Hon. HUMPHREY MITCHELL (Minister of Labour):

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table copy of the report of the Royal Commission on Veterans' Qualifications which was established under joint recommendation of the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Minister of Labour, pursuant to the provisions of P.C. 2486 and P.C. 3342. This report is in three parts: the first interim report, the second report, and a list of recommendations.

The commission was composed of the Hon. Wilfrid Bovey, of Montreal, as chairman, and four other commissioners, including representatives of labour, the Canadian Legion, and the Department of Labour. Many sittings were held throughout the country, and the reports I think indicate that a good job was done in regard to there being proper recognition of the training of personnel in the armed forces upon their return to civilian life.

Mr. RALPH MAYBANK (Winnipeg South Centre) moved:

That the petition of Andrew Prem-Das, presented on the 22nd instant, and the petition of Beatrice Lydia Ogulnick Goldin, presented on the 25th instant, each praying for a bill of divorce, together with the reports of the clerk of petitions thereon, be referred to the standing committee on standing orders for the, purpose of considering the suspension of standing orders 92 and 93 (a) (b) and (c) in

relation thereto.

He said: If I am in order, Mr. Speaker, to make a statement on this motion with reference to information that has come to me, I desire to do so, as I think it advisable that this information be given out. It is as follows. While I consider, judging from past practice, that this is an appropriate motion to lay before the house, I wonder whether it will be of any value to the persons concerned, by reason "of what might be termed a sort of traffic jam in divorce. I understand from officials of the other chamber that there is a large number of divorce cases to be presented to us in about three weeks, and that, by the time that is done, the number will have further increased very considerably; therefore it is possible that we may never get to the point of these cases being disposed of. It might be . well if the public were to know that, in order

Judges Act

that interested persons could save themselves money perhaps by changing their plans at the present moment.

Explain.

Mr. KNOWLES:

Mr. Speaker, this bill

would add a new subsection to section 28 of the Judges Act, which is chapter 105 of the revised statutes of Canada, 1927. The authority for legislation such as that proposed in this bill is to be found in section 100 of the British North America Act.

The purpose of the proposed addition is to provide that any judge of a superior court of any province or of the Yukon Territory who continues or is continued in office after attaining the age of seventy shall have his salary reduced to an amount equal to that which he would receive by way of retiring allowance if he were retired at seventy, less any sum which he might receive from a provincial government by way of other remuneration. The new salary rate would commence when the judge attained the age of seventy years, or on the first day of September, 1946, whichever is the later date. In the case of a judge appointed prior to the passing of the bill who would not be entitled to a retiring allowance if retired at the age of seventy, the operation of the act would be postponed until he is eligible for a retiring allowance.

This bill is similar to one which was passed by the House of Commons on May 10, 1933, but which was rejected by the senate. Apart from the effective date, the bill is exactly the same as the one passed by this house in 1933, but for two differences. In the first place the former bill stipulated seventy-five as the age at which provisions of that bill were to apply, whereas this bill stipulates the age of seventy. Secondly, the former bill made an exception in the case of judges not eligible for retiring allowance at the stipulated age whether appointed before or after the passing of that bill. In this bill the same exception is provided, but only in the case of judges appointed prior to the passing of this bill.

I may say that this bill is offered as a reasonable way of effecting a desirable change pending amendment of the British North America Act.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I would draw to the

attention of the hon. member the fact that I am under the impression that this bill is out of order, because it involves an expenditure of money. So I rule the bill out of order.

Mr. KNOWLES:

Mr. Speaker, may I ask

that you defer your judgment until you have looked into it? It actually reduces the amount of money that the government would have to spend. I would point out also that the bill was allowed when I introduced it last year; it was given first reading by the house on March 6, 1944.

Mr. MAYBANK:

Was it a private bill?

Mr. KNOWLES:

Yes.

Mr. SPEAKER:

As I have said, I believe that the bill as drafted deals with public expenditures, and therefore is out of order.

1. Who is the sugar controller?

2. What authority has he to regulate supplies?

3. From whom does he, get his supplies?

4. Does the origin of his supplies represent the sugar cartel?

5. Does the sugar cartel include all the sugar producing countries of the world?

6. If not, what countries or major producers are excluded?

7. Have any representations been made to the sugar controller or the government to sell sugar for Canadian use by countries other than those included in the sugar cartel, e.g., Peru and other South American countries?

' 8. If so, what reason is there for denying

Canadians this extra amount of sugar? '

9. Has the government any knowledge of the quantity of sugar available in the united nations' countries which is not included in the sugar pool?

10. What is the amount? [DOT]