Mr. FRASER.

Then you cannot prevent him. I believe that he ought to be the judge of the exercise of that privilege and duty, and if he should be the judge of both, he ought to be allowed to stay at home if he thinks he is performing his duty thereby better than, under the compulsion of this parliament, going out and voting. Who is to be the final judge of privilege and duty V There is such a thing as parliament taking legislation into its own hands that it has no right to take, and I think it would be a grave mistake for this parliament to say that a man, who perhaps has studied a question just as much perhaps as this parliament has, shall exercise his franchise although he says that by refraining from exercising the privilege of voting he is serving his conscience better than if he went out and voted for one or othdr of the parties. He should be the supreme and final judge of that. A question may come up which may be a political question. It may be a direct party question. On one side we may take one view and on the other side there may be a different view. There may be an hon. gentleman on the opposition side who says that he agrees with the view which the government take, and there may be an hon. gentleman on the

Mr. FRASER.

We never say very mucli that is new, and if some bon. gentlemen understood that, they would not be so proud of what they do say. Feeling that, 1 would be very loath to say that because a man did not conscientiously think that on a given occasion he should vote he should therefore be told that he is not a good citizen, and that he cannot exercise that privilege. We do not cease visiting our friends because they may do something that we think they ought not to do. I do not think we should interfere with the liberty of the individual to decide for himself whether he is best discharging the duties of citizenship by voting or refraining from voting.

Hon. Mr. I1AGGART. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Fraser) seems to have forgotten the object of the Bill which is now before the committee. The statement of the hon. Minister of Finance (ITon. Mr. Fielding) and admittedly of every person in this House is that corrupt practices have been committed in the different ridings of this country, which both parties have resolved to Stamp out, What principle (is it most necessary to apply for the purpose of doing this ? The committee have applied, as a first principle, that of compulsory voting. That will do something to prevent the crime of corruption, if it does nothing else. But, I think they would have made it more effective if they had added another clause to the Bill-I know I differ from the great mass of the members of this House in reference to this-and that is a clause providing for open voting. If a man receives a bribe for depositing his vote his neighbours know what his convictions are, and he is ear-marked if he votes against his convictions. This would be a means of preventing that crime. There are only two ways of preventing bribery and corruption, and they a re by adopting the principle of open voting and compulsory voting. Talk about the liberty of the individual ! How is it infringing upon the rights of conscience to say that a man shall go up to the poll and deposit his vote ? There arc; lots of people who do not exercise their franchise, and who have not the right to do it. The party who has the right is the delegate of all the others, and if that right is delegated to him, he should exercise it. If no candidate is acceptable to him, he has the right to nominate a man who is acceptable to him. He has the right to vote, and the community have the right to expect that he will exercise the power which they have given him, because where there is power given to him it is his duty to exercise it. I have heard that principle advocated by perhaps the ablest Liberal who ever sat in

this House-Hon. Edward Blake. It has been advocated by Liberals in every section of the world. I think it is the correct principle, and I think the time has arrived in this country to compel every man, for the sake of decency in elections, for the sake of preventing bribery and corruption to exercise the right which parliament has conferred upon him. If the system of enfranchisement under the Act is not correct, let us have a correct one, but let us adopt the principle of compulsory voting, because It is one of those principles that will do more than anything else to prevent the crime of bribery and corruption.

Mr. FRASER.

Not at all. A time comes in parliament on one side or the other when a man simply says : I will abstain

from voting. I cannot vote against my party, but the fact that I disagree with my party in regard to the view which has been enunciated by it does not make it necessary that I shall sever my connection with my party.

Mr. FRASER.

He ought to suffer the loss of interest for his mistake.

Department of Public Works-salaries-to promote Mr. J. B. Hunter to a first-class clerkship notwithstanding anything in the Civil Service Act. $300.

Mr. FRASER.

I wish to say in this connection that I think perhaps we are only beginning to do what must eventually be done. I know there is good reason why the fishing business In Nova Scotia, has not been better aided than it ought to be, and that is because we were expending large sums upon the training of the farmers of this country. That was all right. I was at an exhibition not long ago in the town of Orillia, and I was delighted to find there that at given times all the farmers were called to certain points and there they were taught how to pack apples. A man went through the packing process and gave full explanations. After a little while the wives and daughters were called to another place, and there they were all taught how to make butter by some one who went through the whole process. At another point the farmers' sons and daughters were called together and were taught how to feed poultry, even so small a matter as the best way of killing poultry was not overlooked. Now that was teaching the farmers, and that was all right. Now there are two or three things that must be done in the lower provinces, and everywhere else in Canada where people are fishing, they must be taught the best way of conducting their business. Speaking particularly of Nova Scotia, it is a hard thing for example for men living in a small district to change their methods of putting up fish. The salt fish business particularly is not as well attended to as it ought to be, and I would suggest to the government that one of the best investments they could make would be to have various stations, just as they have in the great province of Ontario, wherever fish packing is carried on, centres where the fishermen could be brought together, and taught the best method of curing salt fish, the amount of salt that ought to be used, and all that ought to be done to put fish up in the best method. We suffer in our fish business particularly when we come in competition with fish that is put up in the old country. There is no people in the world that know how to put up salt fish better than the Scotch. That goes without saying, because they know' how to do everything better than any one else. But when our fish come in contact with the fish put up by people who have been taught with great care the best methods of curing fish, our fish suffer from the