Hon. J. A. ROBB (Minister of Finance):

I desire to lay on the table a report in duplicate of branch line construction expenditure as follows:

Summary of work done and actual expenditure to end of year 1925, also during the calendar year 1925, on the various branch lines of the Canadian National Railways, authorized to be constructed under chapters 14-32 inclusive of 14-15 George V, and chapters 5 and 7, of 15-16 George V.

Also detail of expenditures incurred and work done, as well as estimate of expenditure proposed during 1926. This statement is intended to replace the provisional report, with estimated expenditure, previously made by the management in order to comply with the requirement of the act as to return to parliament, which Teport was brought down Tuesday, February 16th, by Mr. Lapointe.

Sir HENRY DRAYTON:

Does my hon.

friend include in that report expenditures on the Rouyn railway?

Mr. ROBB:

I have not read the report.

It came over from the department and I tabled it.

Mr. PETER McGIBBON (Muskoka-On-tario):

Can the Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) tell me when the correspondence relating to the Locarno treaty will be laid before the House?

Hon. ERNEST LAPOINTE (Leader of the House):

Correspondence with the British

government is still being exchanged. We are asking permission to rhake the whole correspondence public but we have not yet been able to secure it. We are still communicating.

FORT ALEXANDER INDIAN RESERVE On the Orders of the Day:

Hon. CHARLES STEWART (Minister of the Interior):

Yesterday the hon. member for Springfield (Mr. Hay) asked a question with reference to the sale or lease of the Fort Alexander Indian reserve to the Manitoba Pulp and Paper Company. I find that on the 30th day of January, 1923, the Fort Alexander band surrendered an area of 520 acres in the extreme southeastern portion of the reserve, for lease to the Manitoba Pulp and Paper Company, Limited. The lease subsequently issued for a period of ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of SI,040. On the 23rd day of January this year the band surrendered for sale to the Manitoba Pulp and Paper Company, Limited, an area of 390 acres, in the same part of the reserve, at a price mutually agreed upon of $40 per acre, cash. Of this area 304 acres are embraced in the portion previously surrendered for leasing. This land was originally leased and later sold to the Manitoba Pulp and Paper Company, Limited, as a mill site in connection with the extensive operations which this company proposes to carry on in that section of the province of Manitoba. All financial transactions in connection with this matter have been promptly carried out as agreed to. Both surrenders referred to above were approved by a majority of the voting members of the Fort Alexander band.

EMBARGO ON GRAIN SHIPMENT On the Orders of the Day:

Mr. M. N. CAMPBELL (Mackenzie):

I

desire to ask the Acting Minister of Railways (Mr. Robb) a question arising out of a letter which I received from the secretary of the village of. Kelvington, Saskatchewan, dated February, 22, 1926. Kelvington is a village on the Canadian National railway in northern Saskatchewan. For a couple of months past there has been an embargo on the loading of grain and shipments out of this point have been at a standstill, with a few exceptions where carload lots have been shipped out on a permit. He further complains that at Rose

Australian Treaty

Valley, their nearest competitive point, the Canadian Pacific Railway have been handling grain right along, resulting in many farmers who would normally haul to Kelvington going to Rose Valley. There has been shipment of grain on the Canadian Pacific railway while there has been.an embargo on shipment by the Canadian National railway. He further points out that all the grain shipped via the Canadian Pacific railway is routed through Quebec, and that the Canadian Pacific Railway have put into effect a reduced rate to the city of Quebec. My informant wishes to know if the government have any information to give us on this matter, and if they are in a position to say why it is the Canadian National Railways are not permitted to ship grain to the city of Quebec as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway, and why there is this discrimination. Has the minister any information?

Hon. J. A. ROBB (Acting Minister of Railways):

My hon. friend knows as well as

I do, and as all hon. members in this House interested in the grain trade know, that due to the congestion in the elevators there has been an embargo on the shipment of grain both to the Pacific coast and to the Atlantic coast. I am not sure that a very great quantity of grain is en route to Quebec, because the last reports I had of the elevator in Quebec just after the close of navigation was that very little space was available. I shall, however, direct the attention of the operators of the Canadian National Railways to the matter and try to get my hon. friend a more definite reply on Monday.

Mr. CAMPBELL:

A great deal of the

grain in that particular section of the country is damp and tough, and if it is delayed very much longer in transit to the port, very serious loss will ensue to the farmer.

Mr. ROBB:

My hon. friend has brought

up a new question, that of damp grain. That feature of it was brought to the attention of the Department of Trade and Commerce some time ago by the grain commission who stated that the yards at Fort William were congested with damp grain and that unless some method was adopted of drying that grain before the weather began to get warm, there was danger of damage to the grain. I immediately communicated with Mr. Beatty of the Canadian Pacific and Sir Henry Thornton of the Canadian National asking them to co-operate with a view to drying the grain at Fort William and I understand that they are now doing so.

Hon. R. J. MANION (Fort William):

In regard to that, may I suggest to the minister that the drying of grain at Fort William depends on the facilities there for drying it, that is, on the number of hospital elevators that exist there and there might be a shortage of the facilities if a great flow came.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

May I ask the Minister of Finance how many departments he is acting minister of now?