason- and will not be received as suich in the province of Nova -Scotia by any con-sider-a-ble number on either side of politics. Our lists are prepared by municipal officers who are called revisers. These revisers are appointed by the municipal councils or county councils, because the municipality practically corresponds geographically with our county lines. In some of the counties the majorities are Conservative; in other counties, it is true, the majority in the municipal council may be Liberal. Three or four years ago tRe majority of the county councils of my province were Conservative. In the constituency which I represent, the majority of the municipal council are Conservative. In the counties of Guysborough and An-tigon-isih the majorities are Conservative and the lists are made up by officers appointed by these people. I have had more or less to do necessarily diu-rimg the last twenty years in connection with the revision of lists, and I do give it to the House as my opinion and my judgment that our franchise system is

satisfactory to everybody in our province. I do not say you will not find complaints. No franchise system is capable of construction which would be satisfactory to every person. Naturally, some person of doubtful qualification or without qualification seeks enfranchisement and is refused. He complains and is dissatisfied, as probably would be the candidate seeking the enrolment of that particular name. That, however, does not prove that the franchise system is wrong, or that it is in any respect open to objection.

With respect to appeals to the sheriff, the number of appeals' in Nova Scotia in any one year is altogether a negligible quantity. I do not pretend to speak accurately, but I venture to say that in many years, particularly in years when an election is1 not likely to take place, there are practically no appeals. In my constituency, where there is an electoral list of over 20,000, only 25 appeals were .asserted by my political friends at the revision last March, fifteen of which were allowed and ten refused, I think that 25 is as large a number of appeals as is usually asserted in any year in my constituency. In the county of Annapolis this year 28 appeals were made on both sides; probably 6,000 or 7,000 voters are enrolled in that constituency. Eleven men were struck off, seven were added, and ten were left on; that was the disposal of the 28 appeals, In the counties of Guysborough, Antigonis'h and Cape Breton-in the latter county the electoral list contains about 20,000 namesi-not an appeal was asserted last year.

Mr. DAVIDSON:

Would my hon. friend like to know why appeals were not made?

Mr. A. K. MACLEAN:

I do not know; I suppose it was because there were none to make. I should trust my hon. friend to make every appeal that he thought was possible.