Mr. SPEAKER:

I do not think so. .The hon. member may call the attention of the (Government to the Statement, and put a question with regard to it.

Mr. GLASS:

May I ask the Government whether the facts as reported in the Gazette are correct? Is it the intention of the Government to fix the price of other dairy product's so that they will be on a parity with the price fixed for cheese?

Sir GEORGE FOSTER:

In the absence of the Minister of Agriculture, I cannot say definitely whether the report is correct or not; I assume that it is so far as the fixing of the price of cheese is concerned. I will call the attention of the Minister of Agriculture to the remaining portion of my hon. friend's question. [DOT]

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order. The hon. member is not in order. If he wishes to put a question to the Government, he may do so; he cannot read a letter.

Mr. PREVQST (translation):

With your permission, I shall ask the Government whether they have any knowledge of the facts which are pointed out to me in this letter. There would have been in Terrebonne, in my county, since the 23rd instant, some twenty-five Federal policemen who are, so it is said, looking after some shirkers under this Act. On the 23rd, they arrested a young man who was the bearer, since the autumn previous, of a certificate of exemption from the local tribunal of Terrebonne. This certificate was taiken away from him, at noon, while he was going back to his work, and they refused to return it to him under the pretence that it was worthless. When he passed by in the evening, he was arrested and detained, as a prisoner, until a late hour in the evening, when certain interested friends of his telephoned to the registrar, Mr. Godin, who ordered his release. They also attempted to take away the papers from another youth who resisted and refused to part with them as he would then have been without any means of showing that he was not transgressing the Military Service Act. Several

of these officers are thus overzealous in apprehending young conscripts. The young man, whose exemption papers were thus taken away from him, resides at Saint Franqois de Sales, in the county of Laval and Two Mountains. I do ask the Government whether they are cognizant of these facts and, if hot, whether they propose fully investigating them. Moreover, I suggest that they should see to it that an end is put t-o .such ruthless proceedings in the carrying out of warrants. They are in themselves an explanation of the dissatisfaction which is widespread throughout the country. [DOT]

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order. I must ask hon. members not to abuse the privilege which allows questions on urgent matters to be put before the Orders of the Day are called. Quite frequently questions are put which should more properly go on the Order paper in the ordinary course, so that the Government may have notice of them. There can be no objection to an important question regarding a matter of policy. But matters dealing with individual eases should not be brought up on the Orders of the Day.

Mr. JACQUES BUREAU (Three Rivers):

I desire to call attention to an error in the Hansard report. Yesterday I put the following question to the Minister of Militia:

Are the men In Class "E" exempted under medical certificates obliged1 to report under the new Order in Council which has been passed ?

The report says class " D ", but what I wanted to know was whether men in class E, medically unfit, were required to report under the new Order 'in Council. As the question is reported, some confusion might be created. I understand that men in class D are those temporarily unfit, while those in class E are permanently unfit for service. Further on, speaking about the medical certificate, what I meant-and what I think I said, though it may have been misunderstood-was would the medical certificate of the Military Board appointed for the purpose be sufficient to exempt a man declared medically unfit. From the reply made to me by the minister, I think he understood my question aright.

Major-General MEWBLTRN: I understand the hon. gentleman to refer to men in the lower category-I think he said E.

, -Mr. BUREAU: Yes.

Major-General MEWBURN: Category E consists of men not likely to become fit within six months; that is the regulation laid "down by the medical people. What I intended to say in answer to my hon. friend was this: in calling up these classes of 20, 21 and 22 years, we were not asking to report at present those men already registered, and who had not been put in class A by the Medical Boards. All we require is -men of -class A who are fit for service at the front. The categories laid down by the medical board are: A, fit for general service; B, fit for service abroad, but not for -gene'ral service-that would be forestry, and so on; D, temporarily unfit, but possibly becoming A or B within six months-that is, men in convalescent homes, and so on; E, not likely to become fit in six months.

Mr. BUREAU:

E is the class I was referring to.

Major-General MEWBURN: We had no intention of calling them. If things get worse, some of these men within the ages of 20, 21 and 22 may have to undergo another medical examination. We have, however, no intention of disturbing any of the men already declared not to be in class A.

Mr. PREVOST:

M-ay I expect an answer from the hon. minister relative to the facts which I have stated?

Hon. Mr. DOHERTY (translation):

Had not the hon. member from Three Rivers (Mr. Bureau) so hastily interfered, my intention was to answer my honourable friend from Terrebonne.

I must say that the Government have no knowledge of the two incidents referred to by the hon. member. If he will -give us the names of the interested parties or the names of the officers-should they be known to him-that would! help us a great -deal in taking the necessary steps, so as to ascertain whether his statements were true. As to the necessity of giving orders so that there should be no high-handed dealings, I must say that all the officers have received-the most express and formal instructions to avoid all that could be even described as partaking of, the n-atu-re of. such behaviour on the part of men so inclined.

Hon. W. S. FIELDING:

Mr. Speaker, may I be permitted to direct the attention

of the hon. the Minister of Militia and Defence to a matter which may be of more than local importance? Reports- in the press indicate that there has been a considerable outbreak of smallpox in the district of Cape Island in the western part of Nova Scotia and that the disease has been taken into that district by returned sqldiers. I venture to suggest that the hon. gentleman will, through his medidaL officers, make inquiry into the matter not only in justice to the people of the district at present concerned but because, if the report be found to be correct, it is- evident that there is danger of similar troubles occurring in other parts of the country to which returned soldiers go. I deem it my duty to bring this matter to the attention of the hon. gentleman as, if true, it indicates that there is need of a more rigid examination, first, on the part of the quarantine authorities at the ports of landing and on the part of the medical gentlemen connected with our own Department of Militia and Defence. The hon. gentleman h'as probably not heard of . it and all I desire to do is to call his- attention to-it and to ask that the matter be investigated through his medical officers.

Major-General MEWBURN (Minister of Militia and Defence): I most assuredly

will do what my hon. friend- (Mr. Fielding) suggests. I have not had my attention called to it so far. If the hon. gentleman could give me any further information that he has I would appreciate it.

Mr. FIELDING:

My only information is that which I have learned from the public press. The trouble has occurred in the district of Cape Island in Shelburne county in the western part o-f Nova Scotia. Cape Sable Island is in my district although it is not to be confused with Sable Island, the graveyard of the Atlantic. It is in the southern part of Nova Scotia where Cape Sable juts out into the Atlantic. There, quite a number of cases have occurred. It is treated, as a matter of course, as if the disease had been taken into that district by returned soldiers. That assumption may not be well founded. I am not asserting that it is but I merely ask my hon. friend to see that the matter receives attention.