Right Hon. C. J. DOHERTY (Minister of Justice) moved for leave to introduce Bill No. 156, to amend the Canada Evidence Act. He said: The purpose of the Bill is to make a very slight amendment in the matter of procedure. It is to substitute a delay of seven days for the delay presently fixed in the statute, of ten days, which must elapse between the production or communication of documents intended to be used upon a trial and the day of the trial itself. It is asked for by persons interested in the administration of justice, particularly in cases with regard to offences against morality, etc., the reason being simply this: that there cannot be a remand for more than eight days, and wherever documentary evidence is to be used-inasmuch as under the present law the documents have to be produced or communicated ten days before the trial-it is necessary to have a second remand. In other words, it is impossible to comply with the requirement of ten days in time to proceed at the end of the first remand. The substitution of " seven " for " ten " seems to operate no injustice to anybody; it is an ample delay, and makes it possible to proceed after the first remand. Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first time.

Right Hon. C. J. DOHERTY (Minister of Justice) moved for leave to introduce Bill No. 157, to amend the Juvenile Delinquents Act. He said: Three amendments are proposed by this Bill. The first is for the purpose of raising from sixteen to eighteen years the limit of the age at which a delinquent may be treated as a child and dealt with under the Juvenile Delinquents Act. The House will remember that the other day we made similar amendments in the Prisons and Reformatories Act. The clause which makes this provision raising the age is suspended for the same reason for which the analogous clause was suspended in the Prisons and Reformatories Act, and the provision is that it shall come into force accordingly as it is proclaimed in the different provinces. The reason is as I mentioned the other day: it is represented that the provinces are not presently prepared to deal with the situation that would be created by this increase in age; that their institutions are in large measure organized to deal with children only up to sixteen years of age, and it is not desirable that this change should go into practical operation until suitable arrangements have been made. The second amendment is' to confer a power of postponement on the juvenile courts which apparently does not exist at the present time. This suggestion "was made by a judge as the result of an inquiry which he was charged to make into the operations of these prosecutions, and it is thought that the proposed amendment will effect a very substantial improvement. The third amendment is to increase the possible penalty of persons contributing to the delinquency of young children from one year to two years and likewise to make persons liable to that penalty without its being necessary to prove that they have actually succeeded in their attempt to contribute to the delinquency. This is effected by adding the words: "or likely to make any child a juvenile delinquent." This amendment follows upon a judgment recently entered in a case Where a very young child was brought together with an older girl child by a couple of men who indulged in an orgy in the presence of this child-a most degrading and certainly a most contaminating thing. But as it was not established that the men had had any relations of any kind with this young child, notwithstanding its having been present at this orgy, it was held that they should not be convicted as having contributed to make the young child a delinquent. The purpose of the additional words is to cover cases of attempts of that kind, even if they do not involve the perpetration of an actual offence which might be said to make a child absolutely a delinquent. The fourth and final amendment is to provide a penalty for persons who attempt to induce children to desert from the persons or families in whose custody or charge they are placed under the Act. Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first time.

Right Hon. C. J. DOHERTY (Minister of Justice) moved for leave to introduce Bill No. 158, respecting a Supplementary Extradition Convention with the United States of America. He said: This Bill has already been explained. It is a treaty for the purpose of adding, as between Canada and the United States, the offence of wife desertion to the extraditable offences. Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first time.

Right Hon. Sir GEORGE FOSTER (Minister of Trade and Commerce) moved

for leave to introduce Bill No. 159, to amend the Inspection and Sale Act (Hay and Straw inspection). Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first time.

FROM THE SENATE-FIRST READINGS Bill No. 147, for the relief of John Wilson.-Mr. Pripp. Bill No. 148, for the relief of Albert Harding.-Mr. Fripp. Bill No. 149, for the relief of Thomas Furneaux.-Mr. Green. Bill No. 150, for the relief of Matthew John Scott.-Mr. Best. Bill No. 151, for the relief of Dora Lucy Bell.-Mr. Mowat. Bill No. 152, for the relief of Henry Kropp.-Mr. Smith. Bill No. 153, for the relief of Arthur Daughton.-Mr. Douglas (Strathcona). Bill No. 154, for the relief of Annie Maud Bell.-Mr. Boys. Bill No. 155, for the relief of Thomas Henry Foster.-Mr. Green. PRIME MINISTERS' CONFERENCE On the Orders of the Day:

On the Orders of the Day: