be made because, if it was not, any mem- Seamen's Act, 1873," to vessels employed ber might object to taking up the question in navigating the inland waters of Canada. -Carried. out of its order. Motion carried. BILLS INTRODUCED, THE INSPECTION OF GAS. Bill to amend the Act, 36 Vic., Cap. The following Bills were introduced and 48, relating to the inspection of gas, was read a third time and passed. read the first time: THE POSTAL SERVICE. Hon. Mr. GEOFFRION--To compel persons delivering merchantable liquids in casks to mark on such casks the The report of the Committee of the Whole on certain capacity thereof. Office. proposed reso Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT Tolutions for the purpose of amendamend the Act respecting Life Insurance ing the Act, 31 Vic., Cap 16, for the regulation of the Postal Service, was concurred in, and the resolution was referred to the Committee of the Whole on Bill No. 11. IMMIGRATION DUTY. Hon. Mr. SMITH (Westmoreland) moved that the House do resolve itself into Committee of the Whole to-morrow, to consider the following resolutions :— Bill to amend the Act for the regulation of the Postal Service, was read a second time and referred to Committee of the Whole with the resolution on the same subject, Mr. JETTE in the chair. The first eighteen sections were passed without discussion. On clause No. 19 which read as follows : 1. That it will conduce to the promotion of immigration to Canada in view of combinations or unions of owners of lines of steam vessels, to fix uniform rates of emigrant passages, by creating monopoly between ports in Europe and ports in Canada and the Northern United States, "The Postmaster General, upon evidence satisto authorize the GOVERNOR GENERAL by factory to him, that any person, firm, partnership Order in Council, published by proclama- or company, in Canada or elsewhere, is engaged in conducting any scheme or device for obtaining tion in the Canada Gazette, to collect in remittances through the Post Office, by means certain cases a duty from the master of of false or fraudulent pretences, representations every ship arriving at any port in Canada of promises of any kind, may forbid the payfrom any port in Europe with passengers firm, partnership or company, of any postal ment by any postmaster to any such person, or emigrants therefor. money order drawn in his or their favor, and may provide for the return of the sum named in any such order, to the remitter thereof, and may, upon such like evidence forbid the delivery to such person, firm, partuership or company, o any registered or other letter, which he believes to be addressed to or for him or them, through or by reason of any such fraudulent scheme or device, and may cause any such letter to be returned to the sender thereof, marked with the wordFraud,' as the reason of non-delivery to its address. Provided, that no postmaster or other person not authorized by the Postmaster General shall open any such letters. ** 2. Such duty not to exceed two dollars for every passenger or emigrant above the age of one year to be landed in Canada. 3. Such duty only to be collected at such times as shall be specified by proclamation. 4. That "the Immigration Act of 1872" should be amended in the sense of the foregoing resolutions. The motion was carried. THE SEAMEN'S ACT. Hon. Mr. SMITH (Westmoreland) moved for Committee of the Whole for to-morrow, to consider the expediency of extending provisions similar, as nearly as circumstances permit, to those of "the Mr. MiSSOR. Mr. BOWELL asked how it was proposed to carry out this provision. It seemed to him that it conferred extraor`` dinary powers on the Postmaster General. It gave him power, on what might seem to him satisfactory evidence, to prevent the delivery of any letter containing a remittance obtained on fraudulent representation. Suppose a wholesale merchant had, through some of his agents, taken orders in the country by misrepresenting facts, and the purchaser should find on receiving them, and after the value of them was remitted, that he had been cheated-suppose in a case of this kind the purchaser telegraphed to the city where the goods were purchased, to have the letter containing the money detained, what would be the result? The wholesale merchant might have thirty letters from the same place on the same day. Was he to have all these detained and opened? If this were not the means by which the object of this clause was to be carried out, how could it be accomplished? Hon. D. A. MACDONALD said this Was an extreme view to take of this clause. Several applications had lately been made to the department to detain letters containing remittances for certain parties, especially in the United States, and also addressed to a firm in Montreal, on the ground that the money was obtained by fraud. Tosuch an extent had frauds of this kind been carried in the United States, that a stringent law was passed in Congress to prevent them, and this clause was almost a transcript of it. He was satisfied that whoever might