Mr. LAPOINTE:
We have to defend the interests of Ontario against my hon. friend.
Mr. CHAPLIN (Lincoln):
What is the cost of the Port Arthur office?
Mr. GEARY:
What class of stenographer have you in Toronto? The salary you pay is $600. That does not seem enough for a stenographer in that city.
Mr. CARDIN:
The salary is $780, the salary of a regular stenographer.
Mr. GEARY:
That is not as much as other stenographers get in government departments.
Mr. CARDIN:
This amount has been fixed by the Civil Service Commission for the work performed there.
Supply-Marine and Fisheries
Mr. GEARY:
Is the stenographer employed all the time, or just temporarily?
Mr. CARDIN:
All the time.
Mr. GEARY:
It is a very low salary.
Mr. CANTLEY:
I rather sympathize with the minister in his efforts to enlighten my agricultural friends behind me.
Mr. LAPOINTE:
Hear, hear.
Mr. CANTLEY:
There would be no objection in the Maritime provinces if the minister closed up all these offices on the lakes. They are only fresh-water sailors up there, and perhaps seldom out of sight of land. For the enlightenment of my hon. friends behind me, and of others, I may say that the offices in the Maritime provinces are necessary. Let me illustrate why. A young man goes to sea. After he has been at sea for a year or two years he goes up for examination as second mate. He takes a month, two months, or three months as the case may be to attend a navigation school, and then he goes up for his second mate's ticket. If he passes the examination he gets his ticket. He goes to sea again and after having served a certain length of time and obtained a certificate that he has served for that period as second mate, he again goes to the navigation school for whatever time may be necessary. Then he goes up for examination for his first mate's certificate. Having succeeded "in obtaining his certificate he goes again to sea and passes a certain specified time as first mate. He comes back with the required certificate and attends the navigation school for a further period. Then he presents himself for examination and in the event of his being successful is given his ticket as a master. These offices in the Maritime provinces are absolutely necessary. A man may have been at sea on a foreign voyage for six or nine months and then his ship goes into Sydney or into some other port in the Cape Breton district. It is not reasonable that he should be required to go to Halifax to undergo examination. It is for that reason that examining offices have been established at the outports of Sydney and Yarmouth. The only objection I have in the matter is this: If the office of examiner at Yarmouth was vacant during the whole of last year it is something which should not have happened -it is a positive hardship. I object to any reduction in the vote for the Maritime provinces, but I am not concerned to any extent whatever as to the fate of the Ontario examining offices.
Mr. CHAPLIN (Lincoln):
I asked the minister previously what the cost of the Port Arthur office was.
Mr. CARDIN:
There is no office at Port Arthur. The supervising examiner goes there and conducts the examination himself.
Mr. CHAPLIN (Lincoln):
The minister
sends a man there to examine two or three people, I understand, two masters and one mate?
Mr. CARDIN:
Yes.
Mr. CLARK:
Who is the supervising examiner at Vancouver?
Mr. CARDIN:
Captain L. H. Lindsay.
Mr. CLARK:
How long has he held the
office?
Mr. CARDIN:
Two years.