Mr. MOTHERWELL:

Yes. They are just beginning to use that cold storage warehouse now. I have had inquiries from Regina in regard to the rates they were charging in Montreal and from that fact I know the warehouse is being used. There is a certain amount of competition, and keen competition where there is a large number of these plants and I want to congratulate the hon. member (Mr. Crerar) in connection with that cold storage warehouse. It would have been a great service to the country if it had been built a few years sooner, especially during the war.

Mr. MARTELL:

What action has been

taken in the past to protect the public against impure foodstuffs? Do inspectors visit these plants regularly to see that the food commodities are in good condition? Because in the city of Montreal as well as in the much vaunted western Canada hundreds of tons of chickens were taken from cold storage warehouses and destroyed on account of being unfit for human food. What measures are taken to guarantee the public that they will get pure food from these plants?

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

I may say that

when a cold storage plant is subsidized it has to be ok'd by the department and during the process of construction a constant inspection is maintained to see that the plans and specifications are lived up to. So long as the subsidy, or any portion of it, remains unpaid we can maintain inspection. But there is no regular inspection and we have not the control that we would have if such an inspection were carried out. There certainly is a weakness there which should be corrected somehow. I have not as yet, had the necessary time to look into this matter and determine the extent to which an inspection might be carried on.

Mr. MARTELL:

There is a Food Inspection Act under which, for example, government inspectors visit different stores from which they take samples of maple sugar and have them analyzed in order to determine whether they conform to a certain standard of purity. If the minister has power to do that, why has he not the power to carry out a regular inspection of

cold storage plants in order to see that the food products stored therein are fit for human consumption?

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

I think that is

a matter that would devolve on the provincial and Dominion boards of health.

Mr. MARTELL:

The inspection to

which I refer is, I think, practically carried out by the federal authorities.

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

It is a matter

under the control of the Dominion or provincial Department of Health.

Mr. MARTELL:

Is that an opinion

given by the Department of Justice in writing?

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

I think it is an

opinion given in writing.

Mr. MARTELL:

I think the minister

should bring that information down to the House.

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

I will do so if

my hon. friend will call for a return.

Mr. TOLMIE:

I would like to suggest

that as it is now eleven o'clock and as a number of hon. members on this side who would like to take part in the discussion of these items are not present, the com-mitte should rise.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

We had better pass this item.

Hon. T. A. CRERAR (Marquette) :

Before the House adjourns, if I might be permitted with the consent of the House, I should like to suggest to the Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) that, when the House adjourns over the Easter recess, we adjourn from Tuesday evening instead of from Wednesday evening. As we sit for only three hours on Wednesday, that is all we shall gain by sitting on that date. I find that some hon. gentlemen from the prairie provinces desire to avail themselves of the Easter recess to go home. If they leave on Tuesday night, as I understand the matter, their days throughout the rest of the week are charged up against them. If my hon, friend would agree to change the motion to read that we adjourn from Tuesday evening instead of from Wednesday, many members on this side of the House would appreciate that very much.

Grand Trunk Arbitration

Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister: The Government has, in this matter, only one wish, and that is to consult the convenience of the members. I had heard that a number of the members desired that the House should adjourn on Tuesday, and I take it that it is the general wish of the members that the suggestion just made by my hon. friend be acted upon. If so, I shall have pleasure, at the dose of to-night's sitting, in giving notice that, when we adjourn on Tuesday next, the House shall stand adjourned until the following Tuesday.

On motion of Mr. Mackenzie King, the House adjourned at 11.05 p.m.

Monday, April 10, 1922.