occupy the position of Postmaster General, the power conferred on him by this clause would be exercised with discretion. Hon. Mr. TUPPER asked what evidence the Postmaster General proposed to require before taking the very serious step of opening a letter sent from the Post Office Department? Hon. D. A. MACDONALD—It is determined that when application is made to the Department that there must be undoubted evidence brought before me before any attempt will be made to detain and open a letter. There must be clear evidence that fraud has been practised before a letter can be opened. Hon. Mr. TUPPER-Is that to be sworn testimony, or the mere statement of some parties that they believe such a thing to be the case ? Hon. D. A. MACDONALD─There can be no doubt that they must make it clear to the department, by affidavit or otherwise, that it is a clear case of fraud, before the department will take action. M. Bcwell. Mr. BOWELL said most of these applications must necessarily be made by telegraph, so that it would be seen he did not take an extreme view of this clause after all. The moment a telegram was received by the department to detain a money letter, all letters from the same place to the same address must be stopped until it is ascertained it is clearly of a fraudulent character. Hon. D. A. MACDONALD-No letter will be opened until such time as there is clear proof that there is fraud in the transaction. Mr. BOWELL-I have no doubt the clause is inserted in the Bill with the very best intention; but suppose ten letters were sent from the city of Ottawa to the city of Toronto to the same address, and one of those letters contains a certain amount of money, which has been obtained by fraud-suppose the department receives information that such letters have been sent-how is it possible to ascertain which of these letters should be detained and opened? The Postmaster General must of necessity detain the whole ten and open them. Mr. YOUNG understood that the clause was not intended to apply to special letters particularly. The idea, he thought, was to meet the case of certain persons who came over here generally from the other side of the line and advertised some false or fraudulent vocation, and by that means obtained large remittances by mail from different sections of the country for what was really a fraud. Under this clause when satisfactory evidence was adduced to prove that those persons were engaged in a fraudulent business, which they generally made known by advertisements, the Postmaster General would have the power to interfere with letters containing remittances to them. When those When those persons were engaged in a fraudulent business it would not matter much how many of their letters were opened, because the sooner they were detected in their improper acts the better. As regards the case of special letters, there might be a certain amount of difficulty, but it was not likely to arise. Hon. J. H. CAMERON understood the principle object sought to be attained was to suppress enterprises of the nature of lotteries and gift enterprises, which had flooded Canada in common with the States of the Union. At one time there to Ottawa. The acknowledged rule was that the Postmaster General could only delegate his authority to his deputy, but the Act would be inoperative unless the Postmaster General should be able to delegate his powers to a great number of officials, and those powers were not such as ought to be vested in others. The evidence of fraud might be satisfactory to the Postmaster General. and yet prove fallacious, and a great loss might occur owing to letters being stopped while passing through the mails, and there is no provision under which the sender could was an establishment in Montreal, for the purpose of conducting an enterprise of that kind which, within a short period, received about $50,000 in Post Office Orders and bank remittances. The words used in the clause were found in the United States Post Office Act, but they were placed in connection with certain words which showed to what they applied, viz., lotteries, gift and other enterprises, &c., and when the words were so placed, no difficulty arose. As the clause was drawn the Post Office Department would be called upon to try questions between merchant and customer, and mer-obtain any remedy. He quite understood chant and merchant, which was never contemplated. The whole difficulty would be obviated by amending the clause by adding the words appearing in that connection in the United States Act. the object which the Postmaster General had in introducing this clause into the Bill, yet he conceived it would be infinitely better that a few persons should suffer than that the public should lose confidence in the mails being safely carried. members would recollect the case of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Postmaster General in England, who opened certain letters connected with the MAZZINI affair. Hon. The Hon. Mr. HOLTON asked if it was desirable that the Post Office Department should exercise