Hon. H. A. BRUCE (Parkdale):

Can the Postmaster-General inform the house if parcels as well as letters addressed to members of the troops now serving in Sicily will be forwarded to them?

Hon. W. P. MULOCK (Postmaster-General):

I am glad to advise the hon. member that arrangements have been made for some considerable time for parcels and letters to be handled wherever the Canadian troops move. He will understand that naturally it will depend on the transport available. Mail will have to go first, and any available space which

will be allotted, I presume, by the representatives of the British admiralty to the postal authorities in Britain will be used1 as far as possible equitably for the handling of parcels to the extent that space warrants it. Of course necessities, munitions and food, will come first, but any extra space will be utilized for the purpose mentioned.

Mr. GORDON GRAYDON (Leader of the Opposition):

May I direct a question to the Minister of Public Works? I understand that the Jackson building in Ottawa comes under his jurisdiction. May I inquire what steps have been taken to investigate the accident which occurred in that building yesterday when one of the elevators went out of control and caused injuries to a number of persons?

Hon. ALPHONSE FOURNIER (Minister of Public Works):

I wish to thank the leader of the opposition for giving me notice of his question, but I received it just as I came into the house. I have not full information yet as to the accident, but an official of the department is investigating it at the present moment. The Turnbull Elevator company, which has charge of the maintenance and repair of these elevators, if I am rightly informed, has also an investigator at the Jackson building now inquiring into the accident. Later I shall make a further report.

Mr. GRAYDON:

Is any inspection carried on by the Department of Public Works of the elevators in the public buildings here?

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

Oh, yes. In addition to inspections by the company which has charge of the maintenance of the elevators, we have our own officials inspecting them regularly.

Mr. GRAYDON:

I think the municipalities have some inspection system as well, and I wanted to know if the department had an inspection system in addition to that.

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

I shall have full information in a day or two.

Mr. J. H. LECLERC (Shefford):

I wish to draw the attention of the government to the very serious shortage of butter boxes in the

Butter Boxes

eastern townships in Quebec and perhaps in the whole province. Most of the creameries carry a stock of butter boxes through the winter, and we had an order for a lot of butter boxes to be delivered just as soon as the roads opened up in the spring. These boxes have not yet been delivered. On Monday I called up all the box manufacturers in the eastern townships and was informed that they were all running behind in their operations by about twelve weeks and that we could not get butter boxes. I know that all the creameries are in the same position. The Megantic Manufacturing company, which is quite a large manufacturer of butter boxes, informed me that they were running at only fifty per cent of last year's capacity owing to the shortage of labour. Because of high wages elsewhere they cannot keep their help. The Cooperative Federee of Montreal, at Victoria-ville, are manufacturing butter boxes, but will not deliver any to us. The situation is very serious, and I hope the government will do what it can to provide a remedy.

There is another question I want to bring before the house, the shortage of fuel wood in Granby.

The SPEAKER:

Order. I allowed the hon. member some latitude in regard to butter boxes, because he stated that there was an emergency situation.

Mr. LECLERC:

So there is in wood.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I think that question might be raised at some other time, and placed on the order paper.

Hon. T. A. CRERAR (Minister of Mines and Resources):

I know nothing about the butter box situation referred to by my hon. friend, but I shall endeavour to get the information for him to-morrow.