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

Mr. Speaker, I wish to

table parliamentary return reference No. 33, moved by the hon. member for St. John-Albert:

For a copy of all correspondence, letters, cables and other documents exchanged between His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom and His Majesty's government in Canada from September 1, 1938, to September 15, 1939, relating to the attitude of Canada in the event of an outbreak of hostilities between His Majesty and any other power.

When the motion was adopted the order was extended to cover a period subsequent to September 15 sufficient to complete the correspondence in reference to the particular matters referred to.

I would say that the reason for the delay in bringing down this return is that the consent of the government of the United Kingdom and the consent of the government of Australia and New Zealand had to be obtained before we felt at liberty to table the correspondence. That consent has now been obtained, and the return which I have just made includes all the correspondence.

Previous to September 1, 1939, the government of Canada was kept informed of international developments in the usual manner. As the crisis approached in the summer of 1939 there were consultations between the United Kingdom and Canadian authorities through the United Kingdom high commissioner at Ottawa and the Canadian high commissioner in the United Kingdom.

I think hon. members will find this return most interesting and of historic interest, inasmuch as it relates to the attitude of Canada at the outbreak of hostilities between His Majesty and the German Reich. There are only eight telegrams in all; they are not very lengthy, and I believe it would meet the convenience of hon. members if they were printed in the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons. I ask that instructions be given accordingly.

________________Foreign Insurance Companies

Hon. DOUGLAS ABBOTT (Minister of National Defence):

Yesterday in my absence the leader of the opposition asked, in view of the fact that press representatives were not allowed on the Queen Elizabeth at her recent visit at New York, whether steps would be taken to allow such representatives to board ships arriving in future in New York with returning Canadian service personnel. Perhaps I can best answer that by explaining what steps were taken to have them allowed on board this time. I was advised two or three days before the ship was due that the regulations at New York did not permit of press representatives being allowed on board. They had been, of course, when the ship called at Halifax. I asked the quartermaster-general to endeavour to get that ruling changed. He was not successful. We then took it up through our minister at Washington. He discussed it with the war department and with the department of state. The United States war department and state department said that they would waive their objections: they had no objection to the rule being changed so far as Canadian press men were concerned, although it might involve some difficulty with United States newspaper men wTho were not allowed on their transports. However, the owners of the ship, the Ounard-Whi'te Star -line, were not prepared to allow the regulation to be changed, and therefore it was not possible for Canadian newsmen to go on board.

Mr. BRACKEN:

Mr. Speaker, before the

bill receives its second reading perhaps the Minister of Veterans Affairs will say something with respect to procedure on the second reading of senate bills. It was indicated a day or two ago that the procedure that had been followed was not to have discussion on second reading of these bills. It seems to me

we should have an explanation at some stage of these bills before giving them second reading.

Hon. IAN A. MACKENZIE: (Minister of Veterans Affairs): I believe the practice of

the house in days gone by has been that these senate bills should go first of all to the committee for discussion and then come back to the house. Personally I think there should be an explanation of any senate bill before it passes this house.

Motion agreed to and bill read the second time.

Mr. BRACKEN:

A day or two ago, Mr. Speaker, you made a ruling that it was not the ordinary procedure to have any explanation on the second reading of these bills. If that is the rule of the house, we will all accede to it, but the Minister of Veterans Affairs agrees with me that there should be some explanation before giving the second reading to the bill. We know nothing about it.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I do not think I said

that there could be no debate on the second reading of a bill coming from the senate. I said that it was not usual to have a debate on the second reading, though the motion is debatable.

Mr. BRACKEN:

Then I have a suggestion to make with regard to such bills coming to us in the future. I do not ask for any long explanation, but I think the house should be informed as to the general character of any such measure that is laid before us.

Mr. MACKENZIE:

I am in complete

agreement with my hon. friend.

Mr. MAYHEW:

I regret that I am unable to give any more extended explanation than is to be found in the bill itself. The minister is not in the house and I was not able to discuss it with him. A general explanation appears in the bill as follows:

This amendment will make available to foreign companies for the purpose of vesting assets in trust as security for Canadian policy-

Questions

holders a class of security in which Canadian companies are permitted to invest under paragraph (b) of subsection one of section 60, of The Canadian and British Insurance Companies Act, 1932, as amended. The subparagraph inserted recognizes a statutory charge upon assets and a record of continuous payment of interest on the obligations secured thereby as equivalent to the forms of security set forth in the preceding subparagraphs of the paragraph.

Motion agreed' to and bill read the second time.