First report of standing committee on railways, canals and telegraph lines.-Mr. Dupuis.

Hon. L. S. ST. LAURENT (Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs): On behalf of the Secretary of State for External Affairs I wish to take this opportunity to inform the house with deep regret of a shocking incident involving the death of six officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force who were prisoners of war in Germany, at a camp near Dresden, Stalag Luft III. The following statement was made War Policy in the British House of Commons this morning by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Eden. I deeply regret to have to tell the house that his majesty's government have received information from the protecting power that forty-seven air force offices of the Royal Air Force and of the Royal Canadian, Australian, New ' Zealand and South African air forces have been shot by the Germans after a mass escape from Stalag Luft III. According to the information given to a representative of the protecting power by the German authorities, in the course of a routine visit to this camp on the 17th April, seventy-six officers had escaped from Stalag Luft III on the 22nd March. Of these seventy-six officers fifteen had been recaptured, fourteen were still at large and forty-seven had been shot, some whilst resisting arrest and some in the course of a new attempt to escape after capture. His majesty's government are profoundly shocked at this news and have urgently requested the protecting power to demand from the German government a full and immediate report of the circumstances in which these men met their death and an explanation of its failure to report the facts at once to the protecting power. The names of the officers shot were furnished to the representative of the protecting power on the occasion of his visit and the next of kin have been informed. The house will wish me to express its deep sympathy with the relatives of these most gallant men. That is the end of Mr. Eden's statement. There are some points I wish to add. First, the next of kin of the members of the Royal Canadian Air Force who thus met their deaths have been informed, and their names have been given to the press. Second, as soon as word was received in Ottawa the Canadian government joined in the urgent request to the protecting power mentioned in Mr. Eden's statement, that a full and immediate report of the circumstances be demanded from the German government, and an explantion of the failure to report the facts at once to the protecting power. Third, I am sure I shall be expressing the feeling of the Canadian government and of this house when I say that we too are profoundly shocked at this news and that we wish to extend our deep sympathy and regret to the relatives of the brave Canadians who lost their lives in these distressing circumstances.

Mr. JEAN-FRANQOIS POULIOT (Temiscouata): Mr. Speaker, I desire to move the adjournment of the house for the following reasons: Whereas, the Prime Minister of Canada, in his address to members of both houses of parliament, at Westminster, on May 11, 1944, declared: Canada's war effort is a voluntary effort, . . . Our country has become increasingly proud of the fact that every fighting man from Canada serving across the seas, on the seas, and in the air is a volunteer. We can say, in very truth, that Canada's effort in this war is a voluntary effort. Whereas, the Prime Minister of Canada, in an address delivered at Winnipeg on July 10, 1941, declared: What has already been attempted in the way of reviving that issue (of conscription) at this time makes only too clear the advantage that might have been taken of a lengthy absence on my part from Canada, to force the issue into the arena of party strife. How dire the consequences to our national unity this might have proved none can say. Whereas, on April 27, 1944, two members of parliament asked for information on the orders of the day about the pressure to induce or coerce the personnel of various units to enlist for overseas service in the absence of the Prime Minister from Canada; Whereas, the following day, a similar question was put by another member of parliament; Whereas, in both instances the acting leader of the government did commit himself in his answer; Whereas, according to a dispatch of the Canadian Press of April 27, 1944, Brigadier W. H. S. Macklin blamed the draftees who had not volunteered, and did not allow them to take part in a victory loan parade; Whereas, the pressure and intimidation exercised by commanding officers at the Vernon, British Columbia, training centre to coerce the draftees to enlist for overseas service have been such that the city council of Quebec passed a resolution of protest, on May 12, in order that the voluntary policy expounded by the Prime Minister of Canada at Westminster should be carried on even during his absence from Canada; I ask leave to move the adjournment of the house, under standing order 31, for the pur- War Policy