Mr. MACKENZIE (Vancouver):

I mean

nothing disrespectful. I shall base my question upon my knowledge of what is in the telegram. Is the Minister of Labour in receipt of information from the authorities of the city of Vancouver pointing out that very emergent conditions exist there and that wholesale evictions have been carried out? If his attention has been directed to this situation, what measures does he propose to adopt to remedy it?

Hon. W. A. GORDON (Minister of Labour):

The answer to the interrogation is obvious. While I have not had any communication direct, the position of this government was stated by me on February 16. If hon. members will refer to page 2151 of Hansard, they will see that my answer to a similar question was as follows:

The only conditions which this government has at any time laid down with respect to direct relief have been to define direct relief as consisting of food, fuel, clothing and shelter or the equivalent thereof, and that there shall be no discrimination in the granting of relief to any applicant by reason of political, racial, religious or other considerations. No limit has ever been set by this government to the amount of relief which shall be granted to any applicant, this being constitutionally a matter wholly within the determination and judgment of the local authorities. It will also be obvious to members of the house that, even aside from the constitutional aspect, such matters are properly for the local authorities to determine.

Answering my hon. friend's third question, "On whose authority rates for direct relief are fixed?" I would say that municipalities must determine, first, whether relief shall be granted and, second, to whom and in what amount it shall be granted. I also presume that such decisions on the part of municipalities receive provincial approval.

From time to time the department does receive communications direct from individuals and provinces, but I do not think it would be even enlightening to hon. members for me to reiterate what I have said so often before. There is a proper method to bring this matter before the government, namely, through the provincial governments. If representations are made to a provincial government and if in turn that government, the municipality and the individual respectively find themselves unable to take care of the things outlined with respect to his main-

tenance, then the matter will promptly be considered by the government and such appropriation made as to take up the difference between what those primarily responsible are able to do and the total amount.

Mr. MACKENZIE (Vancouver):

Have

any representations been received from the government of British Columbia in regard to this?

Mr. GORDON:

I believe not. I have

received this message from another member, but the department has not had anything direct.

Mr. MACKENZIE (Vancouver):

AVill the minister be prepared to investigate this particular situation in regard to the city of Vancouver?

Mr. GORDON:

The province must unquestionably have knowledge of the contents of the telegram. The provincial authorities are in touch with the department here almost daily. I do not think it is desirable that we should prompt the provincial authorities to exceed what in their judgment seems to be adequate provision for cases of this kind.

Mr. A. W. NEILL (Comox-Alberni):

Is the minister not aware that when the municipalities apply to the provincial authority in British Columbia, the invariable answer is: We cannot help you to any greater extent because the dominion will not contribute their share of any larger rate?

Mr. W. G. ERNST (Queens-Lunenburg):

I should like to direct a question to the Acting Minister of Fisheries and in order to make it intelligible, may I make one or two brief remarks? Steam trawlers' licences expire on March 31 of this year and resolutions have been sent from a large number of boards of trade in Nova Scotia asking that those licences be not renewed on account of the difficulties which individual fishermen are experiencing. I would ask the government to consider refusing to renew those licences when they expire.

Hon. ALFRED DURANLEAU (Acting Minister of Fisheries):

I can tell my hon.

friend that the matter is now under consideration.

Hon. R. J. MANION (Minister of Railways and Canals):

I accept the hon. gentleman's statement, but it was not quite clear. As a matter of fact, in order to keep the record straight, I looked up the figures for all railways, and it was $108,000,000 and not S12o,000,000.

Mr. HEENAN:

I had just the government's own statement; I was quoting from that and the statement I made was quite correct.

Mr. YOUNG:

We have not yet received

the report of the Canadian National Railways and we do not know what they have been doing for the year. The minister might give us some information in regard to this deficit on the national railways.

Hon. R. J. MANION (Minister of Railways and Canals):

I thought I gave the hon.

gentleman enough information last night.

Mr. YOUNG:

It was not authentic.