Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to table two copies of the first volume of the consolidation of statutory orders and regulations, which I mentioned in presenting the bill concerning future orders and regulations. I am doing so at this time so that hon. members who are interested may have an opportunity of seeing in what form these are to be prepared. I understand that there will be four volumes of these statutory orders and regulations. A fifth volume will contain as complete an alphabetical index and analytical table as we may find it possible to prepare.

Hon. members will see that these are lettered "A" to "D". The procedure that is being followed is to indicate the statutory orders an'd regulations under the statute which authorized the making of them. Whenever a statute authorizes the making, by order in council or by any other authority, of regulations having legislative effect, whether or not the power has been exercised, the statute is referred to and explanatory notes given. I believe hon. members will find that it is a serious attempt to make all these orders and regulations as readily accessible as possible to the courts, the bar, and the public generally.

I may add that as soon as the volumes are complete they will be distributed to all those who are on the list for the distribution of the annual statutes.

Mr. Fleming:

May I ask the Prime Minister when it is expected that the volumes will be completed?

Mr. St. Laurent:

The work has been completed, and it is now a matter of printing. I assume that, as soon as the session is over, priority will be given to the printing of the statutes of this session. There will be no avoidable delay in the office of the king's printer.

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Mr. Fleming:

Is it intended that these two volumes will be distributed now?

Mr. Si. Laurent:

No; there are not sufficient copies. Only a limited number of copies were run off, and I am tabling them now so that hon. members who are interested in seeing how the matters are being set up may examine them. As soon as the other copies can be run off they will be distributed to those who are on the list for distribution of the annual statutes.

Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister):

I am sure hon. members will be interested in knowing that I have been advised by His Excellency the Governor General that he has received the following message from the Emperor of Ethiopia:

Addis Ababa June 6, 1950

Field Marshal Viscount Alexander,

Ottawa.

We convey our sympathy for the great flood losses and suffering in Manitoba. We would request Your Excellency to direct the distribution of Canadian dollars three thousand sent as a token of the cordiality and sympathy uniting the Ethiopian and Canadian peoples.

Haile Selassie Emperor

To this message His Excellency sent the following reply:

Ottawa, June 7, 1950

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie,

Emperor of Ethiopia,

Addis Ababa.

On behalf of people of Canada, I thank Your Majesty for your kind and sympathetic message to the Manitoba flood victims and for Your Majesty's very generous contribution for their relief. Your generous action and expression of friendship will long he remembered by the people of Canada.

Alexander of Tunis

The governor general is arranging to have the contribution from the Emperor of Ethiopia transferred to the Manitoba flood relief fund.

I feel sure that I speak for all hon. members and for the country as a whole in expressing deep appreciation of this very fine example of human brotherhood.

Manitoba Flood

Hon. Douglas Abboll (Minisler of Finance):

I wish to table a copy of a letter dated June 6, 1950, and attached memorandum addressed to me as Minister of Finance, and Hon. D. L. Campbell, premier of Manitoba, constituting a progress report of the joint commission on flood damage in Manitoba, which, as the house is aware, consists of Mr. J. B. Carswell, representing the dominion government, and Mr. D. Bruce Shaw, representing the government of Manitoba.

Perhaps I might add a few words. As the house is aware, I flew out to Manitoba on Tuesday afternoon. I had three purposes in mind. I was anxious to see a bit of the flood damage which had been caused. I wanted to discuss with the members of the commission and with the Manitoba government the progress which had been made in ascertaining the damage caused by the flood. I found that my visit was a most helpful one. The weather was such that I was able to fly down in the afternoon over the upper part of the valley. I found that the flood waters certainly had receded extremely rapidly, and it was quite clear that large areas which had previously been flooded were already clear and that seeding was taking place even in some of those areas. We flew at a low level. Some of the towns, particularly Morris, had suffered great physical damage to almost every building in the municipality.

The next morning I was taken to some sections of the city of Winnipeg, which I was informed had suffered the worst damage, and certain sections of St. Vital, and the Wildwood area. It is quite clear today; while it looked pretty bad, it was obvious that a week or ten days ago it must have looked a great deal worse.

In the evening I had an opportunity of discussing with members of the commission the draft of the report which in final form has been tabled today. Mr. Campbell, the premier of Manitoba, participated in those discussions. The following morning I had an opportunity of meeting the members of the Manitoba cabinet and, finally, in the afternoon, had a concluding meeting with the members of the commission and received their report in final form which I have tabled today.

I do not intend to discuss the details of the report. It speaks for itself. I just want to say that I do not think one can speak in too high terms of the way in which the people of Manitoba and of the city of Winnipeg have responded to the calls made upon them by this terrible disaster. I was greatly impressed

by the way in which individual citizens were setting to work to clean up their houses and to do repairs to their buildings. I had a chance to call at the offices of the Manitoba flood relief fund. They have done a magnificent job in raising funds voluntarily from all parts of Canada and abroad. The municipal government and the local government authorities seem to be working in harmony to co-ordinate the various services at the different levels of government. It struck me that the rehabilitation authorities, in the assistance they were giving to repair of the damage caused by this disaster, were operating very efficiently.

I reported of course to my colleagues yesterday, and placed before them this report. In the light of the facts disclosed in this report the government has decided to include in the supplementary estimates, which I hope will be tabled within the next week or ten days, an appropriation for $12,500,000 as an initial payment to the government of Manitoba to assist it in discharging the obligations which it will have to carry out as a result of the flood damage.

In addition, hon. members will see from the report that the committee has suggested that in the urban areas of Winnipeg certain, emergency diking measures might be developed in order to prevent a recurrence of these floods. As was the case in the Fraser valley, the dominion government of course would participate on the basis of 75-25 in the costs of such works, if it is decided to proceed with them; and in the supplementary estimates an appropriate amount will be included to cover an estimate of what might be required in that connection in the forthcoming period.

Mr. Knowles:

May I ask the minister

whether it will be possible to have the progress report which he has tabled printed as an appendix to Votes and Proceedings, or to have copies made available, so that we may all have it?

Mr. Abboll:

It has been multigraphed. I

asked those doing the work to be sure that there was a sufficient number of copies to make it available to all hon. members. If they are not already at the distribution office, I will see that they are there within the next half hour. I think that might be sufficient.

Mr. Knowles:

Thank you.