Right Hon. R. B. BENNETT (Prime Minister) :

Mr. Speaker, the hon. former Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) made inquiries yesterday regarding the report of the recent session of the international labour conference in Geneva of the League of Nations. As the sittings only concluded on the 18th of June, no formal report has yet been received; but the interim reports as they come to hand are in our possession, and I will send them to my hon. friend in order that he may peruse them, after which they can be returned to the department.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Thank you.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Mr. Chairman, may I

inquire whether the bill was amended by the special committee to which it was referred?

Mr. CAHAN:

Yes, it was amended and reported unanimously. The bill as amended has been distributed. I might say, Mr. Chairman, that we discussed this bill fully on the second reading when a very subtle suggestion-which turned out to be a very important suggestion -was made by my hon. friend from Quebec East, the former Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe), recommending the division of one paragraph into two, and he also offered some criticism with respect to the original draft. Another suggestion was made bv the hon. member for Labelle (Mr. Bourassa). I brought these two suggestions with the debate thereon to the attention of the law officers of the Dominions Office in London, who recommended that we should take those objections into our very favourable consideration and make some amendments accordingly. The bill as now amended and before the committee fully satisfies, I think, the two objections that were made, and it has in all its terms been approved by the law officers of the Dominions Office in London. The bill came before a select committee of the house. There I was able to give the committee briefly the result of some confidential communications which we had received, and the committee were unanimous in reporting the bill in its present form.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

Carried.

Section 1 agreed to.

On section 2-Regulations.

Mr. CAHAN:

I might explain that in order to provide a new form with respect to the acquisition of British nationality the words "or acquisition" are inserted for this purpose in view of the extension of the main act.

Section 2 agreed to.

On section 3-Enforcement of act.

Mr. CAHAN:

It was suggested by t'he

officials of the Dominions Office that we might delay bringing this amendment into force by proclamation in case they might desire an opportunity to bring a similiar amendment into force about the same time.

Mr. GUTHRIE:

The necessity for this amendment arises from the fact that at the last session of the legislature of Ontario the official titles of the superior courts of that province were altered. They were formerly the appellate division of the Supreme Court of Ontario and the high court division of the Supreme Court of Ontario. These names have been altered, and the former names of the Court of Appeal of the province of Ontario and the High Court of Justice for Ontario have been established. In 1913 section 32 was inserted in the Interpretation Act to comply with the then titles of these courts. Now there is nothing necessary but to repeal that section and allow the old section to stand, because the old names have been re-established.

Mr. ELLIOTT:

I did not hear the first part of my hon. friend's remarks. Is there a change in the names of the courts?

Mr. GUTHRIE:

No, it is proposed to repeal section 32 of the Interpretation Act, which was inserted in 1913 when the names were changed to the appellate division of the Supreme Court of Ontario and the high court of justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario. These names were adopted in 1913, and section 32 was placed in the statute to meex that change. At the last session of the legislature the old names of the Court of Appeal of Ontario and the High Court of Justice of Ontario were re-established, so if we strike out section 32 it allows the Interpretation Act to apply in respect of the former and the present names.