Mr. McKENZIE (Lambton):

I have no desire to delay the passing of this item, but I want to commend the Postmaster General for having extended to the rural mail carriers the holidays of which they were deprived. I think that was coming to them, because they do their work satisfactorily and give good service in all kinds of weather and over all kinds of roads.

I am inclined to think the hon. member for Lanark and the hon. member for Leeds, in speaking about the patronage system, must have had in mind some previous administration, because my experience has been that when a route is advertised it goes to the lowest tenderer. Any member who would willingly want to have a tender opened under those conditions is just asking for trouble; that is all. I cannot think of any man who would want to do it. I was also surprised at the devious routes through which the hon. member for Leeds weaved round. I never thought of those ideas at all.

Mr. McKENZIE (Lambton):

My experience is that the Post Office Department has insisted on giving contracts to the lowest tenderer, if he is capable and efficient.

I believe, however, that the tender system is not satisfactory. In many ways it is not fair. Some mail carriers going out of the same postal stations and doing the same work do not receive the same rates per mile. It may be urged that this is the fault of the carrier. That may be so, in some respects, but we must not forget that some mail carriers have been carrying mail since the inception of the service, and that contracts have been renewed every four years without

Supply-Post Office

variation. The carriers who have been operating for some time have satisfactory contracts. Then, through sickness, death or for some other cause-political, if you like-vacancies occur and, through advertisement, cheap contracts are obtained. There should be some method of standardizing rates throughout Canada. I am sure the officials of the Post Office Department are aware of the circumstances, and that they have been giving the matter serious consideration. I have heard this question threshed out before by rural mail carriers' associations, who had no thought of political affiliation at all. I know the department has been giving the matter consideration. I am inclined to favour the suggestion of the hon. member for Grey-Bruce to the effect that a committee of some kind should study the matter impartially and submit a report. Perhaps action of that kind would go a long way towards arriving at a satisfactory solution of this problem.

Mr. McKENZIE (Lambton):

How can there be patronage when the contract must go to the lowest tenderer?

Mr. McKENZIE (Lambton):

The awarding of the contract is where the patronage comes in.

Mr. McKENZIE (Lambton-Kent):

There seems to be some controversy as to whether bushel and half-bushel measures are standardized from the dominion or the provincial standpoint. Do not the provinces as well as the dominion provide for some standardization of containers?