any supervision whatever over the contents of the mails. He did not think they ought to exercise such control. He would therefore be very glad if the hon. Post-matter was inquired into by a select commaster General would omit that clause from the Bill. He did not think it was capable of being amended in any way that would render it desirable to have it embodied in the law of the land. Right Hon. Sir JOHN MACDONALD Referring to the clause which gave the Postmaster General authority to stop letters passing through the mails on satis factory evidence being given to him that persons were engaged in conducting any scheme for obtaining remittances through the Post Office by means of false or fraudulent pretensions-said that it might be reasonable to give such power to the Postmaster General himself. He would possess the confidence of the House and the country. At the same time it was quite impossible that he could exercise personal supervision in all parts of the Dominion. Suppose a scheme of a fraudulent character were being carried on on the Pacific coast, and letters containing money were passing from Victoria, B. C. to San Francisco. The Postmaster General could not act himself, and would have to delegate the power to the local postmasters, because it was quite apparent that the whole machinery connected with the mail between those two points could not be stopped in order that the letters might be forwarded Hon. J. H. Cameron. mittee, who, however, refused to report until the most were given by the Government that no such case would again occur was confidence renewed in the department. He believed that never since the Post Office. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE observed that there were undoubtedly a great many difficulties connected with the granting of these additional powers to the Postmaster General, General, end therefore he would be inclined to advise his hon. friend to leave this section out. Hon. D. A. MACDONALD said that, as far as he was concerned, he would be very glad to leave it out, as it would cause a great deal of trouble and expense to the Department. However, he had received communications from all parts of the country, asking for some protection of this kind against fraudulen: schemes. The section was struck out. Mr. WALLACE (South Norfolk) moved, in amendment to section 22, that the postage on newspapers be as follows :— Weeklies, five cents per annum ; semiweeklies, 10 cents; tri-weeklies, 15 cents; and dailies, 30 cents, and that such rates be paid at the office of delivery. Amendment ruled out of order. Mr. BOWELL asked, with reference to Section 36, that the words "or town" be inserted after the word "city," so as to give the Postmaster General power to extend free delivery of letters to cities if he thought proper. Hon. D. A. MACDONALD said there were so many towns in the Dominion with a population of from 2,000 upwards, that if this change was made, the department would be flooded with applications which could not be granted. In the United States, free delivery was restricted to cities of 20,000 inhabitants, but he went further, and extended it to cities some of which had only from 12,000 to 15,000 of a population. Mr. BOWELL said he did not propose to make it imperative on the Postmaster General to establish free delivery in towns, but only to give him the power to do so if he thought advisable. If the system produced a revenue in the cities, as the Postmaster General expected, he (Mr. BOWELL) thought it would be just as likely to produce a revenue in the large towns. to Section carried. Mr. BOWELL asked with reference Section 51, what was the reason for the change proposed. Under the present law the Postmaster General was obliged to advertise for mail. contracts in one or more of the newspapers published in the county where thecontract is to be performed; but now it was proposed to give him power to advertise in any newspaper he pleased. This change seemed to be for only one purpose, and that was to give the Postmaster General a little patronage. Hon. D. A. MACDONALD said the object of the proposed change was to give the Postmaster General power to adver tise in the paper having the largest circulation in the district, where the work was to be performed. Mr. BOWELL said that object could better be accomplished under the present law. Under the proposed change the Postmaster General could advertise in Toronto for a contract for carrying the mails between Cornwall and Alexandria. Hon. D. A. MACDONALD said that. this clause had been inserted at the request of the Deputy Postmaster General, who had found from his long experience that it was necessary. Mr. YOUNG observed that it was a mere question of form. The practice of the department had always been to direct in what papers letters should be advertised, and in reality the Postmaster General was not asking any more power now than he had hitherto wielded. Hon. Mr. TUPPER said that no person objected to the Government of the day, preferring to give their patronage to Mr. YOUNG expressed