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

The French minister to Canada has been asked to cable the French government at Vichy to ascertain the position of the Canadian seamen in French Guinea. Until I receive the reply to that cable I shall not be able to give my hon. friend a full answer to his question. I have no doubt I shall receive the reply shortly.

[Mr. Dsley.l

Mr. C. E. JOHNSTON (Bow River):

I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Munitions and Supply, and in his absence bring it to the attention of the Prime Minister. Release No. 338 issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply has the following to say with reference to the Dominion Bridge company:

The company plans to move its furnaces and rolling mills from its Calgary plant, which has been in operation some time, to Vancouver.

The Vancouver mill will consume only the scrap available in those areas, namely British Columbia and western Alberta, where it can be collected at an economic cost, and where dealers have been facing the problem of disposing of scrap which has been accumulating since the beginning of the war.

Will the minister state why this action is permitted, in view of the fact that this question was brought to his attention many weeks ago before all this scrap iron was shipped to the coast? This is a serious situation and it seems to me it is quite unfair-

Order.

Mr. JOHNSTON (Bow River):

-to have this mill moved from Calgary to Vancouver.

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

I must say to my hon. friend that I do not think his main motive in rising has been to ask a question; it has been rather to express his own point of view.

Mr. JOHNSTON (Bow River):

I am asking why it was permitted.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

I am afraid I cannot answer my hon. friend's question as to why, but I shall ask the minister to make a reply later after he has read the question.

Mr. THOMAS REID (New Westminster):

I should like to bring to the attention of the government advertisements which have appeared in certain newspapers on behalf of insurance companies. These advertisements make use of parts of a speech made by the President of the United States, a copy of which I hold in my hand. The type used in the advertisements is all of one size, and from

Nova Scotia Coal

the picture of the president, standing out as it does in bold relief, one easily gets the impression that the President of the United States is advocating life insurance. The same kind of advertisement also appeared recently containing part of a speech made by the Prime Minister of Canada (Mr. Mackenzie King). This kind of advertising is not only unbecoming, it is despicable as well. It is unthinkable that companies of this kind should use such methods in an effort to induce people to invest in life insurance, especially in these troublesome days.

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

After listening to my hon. friend the leader of the opposition (Mr. Hanson) the other evening, I must say that I am glad to find myself in such good company.

Hon. J. A. MacKINNON (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

Two days ago, as well as on a previous occasion, the hon. member tor Broadview (Mr. Church) made inquiry as to the advisability of getting the census information sheets into individual hands prior to the enumerators making their rounds. I consulted the census authorities on this, and they advise me that it would not be practicable because it would mean that the enumerators would have to go over the whole ground twice and quite probably the questions would not be properly answered when they got the forms back. I am informed also that only four or five of the questions on the population schedule might cause any difficulty. These deal with racial origin, nationality and occupation. Copies of the forms covering the population schedule can easily be made available to any who desire them.

Ten years ago some 800,000 forms were sent out to farmers some weeks ahead, but my officials say that this did not help at all and the enumerators had to do the full work when they reached the farms. Forms have already gone out with the advertisements to all the newspapers, but our officials say that it is up to the newspapers to decide whether or not they will publish the questions. Some have done so already. In connection with advertising the schedules, our officials state that this would be difficult and very expensive, considering the fact that all our advertising has gone out. They point out also that without lengthy explanation, the mere printing of the questions would not be very helpful.