Mr. SPEAKER:

I have the honour to inform the house that I have received notices of the vacancies which have occurred in the electoral districts of Pontiac, province of Quebec, and Portage la Prairie, province of Manitoba, and I have issued my warrants for writs for new elections in these electoral divisions.

Mr. SPEAKER:

With reference to the question asked by the hon. member for Qu'Appelle in connection with ladies having to wear hats in the galleries, which reads as follows in Hansard of May 29, page 1984:

There is a matter I wish to draw to the attention of the acting house leader, the Minister of Veterans Affairs. It has been the custom not to allow women in the gallery without some kind of head covering. So many women go everywhere now without hats that the observance of this regulation is enforcing indignity on this house . . .

Pursuant to this question I made the following statement:

As the question asked by the hon. member concerns the house. I suggest that she put her question to the Speaker, but not from the floor of the house, as it is against the rule. I shall be very glad to give it consideration.

After a few days of meditation and mature consideration I have prepared the following statement.:

The practice of requiring women to wear hats in the galleries of the House of Commons was probably borrowed from what was until recently the practice in all churches. Indeed in the churches it may very well have been looked upon as a rule promulgated by Saint Paul, both in the first epistle to Timothy, in which he recommends that-

women appear in churches in decent apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire, and that they learn in silence . . . But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence.

[DOT]-and also in his first epistle to the Corinthians in which he ordered:

Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject as also law saith.

The fact that women have now become eligible to the House of Commons and been given the right to speak their minds there,

even if it does involve "teaching and using authority over the man," shows that the church rules need not necessarily apply to parliament.

As a matter of fact I am informed that the Church of England dispensed during the war with the rule that women appear in church with their heads covered, and that it is not apt to be reestablished there. As far as this house is concerned, I have made enquiries and I have found that there never was any written rule about the matter. I am not disposed to adopt any severe decree; for I think it is advisable to leave the decision to the ladies themselves. I am sure that whether they are covered or hatless their presence in the galleries will always be welcome.

Mr. THOMAS REID (New Westminster):

Mr. Speaker, I desire to lay on the table a petition signed by thousands of residents in British Columbia urging the repatriation of Japanese. This petition comes from the Japanese repatriation league, and reads:

To the Honourable the House of Commons in Parliament assembled:

The petition of the undersigned of the province of British Columbia humbly sheweth:

That your petitoners view with ' alarm the fact that approximately two-thirds of the persons of the Japanese race in Canada are still in the province of British Columbia and that a very small number have been resettled east of the Rocky mountains on a permanent basis.

That your petitioners are unalterably opposed to persons of the Japanese race being permitted in the said province which is a natural defence area for Canada in the event of war on the Pacific.

Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that your honourable house may be pleased to enact such measures as may be necessary to make certain:-

1. That persons of the Japanese race shall not be permitted to reside in the province of British Columbia.

2. That all persons of the Japanese race not permanently resettled east of the Rocky mountains are repatriated to Japan or resettled in

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territory in the Pacific ocean under the jurisdiction of the united nations or whatever international organization may be founded.

And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.

Dated the 1st day of March, A.D. 1945.

This is only one of a number of petitions that will come to the house.

Mr. CLARENCE GILLIS (Cape Breton South):

May I be permitted to direct a question to the Minister of Transport. On March 22 of this year the minister intimated that he might be in a position at the end of May to make a statement with regard to the progress being made in the development of the causeway project across the strait of Canso. Can he make a statement now?

Hon. LIONEL CHEVRIER (Minister of Transport):

The hon. gentleman was good enough to send me notice of the question. I have a statement which I am happy to give him now. The present position of the Canso investigations is as follows:

1. A good subsurface survey of the site of the causeway is completed.

2. Five borings to rock have been made at the lock site at the west end of the causeway.

3. One boring to rock has been made at the east end of the causeway.

4. A proposal to put down five borings in the central section of the causeway from J. P. Porter has been accepted and material therefor has been ordered by the contractor. Work should start in the near future.

5. The above proposal includes two borings on the site of a possible bridge.

6. A subsurface survey on the sites of new terminals on either side of the strait is completed.

7. Much field work has been completed in study * of possible railway diversions.

8. Four borings have been completed on the possible site of terminals at Steep Creek and on the shore opposite.

9. A barometric, reconnaissance survey of the country between the Sunnybrae line and Antigonish-Mulgrave line has been completed and an excellent low grade route has been found for connecting these lines.

10. The geological survey have given us a new report on the territory in the vicinity of the causeway and the availability of material for its construction.

The services of Mr. S. W. Crowell of Amherst have been secured and a survey party headed by him will be in the field in one

week's time if all goes well. During this summer we expect to spend about $45,000 on borings and $15,000 on surveys. We shall probably complete our work in September.

Mr. ALISTAIR STEWART (Winnipeg North):

I wish to direct to the Minister of Labour a question of which I have given him notice. What steps are being taken by the federal government to settle the dispute between the typographical union and the newspapers concerned?

Hon. HUMPHREY MITCHELL (Minister of Labour):

For the information of the hon. member for Winnipeg North and other hon. members regarding the stoppage of work in three newspapers published by the Southam Company-I speak now of three only; there may be others to-day that I do not know of,- the Ottawa Citizen, the Hamilton Spectator and the Edmonton Journal, the employees affected are members of the international typographical union. The work stoppage at these points has its basis in a similar stoppage w-hich has been in progress at Winnipeg since November 8 of last year, affecting the Winnipeg Tribune, also published by the Southam Company, and the Winnipeg Free Press, published by the Sifton interests.

In Winnipeg, basically the issues were the union's policy that its international law is not subject to arbitration, et cetera-and when I say "et cetera" I refer to the regulations set in motion by the respective governments of this country-the forty-hour week and payment for overtime if the union could not provide labour under its closed shop agreement. Unfortunately the situation had deteriorated to such an extent in Winnipeg by the time it reached the attention of my department that the appointment of two industrial disputes inquiry commissions and the holding of several conferences in Ottawa did not bring about a settlement.

The chief reason why my department intervened in the dispute was to prevent its extension to other newspapers of the Southam and Sifton chains. The Southam Company is taking the position that each of its local newspaper managements has control over local newspaper policy and labour relations. The union's position is that certain basic labour conditions must apply in all newspapers operated by the company. Apparently its individual managers in the Ottawa, Hamilton and Edmonton newspapers would agree to the pro-

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posals of the union, but no agreement can be reached in regard to the Winnipeg newspaper of the company.

My department has been in touch with the minister of labour of Ontario concerning the stoppages affecting the Ottawa and Hamilton newspapers. With regard to 'the Edmonton newspaper, my department has no jurisdiction in the province of Alberta.