Hon. GROTE STIRLING (Yale):

Mr. Speaker, may I ask the Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) if he proposes to make a statement to-day with regard to the action of Mayor Houde of Montreal to which the leader of the opposition (Mr. Hanson) referred on Saturday, and particularly to the action of the censor in endeavouring to prevent further publication of the statement and comment on it in the press.

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice I understand has under review the statement made by His Worship Mayor Houde. Personally I think the statement should never have been made. I think that when it was made any newspaper office that had seen it ought to have prevented its publication. Certainly I think it was quite correct that the censor should ask that the statement be censored, and I understand that it was censored and that after the attention of newspapers had been drawn to the fact that the censors regarded it as a statement the publication of which would mean violation of the defence of Canada regulations, it did not receive further publicity.

I would say further that I think the statement might well have' been left out of the remarks made by the leader of the opposition in this house the other day. It is a statement calculated to endeavour to arouse opposition to the laws of this country, and every effort should be made to prevent any action of that kind at this time.

Mr. GEORGE BLACK (Yukon):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to call the attention of the proper minister to the methods of administration of the office at which passports are issued in Ottawa. I do not wish to complain because I know that that office has been strained to the limit and has been overwhelmed with applications. But a few weeks ago I received letters written by three different people in western Canada who in June had

applied for passports, two of them to go to the United States for medical treatment which I know they need, and the other to go to Chicago to examine an expensive piece of machinery which is coming up to be used in British Columbia. I had no answer to my letter asking whether these applications had been received and whether the passports had been granted, so that on Friday I went to the office. A clerk was called in, a memorandum made, and presently he came back and said they could not tell me whether the applications had been received or whether the passports had been granted. I think they ought to adopt some more businesslike system in the passport office. When an application comes in a memorandum should be made of it, perhaps a card index kept, noting the date of application for the passport and the date when the passport was granted. Then they would be able to tell people what the position was, but as it is, they are in a fog and do not know what has happened.

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, I imagine I

am the minister responsible because the passport office comes under External Affairs. I was informed by the Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs that all the applications made t.o the Ottawa office for passports had been cleared off the slate some days ago. What my hon. friend said just now comes as a surprise, because I was informed not only that the applications at the Ottawa office had been duly attended to but that that was equally true of applications made to the other offices. However, I do not question for a moment what my hon. friend has said, and I shall immediately draw the attention of the Undersecretary of State to his statement and seek to give my hon. friend a due explanation.

Mr. BLACK (Yukon):

Thank you. I am

very glad to know that that is the state of affairs and that the slate has been cleared off at the passport office. But they were not able to tell me that.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

My hon. friend realizes that for a time there was a terrific rush for passports, and it was necessary to get in a number of additional clerks. Possibly the clerk my hon. friend interviewed was one who recently came to the staff and was not familiar with the work of the office.

Mr. H. R. JACKMAN (Rosedale):

I do

not know whether the Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) fully realizes the difficulties that the people of Canada have had in connection with passports, but in order to indicate to him how much trouble we have had and may perhaps have in the future I should

Passports and Visas

like to read a copy of a letter that was sent to the passport officer, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa. It reads:

Dear Sir:

On June 18 last, my son-

I leave out the name.

-applied for a passport. .

Since then, I have written you three times, telegraphed twice and phoned by long distance once in an effort to obtain this passport, but am still without it or any communication regarding it.

May I again ask that you send this passport by return-please oblige me.

My wife, who applied at the same time for a passport, and who sent her application papers in the same envelope, received her passport weeks ago.

I personally applied to the passport office on Friday of last week, and the passport was issued on Saturday evening. There has undoubtedly been great trouble in getting passports from the office.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

I must admit

that there has been a great deal of trouble, but it originated south of the line, not in this country, when the obligation was imposed. As a passport is in the nature of a legal document, and one that has international significance, great care must be taken in the issuing of any passport. What has happened I think in many cases is that while the passport office has received some of the information that is required before a passport can be issued it has had to communicate further for additional information. I do not say that that applies in the particular case my hon. friend has mentioned, but there has been a very difficult situation to meet. At the present time, I understand, the difficulties have been overcome.

Mr. T. C. DOUGLAS (Weybum):

Will the Minister of Labour (Mr. McLarty) say whether the war-time prices and trade board has come to any decision following the investigation into the proposed increase in the price of bread?

Hon. N. A. McLARTY (Minister of Labour):

I can best answer the question of the hon. member for Weyburn by saying that the matter is under the consideration of the board. I have not been advised of any definite conclusion at which they have arrived, but they are giving the matter careful consideration at the present time.