Order.
Mr. SPEAKER:
No debate can take place now.
Mr. BENNETT:
But only a portion of
the letter has been read. Surely the minister will realize that the memorandum accompanying the letter is a part of the letter and should be read.
Mr. RINFRET:
There is no objection to reading it, but it is the very memorandum which was placed on Hansard when I made my speech.
On the orders of the day.
Mr. W. G. McQUARRIE (New Westminster) :
I would like to ask the Minister
of Justice if it is true that on April 30 last
a Chinese convict escaped from the British Columbia penitentiary situated at New Westminister while employed in the private residence of the acting warden, Inspector Jackson, and if it is not contrary to .the regulations to so employ a convict?
Hon. ERNEST LAPOINTE (Minister of Justice):
I will secure the information.
Hon. J. L. RALSTON (Minister of National Defence) moved that the house go into committee on Bill No. 39, respecting the disposal of certain canteen funds. Motion agreed to and the house went into committee, Mr. Johnston in the chair. On section 1-Short title.
Mr. RALSTON:
The bill has been
reprinted and hon. members will find it on their files as reported by the special committee on pensions and soldier problems. That committee made some amendments, all of which have been incorporated in the bill. There are two suggestions in amendment that I have to make to the committee. One amendment is in section 4, and the other in section 7. Hon. members will recall that the purpose of the bill was to provide for the distribution of certain canteen funds accumulated by battalions, and other units, with a constantly changing personnel, and which were in* Canada during the war. The bill now before us provides for the distribution on exactly the same basis as that of the fund under the Canteen Funds Act of 1925.
Section agreed to. Sections 2 and 3 agreed to. On section 4-Administration by provincial board of trustees.
Mr. RALSTON:
Section 4 is one that I
have just been discussing with the chairman of the special committee. Section 4, subsection (b), clause 2 provides:
That any use of the provincial allotment for relief purposes should be limited to the class of case for which no relief is then available from governmental sources, or from the allotment made under the Canteen Funds Act.
As I have pointed out, the effect of that section would be that no one would get the benefit of this Canteen Funds Act who was in a position to take any benefit from the existing Canteen Funds Act. In consultation with the chairman of the committee, I understand from him that that was not the inten-
Naturalization Act
tion of the committee, and that this was inadvertent. I think he has consulted with some other members, who concur, and in view of that I am moving:
That section 4, subsection (b), clause 2, be amended by striking out the words "or from the allotment made under the Canteen Funds Act" in the forth and fifth lines of such clause.
Mr. BLACK (Yukon):
I would like to
ask the minister if all of that subsection should not go out.
Mr. RALSTON:
That was the principle
that was adopted under the other Canteen Funds Act. In other words, this was to be considered a special emergency fund, and if relief was available from governmental sources the Canteen Funds Act should be kept intact. That was the principle that was adopted under the other act, and I presume that is why it was incorporated in this.
Amendment agreed to. Section as amended agreed to. , press. I thought that at this stage I might make another statement, not to place any new matter before the committee, but rather to co-ordinate the information that I have given at different stages during the discussion of the bill. I wish to move further amen-ments to the bill in order to make statutory some of the provisions that the department had intended to deal with in the shape of regulations. In the first place, I would like the committee not to lose sight of the principle involved in this legislation. During the course of the discussion we have touched so many points, and so many sides of this very involved and intricate question, that I am afraid we may lose sight for the moment of the principle underlying this proposed amendment to the act. The principle of the amendment is to bring our act into conformity with the practice throughout the British Empire and to vest the discretion in the Secretary of State in the matter of granting naturalization certificates. Sections 5 and 6 agreed to. On section 7-Reports to minister.
Mr. RALSTON:
I am going to ask the
committee to agree to an amendment whereby this fund shall be administered by, and reports made to, my colleague, the Minister of Pensions and National Health, rather than the Minister of National Defence. I am therefore moving:
That the words "National Defence" in line 2 of section 7 be struck out, and that there be substituted therefor the words "Pensions and National Health."
Mr. POULIOT:
May I ask the minister
what the balance to the credit of that fund amounts to?
Mr. RALSTON:
This fund that is being
dealt with amounted to $124,000 last September.