Sir WILFRID LAURIER:

From the

tenor of this motion I cannot tell whether my hon. friend intends to move that the report be concurred in. If he has no such intention, I think it would be advisable to have the evidence printed before we take the report into consideration.

Mr. GUTHRIE:

No evidence was taken before the committee. The only document before the committee was the official return which has been printed and distributed amongst hon. members. Apart from that, we only had the statements of the parties concerned and of their counsel; I believe those statements were taken down and would he available if desired. It is not

my intention to move that the report of the committee be adopted by the House, because I do not apprehend that it is my duty to make such a motion. As chairman of the committee it is my duty to report to the House the committee's finding, and also, as laid down in Bourinot, on page 553:

It is usual for the Chairman to move, after he has presented his report, that it be taken into consideration on a future day, and it shall be placed on the Order Paper for that day. After that motion, when it is on the Order Paper, it is open to any member of the House to make such motion in regard to its adoption as he sees fit.

Mr. LEMIEUX:

It is not a very graceful way of dealing with a report.

Sir WILFRID LAURIER:

My hon. friend (Mr. Guthrie) confirms my understanding that strong arguments have been made on both sides of the question, and as notes have been taken of ithe argument I think it would be advisable to have them printed for the information of the House.

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

I do not know to what extent they are available, but I shall confer with the Solicitor General, and if the statements are available there is no reason why they should not be printed.

Motion .agreed to.

Hon. FRANK CARVELL ( Minister of Public Works):

I beg to lay on the Table interim reports Nos. 2 and 3, by Mr. Sanford Evans, of the Georgian Bay Canal Commission. A number of copies of the first report were printed, and I understand there are still on hand some 2,113 copies of that report in English and 1,369 in French. I therefore beg to move:

That five thousand copies of these two reports be printed in English and five hundred in French, and that Rule 74 be suspended in connection therewith.

Mr. MURPHY:

I would suggest that

the number to be printed in French be one thousand.

Mr. QARVELL:

I have no objection.

The statement which I have had prepared at the request of the hon. member for Maisonneuve (Mir. Lemieux) shows the

tMr. Guthrie.]

number printed in French and English is: English 7,800, cost $2,045; French 1,900, cost $787.

They were distributed as follows: English 5,347; French 491. The demand for French copies was very small and I believed that 500 would have been sufficient but I have no objection to accepting the suggestion of the bon. gentleman.

Mr. MURPHY:

The demand might be

larger now.

Mr. CARVELL:

It might be larger now

and I will make it a thousand in French and 5,000 in English. The motion will therefore read:

That 5,000 copies of these reports be printed in English and 1,000 in French, and that rule 74 be suspended in connection therewith.