Mr. M. J. COLDWELL (Rosetown-Biggar):

A report came over the broadcasting corporation's news service, I think last Tuesday, to the effect that the budget would probably be brought down before we proceeded with the amendment to the National Resources Mobilization Act. Has the minister any statement to make on this matter?

Hon. J. L. ILSLEY (Minister of Finance) :

Mr. Speaker, that is not the plan.

Dutch Harbour

Mr. N. J. M. LOCKHART (Lincoln):

A press dispatch which was released to-day indicates that trainees are now to be called daily instead of monthly. Seven centres are excluded, and military district No. 2 is not included. I have already had inquiries in this connection. Would the Minister of National Defence make a brief statement to clarify this matter for the sake of those who are inquiring? There seems to be some confusion.

Hon. J. L. RALSTON (Minister of National Defence):

In the matter of calling up trainees, what we are doing is to call them up in shorter periods in order that we may have an opportunity of better medical examination than occurs if we call them all up at once and if they go to the training centre at one time only, once a month. What we are doing now is calling them up and having them report on successive days at depots. From the depots they are sent every two weeks instead of every month to the training centres after having had the benefit of perhaps the more thorough medical examination made possible by less congestion and more time.

Mr. LOCKHART:

In that connection, it was noted by one of my correspondents that military district No. 2 is deleted from that list and other military districts were included. They were rather upset about that.

Mr. RALSTON:

I had forgotten that

military district No. 2 was excepted. As a matter of fact I have not seen the exact list. There are some cases in which, on account of the very long distances to be travelled and the remoteness of the training centres from the depot, it might be a serious inconvenience, for instance, to have a man travel from the northern part of Ontario to the depot in Toronto and back to a northern Ontario camp.

Mr. LOCKHART:

That is not so with military district No. 2.

Mr. RALSTON:

I shall be glad to look into the matter.

Hon. J. L. RALSTON (Minister of National Defence):

Mr. Speaker, the house may be interested in having a brief-I am sorry it

cannot be a very detailed-statement with regard to the reported raids on Dutch Harbour.

As already indicated in the press, two aerial raids were made on Dutch Harbour which were participated in by a number of Japanese fighter and bomber planes. No further details have been received as to the extent of damage except those already published in the press.

The reports received indicate that there were some casualties, but few, and that a few warehouses were set on fire but no serious damage was suffered.

A further report received indicates that there was a third aerial attack last night. No further details are yet available as to this attack.

Raids of this kind were not unexpected, and plans previously made by Canada and the United States for such a contingency are in actual operation. Certain additional dispositions have been made. The Canadian commander in chief, west coast defences, is operating in conjunction with the commander of the United States forces on the west coast in accordance with the joint plans.

I might add regarding the army that the chief of the general staff has been for some days on the west coast and is supervising army dispositions on the ground.

Mr. RALSTON:

I should like to make a statement with regard to what I said earlier this afternoon respecting raids on Dutch Harbour. A message has been received from the Pacific command-and hon. members will be glad to know this-to the effect that a further report or further message which they have received indicates that the reports which came, purporting to be from official sources, regarding the second and third raids on Dutch Harbour, are unfounded, and that there was only one attack.