Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

My hon. friend will have to consult some international authority on that point.

IMMIGRATION OF MINERS On the orders of the day:

Hon. ROBERT FORKE (Minister of Immigration and Colonization):

Mr. Speaker,

while the hon. member for Comox-Albemi

(Mr. Neill) was speaking in the debate on international peace last Wednesday he made the following remark as reported at page 1780 of Hansard:

The Minister of Immigration asks me about the sermon. I will ask him to direct his attention to answering a question which I asked him six weeks ago, to which I have not got an answer yet.

I replied that I would answer him tomorrow. The question that the hon. member asked me is reported in Hansard of February 13:

I would like to ask the Minister of Immigration (Mr. Forke) a question; I see he is not in his place at the moment, but perhaps he can give me an answer to-morrow. I Will first call his attention to a news item appearing in the Sunday Times, of London, England, of December 4, 1927. It consists of only one Bentence, which I will read:

"Every unemployed miner in Great Britain, said Mr. H. H. Stevens. M.P., of Vancouver, who arrived in Liverpool yesterday on the Canadian Pacific liner Melita, "can be found employment in the Cauadian mines, provided he is physically fit."

Also in the Daily Express of December 12, 1927, there appeared the following:

Mr. II. H. Stevens, M.P. for Vancouver, who has just arrived in England, says that every unemployed British miner could find work in the mines of Canada.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I hesitated before answering that question because it was asked six weeks ago, and 1 supposed the hon. member for Comox-Albemi had made up his mind to let it drop. When he renewed it on Wednesday I thought this would be a good opportunity to let the house know some of the difficulties with which the Department of Immigration has to contend. I have no proof whatever that the hon. member for Vancouver Centre (Mr. Stevens) made the statement attributed to him in the newspaper reports. It may be correct or otherwise. In answer to the hon. member for Comox-Albemi, I would say that he is well aware that every healthy Britisher, mentally and physically fit, can come to Canada when he has paid his passage, and the Department of Immigration-

Mr. SPEAKER:

I would ask the hon.

in on! 1 )or to confine his explanation to a brief statement.

Mr. FORKE:

I am almost through, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. CAHAN:

Don't provoke a discussion.

Mr. SPEAKER:

There can be. nothing

controversial at the moment.

Mr. PARENT:

Why ask questions if you

do not want an answer?

Ways and Means-Customs Tariff

Mr. FORKE:

I am endeavouring to be as brief as possible, Mr. Speaker. I have been blamed for not answering a question asked six weeks ago and I am merely trying now to give the answer. I would point out that when the hon. member for Vancouver Centre (Mr. Stevens) made that statement he knew that anyone could come in from Great Britain irrespective of the regulations of the Department of Immigration. May I say this to the hon. member for Comox-Albemi (Mr. Neill): The officials in Great Britain are kept well informed of the situation in Canada and they always endeavour as far as possible to guide immigration along the right lines.

Mr. NEILL:

I am entitled to say that the minister has not quoted my question and certainly has not answered it, because my question was: would he use the means at his hand to inform the miners of Great Britain that there was no work for them in Canada?

Mr. ROSS (Kingston):

When speaking

of the eight men who came to Kingston I forgot to mention to the minister the fact that if thesei eight men had arrived properly classed we had eight jobs ready for them the morning they came.

Mr. FORKE:

I am not finding fault with

the question.

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

that item 267b of the customs tariff be struck out^of said resolution; and that items 438b and *05a be inserted in said resolution.

Sir HENRY DRAYTON:

This is just a change to bring the resolutions into conformity with what has already been done?

Mr. ROBB:

Yes just to carry out what

we have already done.

Mr. ROBB:

I move:

2. Resolved, that schedule b to The Customs Tariff, being chapter forty-four of the revised statutes of Canada, 1927, be amended by striking thereout tariff items 1011, 1012, 1024, 1029, the enumeration of goods, and the rates of drawback of customs duties set opposite to each of the said items, and the following items, enumerations and rates of drawback of customs duties be inserted in the said schedule b:-

Sir HENRY DRAYTON:

What is the

effect of this?