Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD—If there is an inadvertent error, the hon. gentleman should be allowed to point out in the way of illustration. The hon. gentleman is not out of order. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE—The hon. gentleman is endeavoring to evade a distinct rule of the House. Họn. Mr. MITCHELL-The hon. gentleman can certainly allude to this matter in the way of illustration. Mr. ROULEAU-I would state this case merely as an example. Mr. TASCHEREAU-The hon gentleman can cite his own case, but he cannot discuss the merits of it. Mr. ROULEAU-The First Minister told me that he could not answer my question, but the present Minister of Justice took office on the 9th of May, and my election took place on the 8th of last July. Mr. SPEAKER remarked that it had been the practice for two or three to allow Government years past to notices of motions and orders to be taken up on Monday, but it was open, nevertheless, to any individual member to object and prevent it under the rule as amended; it would not be so possisible any longer to obstruct business. Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD agreed in the expediency of altering the rule in this respect, and explained that it had been decided in Committee to insert notices of motion on the order for Thursday immediately after half-pasto seven o'clock. Hon. Mr. HOLTON said that difficulty was experienced in regard to these notices of motion principally by the want of diligence on the part of hon. gentlemen themselves. If they were to put their notices on the paper at an early part of the Session when there was not much business before the House, business would be greatly facilitated. In the second place the notices after they had been put on the paper were allowed to stand until the end of the Session was approached, and it was impossible for them to be brought up. Hon. Mr. MITCHELL granted that there was a good deal in this; but would state that there was a very important motion of his on the paper, which was placed in such a position that it was questionable if it would be reached this Session. He was of opinion that notices of motion should be resumed after half past seven o'clook. Hon. Mr. BLAKE thought the difficulty in regard to notices of motion. might be remedied by adopting a system of classification, by which they could divide the motions into opposed and unopposed motions. Such an arrangement he was satisfied would keep the paper cleared of these incumbrances. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said he re- Government notices of motion. Other notices of motion. The words "until six o'clock," would be struck out. The orders for Thursday were then adopted. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE moved the adoption of the following in lieu of the 58th Rule: "Any person seeking to obtain any Private private or corporate advantage, or for any Bill, giving any exclusive privilege, or profit, amendment of the former Act, shall be required to deposit with the Clerk of the House, eight days before the meeting of the House,a copy of with a sum sufficient to pay for translating and such Bill in the English or French language, printing the same-600 copies to be printed in English, and 200 copies to be printed in French-the translation to b done by the Officers of the House and the printing by the quired to pay the Accountant of the House a Contractor. The applicant shall also be resum of $200, and the cost of printing the same for the Statutes, and lodge the receipt for the same with the Clerk of the Committee to which such Bill is referred -such payment to be made immediately after the second reading, and before the consideration of the Bill by such Committee." Hon. Mr. HOLTON said those who had to deal with the Private Bills coming before the House felt the necessity of an assistant-some legal expert, competent to draft and prepare the clauses of such measures. Such an officer should be appointed to be absolutely at the disposal of the Private Bills Committee during the Session of Parliament. He had felt, during the present Session, it was utterly impossible for even the professional members of the House to give proper attention to the numerous Private Bills brought under their notice. Hon. Mr. CAMERON (Cardwell) concurred in this opinion. Either the promoters of Bills must have the clauses reconstructed by their legal advisers and returned to the Cominittee for further consideration, or some legal assistant must be employed to attend to such work. The time had arrived when the Government itself must have more assistance. He believed the Minister of Justice should have the assistance of another officer. He hoped the Government would take this matter into consideration. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE said the subject had occupied the attention of the Government on several occasions. He had felt the pressure of this kind of work very much while sitting on the other side of the House, and a little more since he had become a Minister of the Crown. He would be very glad to have private members of this House relieved from the pressure brought to bear on them in shaping these Privat Bills. There had been negligence of late years in the preparation of some of those bills, and the work of reconstructing them devolved upon a very limited number of the active members of the House. He was not propared at the moment to suggest any decided plan of action, though he would be very glad to hear the opinion of the hon. gentleman on the subject. Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD said a scheme might be devised by which, without any material increase of expense, the object of the hon. member for Chateauguay might be attained. The Senate had a law officer who could not be very busy; the House of Commons also had a law clerk. Three men would be quite sufficient for the work. The assistant to the two law officers should be at the service of the Private Bills' Committee during the Session. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT entirely concurred with the hon. member for Chateauguay regarding Private Bills,in which, under the present system, clauses were at times introduced of a conflicting, or directly contradictory character. He doubted whether this class of Bills would decrease in number. Companies who desired to borrow money abroad would always come to this House, and as the country grew, these would rather increase in number in his opinion. The rule with reference to the reception of Private Bills should not be relaxed during the Session. The suggestion of the right hon. member for Kingston would probably go a very great way towards remedying the evil of which complaint was made, but how far, he was not prepared to say. Mr. PLUMB supported the propɔsiiion of the hon. member for Chateauguay. Clauses under such circumstances were inserted in Bills, sometimes, perhaps, inadvertently, and these were cited as precedents, rendering it almost impossible to reject others of a similar nature. The matter was very important, as companies by means of these Bills sometimes obtained large sums abroad; and they required the careful consideration of the Government. Hon. Mr. BLAKE said it was of the utmost moment that some effort should be made to promote uniformity in the bills passed. If the most obvious excrecenses were removel from them, it was about as much as they could effect under the present system. A general standard for these measures should be settled; and they should be couched in the same phraseology in order that they might obtain the ame construction in courts of law. A parliamentary officer might be deputed to attend to bills, and put them in some sort of shape. The Sessions were short, and owing to very great pressure on their time, particularly on Bills which were submitted at a late hour, did not receive the same attention as they would have obtained at an earlier period, the assistance of professional draughtsmen should be secured; and public measures passed by Parliament should be made pract:cally Government measures. The same remarks applied to Government legis- | at that period for these purposes. Then, lation; measures were prepared long besides,they had the advantage of havafter the House opened in consequence ing two subordinate law officers, soliof the representations of hon. mem- citors, one from each Province, who bers; and if trained draughtsmen were supervised the legislation. The Govemployed, their legislation would be ernment was moreover held responsimore creditable than it now was. ble for the whole legislation, including Money could not be spent better than Private Bills. in carrying out this reform, as obscure Acts of Parliament led to law-suits, and cost the public countless sums. He believed that this Assembly possessed admirable machinery for its purposes; but no machinery was more imperfect than the Committee of the whole House. Hon. Mr. MITCHELL thought hon. members would admit that when he was Minister of the Crown, he submitted to the House a fair share of Bills for their consideration. Indeed, the hon. member for Bruce had on one occasion remarked that there was quite a plethora of them. He at that time had been very largely indebted to the Law Clerk of the Senate as regarded the preparation of these Bills; and he thoroughly endorsed the view, that experienced men should be employed to do this. It would moreover require very little additional expense to carry the suggestion of the hon. member for Chateauguay into effect. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE did not agree with the opinion, that eight days, as mentioned in the clause, was too short a time for the purpose in question, as a charge might interfere with the intentions of persons desirous of promoting Bills. Hon. Mr. HOLTON, in reply to Sir John A. Macdonald, stated that the hon. gentleman had educated the House into the belief that sixty days should be the normal length of Parliament; of these sixty thirty were passed before any Private Bill could be referred to the Committee, leaving a similar period for their passage through both Houses. Many of these Bills were highly important, and the Committee could not sit daily. It was perfectly impossible to consider them in detail, under the present system. The Sessions of the old Parliament lasted for three, four and six months; and more time was accordingly at their disposal | Mr. MILLS enquired whether this clause-" the fee payable on the second reading of any Private Bill is paid only in the House in which said Bill originates, but the cost of printing the same is paid in each House"-was omitted from the new rule. