Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

By leave of the House I

beg to propose the following motion which, if it does not meet with unanimous approval, may stand as a notice:

Tha' when this House adjourns on Friday, the twenty.first instant, it shall stand adjourned until Tuesday, the twenty-fifth instant.

Sir HENRY DRAYTON (West York):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to ask my right hon. friend the leader of the House whether

[Mr. Robinson. 1

he has noticed the statement contained in this morning's papers to the effect that New York interests are seeking to make a very large development of power on the St. Lawrence, and that the consent of the government of Canada would first have to be obtained for any such development. Has any application for consent been made to the government?

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, my hon.

friend has been the first to draw the matter to my attention. I am not aware of any application of the kind having been made to the government. If any should be made, it will be dealt with in accordance with the policy laid down by the government at a previous session.

Mr. G. B. NICHOLSON (East Algoma):

I would like to draw the attention of the government to a despatch from New York appearing in yesterday's Ottawa papers, as follows:

Licenses for the development of water power on the St. Lawrence river involving an expenditure of more than $200,000,000 will be granted soon to the Frontier Power Corporation of America, the Herald-Tribune learns. Although no official announcement has been made, the paper says that members of the state power commission have decided to ignore the threat of Governor Smith to make public development of water power the greatest issue in the state, and are ready to support the project of the Frontier Corporation which is a subsidia/ry of the Aluminum Company of America, the Dupont De Nemours Company and the General Electric Company.

Having regard to the very great importance of the question of development power on the St. Lawrence, has this matter of the proposed development in the state of New York been brought to the attention of the government, and are the government taking any steps to protect Canadian interests in this connection?

Mr. MACKENZIE KING :

This has been brought to the attention of the government by my hon. friend (Sir Henry Drayton) who is now leading the opposition. He mentioned it a few moments ago and the member for East Algoma will find my reply in Hansard tomorrow. It will, I think, answer his question.

Mr. PETER McGIBBON (Muskoka-Ontario):

Mr. Speaker, the Toronto Star contains an article to the effect that the Home Bank depositors have not been able to get their 35 per cent because some of them have not enough influence with this government. I should like to ask the Prime Minister if the statement is true; and, if so, will he see that this condition is remedied?

Tariff Advisory Board

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. friend that influence or the absence of influence will not have any effect in this matter. I understand that recently some of the depositors met to consider the position in which they find themselves, and that they are coming to Ottawa to make certain representations as to their claims. As soon as those representations have been heard I shall be in a better position to tell my hon. friend their substance.

Mr. GEORGE SPENCE (Maple Creek):

Mr. Speaker, I desire to draw the attention of the government, and particularly that of the Minister of Finance (Mr. Robb) to an article which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen of yesterday, headed, "Tariff board to hear plea of steel firms." This is the article:

Of several appeals already before the advisory board on tariff and taxation, the first to be considered will be those originating from two Canadian steel companies-the Algoma Steel Corporation and the British Emipire Steel Corporation Limited. These applications will be taken u,p by the board at a meeting to be held in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 26, at 10.30 a.m.

The applications from the two companies named are based upon the incidence of tariff on various phases of the Canadian sted industry, with special reference to drawbacks, unequal costs, depreciated currency and several other factors.

Manifestly, Sir, this is only the forerunner of many such applications, and what I want to know is this: As a humble citizen and one of the great consuming public of this Dominion, how am I going to 'be represented before that commission? Has the government made provision for such purpose? If not, why not?

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

The department received applications from two steel companies, if I remember correctly, desiring to be heard before the tariff board. I referred these applications in the regular way to Right Hon. Mr. Graham, chairman of the board, who told me that he was going to fix a day when there would be a general hearing, and all the steel interests of Canada and those interested either for or against a higher tariff would have an opportunity of coming before the board and making their representations. I am sure Mr. Graham wili be as glad to hear my hon. friend as to hear any other citizen of Canada.

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