Mr. LAPOINTE:

We will give the views of the government when the time comes.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

When will the time come? It has come now.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

After that formality is

attended to.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

Parliament is entitled

to know what the government's decisions are when they are made.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Theie is no urgency in the matter. My right hon. friend knows, no one better than he, that we are not bound by the treaty; we are just as well off as we were six months or a year ago.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

That is not the question.

That is the question.

Nothing suffers by reason of the fact that we are not giving to my right hon. friend our views concerning the treaty. Canada will not be bound by the treaty until parliament ratifies it.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

Will the minister explain why the information should be withheld from parliament, seeing that the government has come to a decision?

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I do not think I have

anything to add to what I have told my right hon. friend.

Hon. W. R. MOTHERWELL (Minister of Agriculture):

The question raised by the hon. member for Hants-King (Mr. Foster) has already occasioned a good deal of discussion on both sides of the Atlantic. Because of its importance, Mr. Speaker, I have had prepared a short memorandum, which I will read with the permission of the House:

Advice was recently received from the High Commissioner's office to the effect that prominence was being given in the British press to prosecutions of certain dealers for selling American apples containing arsenic, due to spraying in order to counteract the codling moth. The High Commissioner was advised that although Canada was compelled to use arsenical sprays in orchards, practical experience and chemical analyses amply demonstrated the harmlessness of this practice. While no particular experiments in this regard had at that time been carried on by the Canadian department, with the exception of a small experiment in 1891, results obtained at American institutions where tests had been made showed that spraying did not have any injurious effects, while in reporting on the 1891 experiment, the Dominion Chemist said:

The insoluble character of this poison, precluding its assimilation by the apple if such were possible, the infinitesimal part of paris green that can remain on the apple, the frequent rains subsequent to the spraying, and the fact that apples are pared before using, all go to substantiate the argument that there is not the slightest danger of poisoning in using sprayed apples."

It was decided, however, to conduct another experiment in order to further clear up this point, and as a result the Dominion Entomologist has procured, for analysis by the Division of Chemistry, samples of apples from sprayed orchards in the several provinces. These apples are to be analyzed by the Dominion Chemist and a statement made as to any possible traces of arsenic found thereon. This work has not as yet been completed.

I have to thank my hon. friend for notifying me of his intention to ask this question because it is somewhat technical and the information in relation to it should be exact.

Mr. FOSTER:

May I ask that in view

of the seriousness of the situation the minister wild take some steps, through the High Commissioner in London, to acquaint the English public that these examinations and analyses have been made in Canada, with the results just stated; and that he will, if necessary, place an advertisement in some of the English papers circulating in centres where our apples are being distributed so that our growers may get the benefit of this publicity?

Mr. MOTHERWELL:

I am afraid that

analyses made thirty-five years ago, while good for that day, would not throw very much light on conditions at the present time. Our western orchards were not very much developed then.

Mr. L. J. LADNER (Vancouver South):

Mr. Speaker, will the government announce whether or not it intends to suspend the salaries of the staff of this House during the period of adjournment? Many of the staff come from a considerable distance and are under somewhat heavy financial obligations during their presence here. They are needed by many hon. gentlemen for parliamentary work, and it is only just that they should receive their full salary during the adjournment.

Hon. ERNEST LAPOINTE (Leader of the House):

The question is 'being considered

by the Internal Economy Commission of the House. I understand they met this morning, but we have not yet had their report.