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE replied that it was, as its insertion was unnecessary. In the Mr. BLAIN urged that the services of legal gentlemen to examine Private Bills should be secured, to prevent such improper provisions as he had recently Bill and an Investment Bill. noticed in connection with an Insurance latter instance a provision was introduced, enabling the company to borrow to the extent of the paid-up capital and of the securities they held, and besides this to take unlimited deposits. The time for disposing of these Bills by the Committee was exceedingly limited; and such assistance as he had mentioned should be secured, in order that a uniform charactar of some sort might be given to these Bills. Hon Mr. MACKENZIE at this point explained that the 49th Clause, as amended, should read : "No Petition for any Private Bill is re、 ceived by the House after the first ten days (not three weeks as printed) of each Session; nor may any Private Bill be presented to The House after the first three (not four) weeks of each Session; nor may any Report of any Standing or Select Committee upon a Private Bill be each Session," &c. received after the first five (not six) weeks of On motion of hon. Mr. MACKENZI F, Section 49 was amended to read as follows: '49. No Petition for any Private Bill is received by the House after the first ten days of each Session; nor may any Private Bill be presented to the House after the first two weeks of each Session; nor may any Report of any Standing or Select Committee upon a Pri vate Bill be received after the first six weeks of each Session. 59. Every Private Bill, when read a second time, is referred to the Standing Committee charged with the consideration of such Bill. Bills relating to Banks, Insurance, Trade and Section 2 of Section 60 was amended as follows: "On the day of the posting of any Bill under this Rule, the Deputy Clerk of the House shall cause a notice of such posting to be appended to the printed Votes and Proceedings of the day." Section No. 70 was amended as follows: "Except in cases of urgent and pressing necessity no motion for suspension or modification of any rule applying to Private Bills or petitions for Private Bills shall be entertained by the House until after reference is made to the several Standing Committees charged with the consideration of Private Bills and reports made thereon by one or more of such Committees." On motion of Mr. MACKENZIE, Section 70 and 71 were amended so as to read as follow: "70. A Book, to be called "Private Bill Register," shall be kept, in which Book shall be entered by a Clerk appointed for that business by the Clerk of The House, the name, description and place of residence of the parties applying for the Bill, or of their Agent, and all the proceedings thereon, from the Petition to the passing of the Bill-such entry to specify briefly each proceeding in the House or in any Committee to which the Bill or the Petition may be referred, and the day on which the Committee is appointed to sit-such Book to be open to public inspection daily during office hours. "71. The Clerk of The House shall cause lists. of all Private Bills and Petitions for such Bills upon which any Committee is appointed to sit, specifying the time of the meeting and the room where the Committee shall sit, to be prepared daily by the Clerk of the Committee to which such Bills are referred, and shall cause the same to be hung up in the Lobby." ly continuing 4 cts or other short Bills of minor importance, with the printing of which the Speaker or the House may dispense." Mr. SPEAKER said with regard to the Standing Orders in reference to the Library, that it had been mooted in the Library Committee that as they had a statute conferring certain powers upon the Committee, the Standing Orders might be dispensed with. The Library Committee had not reported, and he merely mentioned the matter in order that the hon. gentlemen might give it some consideration. The remaining sections were passed with verbal amendment. The Committe rose, and reported the resolutions as amended. The resolutions were read the third time, and passed. PRIVATE AND LOCAL BILLS. The following Bills were referred back to Committee of the Whole for the purpose of making certain amendments-To incorporate "The National Exchange Company;" to incorporate "The Scottish Canadian Loan Company;" to incorporate "The Trust Company of Canada." On motion of Mr. Workman the title of the latter was changed to "The Investment Company of Canada." Mr. OLIVER asked what the amendments were. Hon. Mr. HOLTON said in the clause relating to deposits, it was proposed to restrict them in receiving deposits to one-half of their paid-up capi tal. There was also a clause by which the parties accepting these charters agreed to come under the provisions of the general law which he sincerely the following Section be inserted in hoped would be submitted to Parlia Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE moved that the Rules: "87. This House will, in future, appoint the Committees of Supply, and Ways and Means, at the commencement of every Session, so soon as an Address has been agreed to, in answer to His Excellency's Speech." Mr. SPEAKER explained that this clause had been a Standing Order. It was out of place there, and they had decided to convert it into a rule. The motion was carried. ment next Session. