Mr. JEAN FRANCOIS POULIOT (Temis-couata):

Mr. Speaker, on March 14 I inquired of the Postmaster General (Mr. Sauve) the amount paid each year to Mr. Laurent of Montreal. I was promised that I would have this information last week but so far I have not received it. I should like to know when I will have it.

Hon. ARTHUR SAUVE (Postmaster General) :

Mr. Speaker, it was my intention to give this information to the hon. gentleman to-day. On March 14 when the estimates of the Post Office Department were under consideration the hon. member for Temis-couata (Mr. Pouliot) asked for certain details in connection with a temporary contract awarded to Mr. J. E. Laurent for the carrying of parcel post and mail matter in Montreal. At that time I stated that I had not all the details but would furnish all the information to be found in the department as soon as possible, some of the details dating back as far as four years. I have been informed by the officers of my department that before May 1, 1932, the carrying of mail matter between the post office and the Stephens building in Montreal was done exclusively by the department. At that time the department maintained a garage containing eight trucks and one motorcycle. The cost of gasoline, oil, et cetera, amounted to $4,977.06 while $19,920 was paid in salaries.

Mr. POULIOT:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of privilege. The information now being given by the Postmaster General is entirely outside of the question I asked. I wanted to know the amount paid to Mr. Laurent each year and the minister is now making an apology for his dealings in the matter.

Order.

Mr. POULIOT:

I do not want to waste the time of the house.

Mr. SAUVE:

I want to give an explanation to the hon. member for Temiscouata, in accordance with his questions.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I would point out that under orders of the day questions are directed to ministers of the government only with respect to matters of policy and so forth. In view of the nature of the question asked by the hon. member for Temiscouata (Mr. Pouliot), I think the answer should be as brief as possible and there should be no argument or debate with respect to the subject matter of the question.

Mr. SAUVE:

Further costs were: garage,

$4,644; depreciation, $3,454.22; interest on capital invested, $829. The total cost of this service was $33,824.28. By reason of difficulties we met in the control of this service, and also of the abuses we discovered, the department had to dismiss employees and thought it advisable to try a new method, that is, to give this service to a contractor for a trial. The contract was awarded to Mr. J. E. Laurent at $27,000, as I said, including the insurance and all the obligations and responsibilities relating to the service. The new method being a trial, the department has adopted the principle of a temporary agreement, which the previous administration had followed from 1921 to 1930, in regard to the Canadian Transfer Company. Under the present contractor this service, from March 1, 1934, to February 28, 1935, has cost the department $28,593.60. But it is due in part to the fact that the normal increase of the parcel post in Montreal has advanced by about seven per cent These two services cost the department, before Mr. Laurent, $57,220.53.

Mr. POULIOT:

I rise to a point of order. There are only two official languages, English and French. The minister is now speaking the Esperanto language, and no one has understood a word of what he has said. Therefore he should translate either in plain English or French what he has already said in Esperanto.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order.

Mr. SAUVE:

If Mr. Speaker understands

it, and the house, I am satisfied.

Mr. POULIOT:

It is Esperanto.

Mr. SAUVE:

Since Mr. Laurent has had

the contract, the services are costing the department $55,593.60. Not only has the service been improved but the rolling stock has also been improved to answer the needs of the postal service. The contractor, instead of putting in eight hours a day as previously, must work two extra hours as his trucks

Relief to Municipalities

must leave at six o'clock in the morning instead of eight o'clock on account of the signal system, and for other reasons. In spite of the increase in the parcel post in Montreal and the improvement in the service, the department realized last year a saving of SI,626.93. '

Mr. F. G. SANDERSON (South Perth):

I have a question to direct to the Secretary of State. Om February 18 last an order was passed in my name for a statement of all expenditures for military and police purposes since the present government came into office in August, 1930, including expenditures for the said purposes, actual or contemplated, under the Public Works Construction Act, 1934. I would remind the minister that on March 11 he made a statement-I will not take the time of the house to read it-in which he said that it would take at least two weeks longer to get the information. I would remind him further that the two weeks has expired, and two days in addition thereto, and that it is five weeks and two days since the order was passed.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Will the hon. member be good enough to state his question?

Mr. SANDERSON:

The question is, When may I expect the information?