Mr. C. C. I. MERRITT (Vancouver-Burrard):

Mr. Speaker, referring to the question of privilege raised yesterday by the hon. member for Vancouver North (Mr. Sinclair), as a matter of the expense of travelling by air is important to all members coming from distant parts of Canada. I wonder if Your Honour would inform the house of the reasons for the decision to which reference was made.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I expect to be able to give an answer tomorrow.

Mr. T. J. BENTLEY (Swift Current):

Mr. Speaker, yesterday there were expressions of good will in respect of members who had returned to the house after an absence because of illness. I should like to make similar reference to the hon. member for Medicine Hat (Mr. Wylie) who has just returned after a serious illness. I hope his health has improved.

Mr. J. A. BRADETTE (Cochrane):

Mr. Speaker, on a question of personal privilege, I know I am voicing the sentiment of every member of the house in saying that we are very glad indeed to see the worthy Clerk of the House back to his post. I also express the hope that his health is permanently reestablished.

Hon. BROOKE CLAXTON (Minister of National Defence):

Mr. Speaker, I believe it would be the wish of hon. members that I should make a statement drawing to the attention of the house and the country the

arrangements made for the training of officers for the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

During the war, combined operations under unified command brought victory to the allied side. Considerable progress has already been made in the unification of the Department of National Defence and in the co-ordination of the three services.

As a beginning in co-operation we have decided to require the same entrance qualification and to give the same general education at the same places for cadets in all three services. This arrangement has been worked out after studies of educational experience in this country as well as in Great Britain, the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

The naval college at Royal Roads was this year extended to include air cadets. In September it will also be open to candidates for the army. Royal Roads will have a two-year course, corresponding closely to the first two years in engineering at a university.

Also in September of this year Royal Military College, Kingston, will reopen for cadets for the three services. The first two years will be identical with those at Royal Roads and there will be a further two years, making a four-year course in all. On the completion of their course at Royal Roads cadets for all branches of the three services will go on to complete their course at Royal Military College except that cadets for the executive and marine engineering branches of the navy, after two years at Royal Military College o? Royal Roads, will take special training before being posted as sub-lieutenants.

Entrance requirements for both Royal Roads and Royal Military College will be senior matriculation or its equivalent. Candidates must have reached their sixteenth but not their twentieth birthday on 1st January preceding entrance. Naval applicants, except in the case of candidates from classical colleges, must not have reached their nineteenth birthday on 1st January.

The standard achieved will be approximately the same as that in a four-years arts course and three years towards an engineering degree. Following graduation from Royal Military College, students in technical and engineering subjects will be carried on for an extra year at a university to give them a university degree.

National Defence

During the summer months students will do three and half months' practical work with their branch of their service. At the end of the course they will thus have completed almost a year's practical training in addition to their general education, which will be on a broader basis than ever before.

The second source of officers is the universities. Arrangements have been made with twenty-two universities under which undergraduates may join the Canadian officers' training corps or university naval training division. Under these arrangements, students will receive theoretical training during the college term and will spend three and a half months in the summer doing practical work together with the cadets from Royal Roads and Royal Military College. At the completion of their university courses, in addition to their degree, they will have had additional theoretical military work and the equivalent of a year's practical training with their service. Similar arrangements are in effect for the air force.

Under all these plans, the pay received during the summer months will make a substantial contribution towards the cost of tuition and other expenses during the college term.

The third source of officer material is in promotion from the ranks. It is hoped that as many as twenty per cent of officers will be selected in this way. Officer cadets from the ranks will attend either one of the Canada service colleges or the universities at government expense.

These arrangements for officer training are in addition to service schools for training in the use of weapons and trades schools in all three services. A number of schools are of an inter-service nature, such as the joint army-air school at Rivers, where all aspects of army-air force co-operation are studied, or the winter warfare school at Churchill, where all three services and the defence research board are studying techniques of winter warfare. There are as well army and air staff colleges, and the national defence college for senior officers and civilian officials opened at Kingston on the 5th January last.

Further, all three services have specialist officers undergoing post-graduate training at universities in Canada.

Another educational scheme of importance is the institution of language training. The army is putting into effect French classes in every command and training centre. At headquarters 178 officers are taking voluntary courses in French. Provision is also made for training in languages other than French. The navy and air force will soon implement similar plans.

Modern war requires technical abilities of the highest order. Should an emergency arise, the outcome may well turn on the professional skills and qualities of leadership of the staffs and fighting formations of every branch of every service. For this reason we are trying to ensure that the Canadian defence forces will be led by men who will live up to the fighting reputation of Canadians and who will also have the intelligence and knowledge to develop and use the weapons and skills that may be necessary for the effective defence of our country.

Mr. PEARKES:

Mr. Speaker, if I may be permitted a question, on completion of the courses at Royal Roads and the Royal Military College or subsequent training at a university, will there be any obligation on the student to join one of the active forces of the crown?

Mr. OLAXTON:

The cadets will be obligated to join either the active forces or the reserve forces.

Mr. PEARKES:

Not the active? FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONSERVATION

Right Hon. C. D. HOWE (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

Mr. Speaker, I desire to table, as requested last night, a letter addressed to the Minister of Finance containing the advice of my department as to regulations applying to the motor vehicle manufacturing and parts industry. I may say that the Minister of Finance has placed these regulations in effect. Copies will be available to hon. members for purposes of the debate later this afternoon.

Mr. M. J. COLDWELL (Rosetown-Biggar):

Mr. Speaker, may I direct a question to the Secretary of State for External Affairs. In view of the grave warning made by the Palestine commission to the security council yesterday that "a tragic and dangerous precedent" will be established if force or the threat of force is allowed to thwart the decision of the united nations, is the government prepared to accept its share of responsibility in such action as may be taken by the security council with a view to averting further bloodshed in Palestine and implementing the assembly decision?

Inquiries oj the Ministry

Right Hon. L. 8. ST. LAURENT (Secretary of State for External Affairs): Mr. Speaker, I listened with care to the question the hon. member has just put, because it was not quite in the terms of the notice I was handed just before I came into the house. In answer I can only state that Canada accepted full responsibility under the charter of the united nations and has at all times been pressing to have all the organs of the united nations set up in accordance with the charter and in such a manner as to make the charter fully effective. There is no intention of not complying with the requirements both of the letter and of the spirit of the charter.