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT said the whole question would be discussed next Session, when he hoped to bring down a general Act under which all these companies should be incorporated. Mr. YOUNG was very glad to hear It was evident this announcement. that the general principle with regard to the borrowing power of these com Clause No. 93 was amended as fol- panies ought to be definitely settled by lows: "All Bills shall be printed before the second the Government. It had become a matter of necessity that there should be reading, in both languages, except Bills mere- a general measure, and one of such a nature as would ensure success in the management of these companies. Mr. KIRKPATRICK stated that with the member who had first spoken he approve of the policy of the Government in limiting the power of companies in making deposits; at least, these should be limited to the extent named, fifty per cent. of the paid-up capital. He would, however, as soon see this power struck out altogether, take a as it would be beneficial to the companies themselves. He would, as an instance of this, mention that he had been entrusted with a Bill the promoters of which had requested him to out the deposit clause. As to the borrowing powers, concerning which the Government had changed their policy to a considerable extent. since the Bill had been before the Banking and Commerce Committee, he thought that if the Ministry intended, as they have announced, to introduce a general Bill next year, restricting them and making them more stringent, at all events they had made mistake in now granting greater powers than they proposed to do in their Bills, as it would be much more easy to reduce them at present than in the future. If they now gave power to the extent of 10 per cent., it would be very difficult next year to oblige companies to pay up 25 per cent. or cease doing business. If such was their idea they should now insist on limiting these powers to the paid-up capital. If these powers were to be only 10 per cent. at present, they should be restricted to the unpaid and not to the subscribed capital. The Trust and Loan and another company had found more restricted powers very beneficial. If wider powers were generally allowed, it was possible that, as an hon. gentleman had remarked, one of these companies would one day make a grand smash-up, entailing untold grief and misfortune. It would have been better had the Government adhered to the 25 per cent. paid up clause, limiting the borrowing powers to the amount of the unpaid capital. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT-What was the amount of capital paid-up of the company the hon. gentleman is interested in promoting? Mr. KIRKPATRICK Ten per cent.; but they are seeking to have the borrowing powers restricted to the unpaid capital. Mr. BLAIN entirely approved of the extensive borrowing powers which had been conferred. He could understand very well that people might incur serious risks if such powers were granted in cases where companies but there could be no possible risk in were permitted to receive deposits; connection with companies of this character, the deposit clause being struck out. Such a company could go into the market with $100,000 paid-up capital, and tell capitalists --in one case it amounted to a million that the remaining portion of the stock could be mortgaged as security, for any loan made. They might as well try to limit the farmer to the sum he might borrow on his property, as to limit the power of such companies in this relation. Gentlemen who had $100,000 to $900,000 to lend, would take very good care that they obtained for it ample security. The principle was different, however, when the deposit clause was in question. One of the Bills which belonged to Montreal had permitted to boxrow to the extent of the paid-up capital and the face of the securities had pledged everything they had, they held by the company, and after they were allowed to take deposits to an unlimited amount. Suppose advantage of $500,000; when the poor people, was taken of this liberty to the extent who really ought to be protected in connection with this class of legisla$200 to fall back upon in case they tion, and who had laid up $50, $100 or draw it, they might be unable to ob were out of employment, come to tain a single dollar. It was their duty feel that there was any necessity for to protect these people, but he did not protecting men who had $100,000 to loan. ment settled upon a general policy, it He trusted, that when the Governwould not be based upon the view of the hon. gentleman from Waterloo. Companies should be allowed to pledge their credit on the principle that they had the power of calling up the unpaid capital in order to meet their liabili |