Mr. JOHN VALLANCE (South Battle-ford) moved:

That the petition of Dora Eleanor Mathieson Campbell, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, praying for a bill of divorce from James Oliver Clair Campbell, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, together with the report of the clerk of petitions thereon, be referred to the standing committee on standing orders for the purpose of considering the suspension of standing orders 92 and 93 (3) (a) and (c) in relation thereto.

Motion agreed to on division.

Mr. DAVID SPENCE (Parkdale):

Mr

Speaker, I rise to a question of privilege. Yesterday the hon. member for North Wellington (Mr. Blair), in making his protest against the spending of $1,000,000 for the construction of the tunnel under the western channel of the harbour of Toronto, talked about everything under the sun. In fact he talked about-

Santo Domingo Tariff

Order.

Mr. SPEAKER:

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

Mr. SPENCE:

I wish to correct a statement the hon. gentleman made about the hon. member for Parkdale; I assume I am the person to whom he was referring. He said that in 1930 he had been in Toronto and had seen some parades of the unemployed, and that he found these men wearing buttons and ribbons bought by the hon. member for Parkdale. I just wish to make the statement that I never bought a button or a ribbon. I never had anything to do with parades of agitators; I am not an agitator myself. I have never had to resort to mean tactics of that kind to defeat my opponent. If I cannot do it fairly I do not want to do it at all. For the last four or five elections my opponents in the constituency of Parkdale have been gentlemen, and I do not like to have a man come to this house and make statements of this kind.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I think the hon. gentleman has stated the question of privilege.

Hon. ALFRED DURANLEAU (Minister of Marine) (Translation):

Mr. Speaker, I

do not recollect whether we received the * papers before the adjournment of the house, in April last. I do not think so. However, I can promise my hon. friend that I shall make it a point to secure them between now and the end of the week, and that they shall be brought down.

Hon. R. B. HANSON (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

Mr. Speaker, at yesterday's sitting of the house, I promised the hon. member for Antigonish-Guysborough (Mr. Duff) that I would inquire into the position respecting the increased duties on Canadian and other products imported into Santo Domingo, and that I should give the house the exact position of this matter.

I would first of all like to make an explanation in regard to one statement which I made yesterday. I mentioned that long previous to the time he had brought this matter to the attention of the government in this house representations had been received in regard to it from exporters in Nova Scotia. I find on looking into the position that the matter was first brought to my attention in a telegram which I received from a firm in Halifax on March 12. The hon. member for Antigonish-Guysborough first brought this matter to the attention of the house in a question which he asked on March 13.

The position with respect to Santo Domingo is that in consequence of a revision of internal taxes in that republic made on March 13, 1935, by-law No. 854, known officially as "Taxes on goods for sale, use and consumption," additional duties are now being imposed which are particularly severe on certain Canadian products which have comprised our chief exports to Santo Domingo.

Dried and salted fish, formerly subject to the ordinary customs tariff of 2i cents per kilogram-about one cent per pound-

Mr. DUFF:

Two and a quarter cents,-not "one-quarter."

Mr. HANSON:

I said "two and a quarter cents per kilogram"-is subjected to a new internal tax of fifteen cents per kilogram-about seven cents per pound-making the combined duties eight cents per pound. There has also been an increase in the total duties on potatoes from 55 cents to $1.38 per bushel, and an increased duty on onions from 91 cents to S2.27 per 100 pounds. The department received strong representations from exporters in the maritime provinces, and a communication was addressed to the British minister at Santo Domingo with the request that efforts should be made to secure relief from the burdensome duties imposed on those products which Canada has chiefly been exporting to Santo Domingo. We are still awaiting a reply to these representations.

Santo Domingo Tariff

Mr. WILLIAM DUFF (Antigonish-Guysborough) :

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if

I may answer the minister, but I believe I may refer to it as a question of privilege. I appreciate the fact that he made the explanation he did make a few moments ago. I notice, however, that in his statement he said-

Mr. SPEAKER:

The matter is not the

subject of debate. If the hon. member would like to ask a further question, he may do so, but I must observe the point is not a matter of argument at the present time; nor does any question of privilege arise.

Mr. DUFF:

It seems to me there is a

question of privilege in connection with the statement I made yesterday and those made yesterday and to-day by the Minister of Trade and Commerce. To-day the minister states he received a telegram on March 12 from Pickford and Black. If hon. members would look at Hansard! for March 13, page 1663, they would find that the minister stated on that day:

I would say that a telegram was received this morning-

March 13-

-from Pickford and Black, but no other communications so far as I am aware have been received.

Consequently either the minister or his official was wrong, or there is something wrong with his statement made to-day.