Sir. ROCHE (Halifax).

Mr. WILLIAM ROCHE (Halifax).

No doubt, Mr. Speaker, you wish to collect the opinions of the members from various parts of the House. Those hon. gentlemen who speak from the front benches speak so frequently and debate so keenly the subjects which are brought to your attention that no doubt you are often puzzled to ascertain the true sense of the House and of the country. Prom the serener atmosphere which we occupy on the rear benches we can look down upon the troubled arena below us, and form our opinions in a more judicial and in a calmer manner. Indeed, those gentlemen before us, from the heat of their arguments, would almost appear to us as partisans. I was interested in the first discussion that took place on this subject to hear from gentlemen of the opposition the remark reiterated with a good deal of fervour that they did not wish in the slightest degree to embarrass the government. I propose to return the compliment, and to say that in the few remarks which I intend to offer to my brother farmers in the House, I do not desire in any way to embarrass the opposition. In the part of the country from which I come we have not the advantage of living near the penitentiary, wThich some hon. gentlemen opposite have. Nor am I like that periodical, fair weather farmer, who announced that ho farmed two months in summer only, and went far from the ' maddening crowd ' in that season only, to revel in the cool airs and quiet of the country. We and my brother farmers in Nova Scotia, have to farm summer and winter for a livelihood. I have said that I did not wish in the slightest degree to embarrass the opposition. We have, in our part of the country, Sir, one of those odious combines which manufactures cordage and incidentally also manufactures binder twine. I do not have any wish to embarrass the opposition in this, but I would say that the learned leader of the opposition (Mr. Borden, Halifax), out of his hundred odd majority, had a hundred of his majority from that institution which manufactures binder twine. WTe heard from him how the sentiment of this House operates upon the degree of profit which they hope to get from the country by the manufacture of this twine.

I opine that the gentlemen who have advocated this measure have no doubt done so with the desire that their fellow-farmers in the country shall participate in the benefits derived from the decrease in the price of this article, to the amount that the govern-1

Mr. ROCHE.

Mr. Chairman, I take exception to the wording of this paragraph, which reads :

To pay S. J. Carter of the dead letter office at Winnipeg a provisional allowance for excessive cost of living in Manitoba.

I do not think this is fair to that province. We wish immigrants to come into that province and we do not want to leave the impression that the cost of living there is excessive. In future editions of the estimates that term should be left out; indeed, it might be struck out now.