the opinion newspapers supporting them, if they could that the system of free delivery of letters do so consistently with the public interest was extended by the Postmaster General-but that was not the point now under quite as far as was prudent. It was doubtful whether it would pay in the smaller cities; and if power was given to the Postmaster General to extend it to towns, almost every town would be applying for free delivery, and pressure would be brought upon the Government which in many cases it would be almost impossible to resist. Hon. D A. Macdonald. consideration. Under the present law the Government were compelled to consult the public interests by publishing advertisements for mail contracts in the nearest newspaper to the place where the contract had to be performed. It was now proposed to sweep away that restriction, and to give the Postmaster General power to advertise in any newspaper in the Dominion. Such a change was not neces sary to accomplish the object that the Postmaster General stated he had in view. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said there were several advantages in the public interest to be derived from the proposed amendment. For instance, if the department wanted to advertise for a contract for carrying the mails on Lake Superior they would be required under the present law to advertise in a small sheet, seven by nine inches, published at Sault Ste. Marie, there being no other paper published nearer to the district than Owen Sound. On repeated occasions he had sent advertisements to the Toronto Mail simply because it was necessary in the public interest that some important advertisements should go to papers having a considerable circulation, and that they might reach a class that could not be reached otherwise; and this amend ment was simply intended to give the department power in exceptional cases to advertise where the department would be best served; no doubt as a general rule the paper nearest to the locality would get the advertisement, but there might be advertisements which required to be inserted in papers having a larger circulation. Hon. Mr. TUPPER said the present law did not restrict the Postmaster General in that respect. If he wished to advertise in other papers he could do so. Section carried. On the 91st. section which fixed the date when the Act should come into force at the 1st. of May next, Mr. BOWELL said he understand the Postmaster General to say during a former discussion that the Act would not go into force till the 1st. of August. As in most instances newspapers had already made their contracts with subscribers for the year it would cause great inconvenience if the Bill was to go into operation on the 1st. of May, The Section was amended so as to make the Act come in force on the 1st. of October next. The Sections of the Bill having been adopted, the Committee rose and reported the Bill with amendments. Report to be received to-morrow. BANKS AND BANKING. The House went into Committee of the Whole on Bill to amend the Act therein mentioned on Banks and Banking; Mr. YOUNG in the Chair. Hon. Mr. Tupper. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT moved the following amendment :— 1. Sec. 40 of Cap. 5 passed in the 34th. year of H. M's. reign shall be amended by the addition of the words following :— "Nor shall the Bank, directly or indirectly, purchase or deal in any share or shares of the Capital Stock of the Bank, except where it is necessary to realize upon any such share or shares held by the Bank, as security for any pre-existing and matured debt. Carried. Mr. PLUMB moved that the word "matured" be struck out of the amendment. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT said it could not be done. Hon. Mr. HOLTON said under the general law introduced under Sir FRANCIS HINCKS in 1871, the lien was limited to matured paper. There would be a manifest impropriety in allowing banks to interfere with their shareholders in selling their shares, because the shareholders' names were endorsed on their paper. would be very impolitic. It was found under the old system that it frequently wrought hardship and annoyance to shareholders, and therefore the Banking Committee determined to limit the lien to matured paper. It Mr. PLUMB said he did not wish tớ interfere with the transfer of stock. He only had reference to cases of insolvency where it might be necessary for a bank to protect itself. Sir JOHN MACDONALD said the Act afforded sufficient protection to the banks. He thought the amendment was a good one. The Bill was reported with amendments, (which were concurred in) read a third time and passed. VDMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN THA NORTH WEST TERRITORIES. Hon. Mr. FOURNIER moved the second reading of the Bill "to amend an Act respecting the administration of justice and for the establishment of police force in the North-West Territories. -Carried. The House went into Committee― Mr. CASGRIAN in the chair-and reported the Bill. The Bill was read the third time and passed. |