HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Proceedings - - . of the House of Assembly During the Seco~d Session , of the Thirty-First Gener~ Assembly of Newfoundland 1958 Speaker: Hon. J. R. Courage Volume I 3

4 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Proceedings of the House of Assembly During the Second Session ·· of the · Thirty~First General Assembly of Newfoundland Monday,January 20, 1958 (Afternoon Ses­ sion) The house met at three o'clock. Sergeant-at-Arms: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to inform this house that His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor has ar­ rived to open this second session of the 31st General Assembly of Newfoundland. Mr. Speaker: Admit His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor.

His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor took the Chair. · SPEECH FROM THE THRONE: His Honour the lieutenant-Governor read the Speech from the Throne as follows: MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF ASSEM­ BLY: As this is the first occasion on which you have been called together since I was ap­ pointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Pro- vince of Newfoundland, I greet you in the name of Her Majesty the Queen. I am deeply conscious of the honour that has been conferred upon me and with all humility I am firmly resolved to maintain and uphold the time-honoured traditions and dignity of this high office.

I wish to assure you, Mr. Speaker and members of this house, that it will be my earnest and constant endeavour to do ev­ erything in my power to assist my Ministers in the many problems with which, from time to time, they may find themselves con­ fronted. My Ministers, since they first assumed of­ fice, have been strongly moved by the desire to bring about the establishment of another paper mill in this Province.

In common with all Newfoundlanders, the Ministers of my Government are fully aware of the great benefits conferred upon the people by the operations of the two great pulp and paper mills already established on this Island. They have long felt that the establishment

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 5 and operation of a third such mill would greatly strengthen and broaden the base of the Province's economy, and open up new opportunities for thousands of our young men and women. My Ministers have, there­ fore, lost no opportitnity to bring aboutthe establishment of the third paper mill. As the Premier has already announced by press and radio~ my Government have lately been successful in attracting the interest of a large and powerful pulp and paper com­ pany in the timber resources of Newfound­ land and Labrador.

This is the Crown Zel­ lerbach Corporation, whose main business headquarters are in San Francisco. This very importarit Corporation, which ranks amongst the greatest in the pulp and paper industry of the world, has expressed to my Ministers, its desire to expand its activities, and to do so somewhere on the eastern side of the North American Continent.

My Ministers have made an agreement with the Corporation looking to the establishment of a newsprint paper mill, and of a large pulp mill, in this Province, provided a study re­ veals the soundness of the project, The ag­ reement will be laid before you for your consideration, and should you give it your approval the Crown Zellerbach Corpora­ tion will shortly thereafter embark upon a concentrated effort designed to establish whether the facts are favourable for the launching Of so great an enterprise.

I am quite sure that the people of our Province will follow with intense interest the delibera­ tions of your house while this matter re­ ceives your careful and patriotic collsidera­ tion. It must be dear to most Newfoundlan­ ders that the greatest hope fort he economic development of our Province lies, and must lie, in the existence and the development of natural resources. Newfoundland, wiB ex­ perience sound progress if she has the min­ erals, the forests, the water power, the fish, and the soil to support a growing popula­ tion who demand a rising standard ofliving.

Mr.· Speaker, Newfoundland has now completed the first eight years of her his­ tory as a Province of Canada. These have been momentous years indeed. In a finan­ cial sense, although the first era of Confed­ eration is over, it cannot yet be said that the next era ha.5 begun. Newfoundland's case for a notable upward revision of the finan­ cial Terms of Union has been laid before the Royal Commission appointed by the Government of Canada. The Royal Com­ mission itself has taken evidence, arid is ex­ pected soon to present its report and re­ commendations to the Government of Canada.

The Premier and several other Ministers recently attended a joint confer­ ence of the Government of Canada and the Governments of the ten Provinces.

As a re­ sult of this Conference, the Atlantic Pro­ vinces are to receive special adjustment grants from the Treasury of the Govern­ ment of Canada, in recognition of the backwardness of the four Atlantic Provinces in relation to the rest of Canada in matters financial and economic. later in the present calendar year it is expected that there will be a resumption of the sessions of .this ~ame Dominion-Provincial Conference, at which there will be further consideration of the project,to revise upward, the existing finan­ cial arrangements between the Governmeitt of Canada, on the one hand, and the GoV­ ernments of the respective Provinces on the other.

My Ministers are confident that this will result in an important upward revision of the existing arrangements common to all the Provinces that have entered into them, and such an upward revision, if it materialized, would constitute a third source of additional revenue accruing to the Government of the Province. My Ministers are confident that these three sources ·will provide a substantiiil ad­ ditional sum of money annually to·· our treasury, and thereby launch the Province upon the second great phase of the Union of Canada.

That second era will be characterized, my Ministers believe, by two main aspects; the one, a notable expansion and improvement of the levels and standards of the public senrices of the Province; and the other, a notable expansion of economic develop­ ment of our natural resources. In the first nine years of union with Canada. my ministers have striven, within the limits of the financial arrangements that have existed between Ottawa and St. John's, greatly to expand and improve these levels and standards of public service.

They have, they believe wrought notable improve­ ments ir. the fields of education, public wel­ fare, public health, municipal development, public housing, and construction of roads designed to link up hundredsofNewfound-

6 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS land settlements which, down through the l:enturies, were unconnected except by sea. My Government, if their hopes should materialize for considerable increases in the sums of money coming to the treasury from Ottawa, plan a program of considerable en­ largement and improvement of the levels and standards already reached. You will be in\'ited to consider some of these matters in the present session. In particular. the Pre­ mier has announced the decision of the Government to make important extensions in the fields of Public Health and Public \Velfare.

These measures, for which you will be asked to vote large increases in s·up­ ply, are designed to meet the medical needs of our children and the welfare needs of our older citizens and of those families whose breadwinner has bee·n removed by death or is incapacitated. One unfortunate result of the Tax Rental Agreement which the Government of New­ foundland entered into with the Govern­ ment of Canada is the one in which the Government of Newfoundland has been rendered incapable of collecting proper taxes from the operation of the great iron mines of Bell Island.

Except in the case of Crown Lands, Provinces entering into the Tax Rental Agreement with Ottawa are. not permitted to collect a royalty on minerals developed within the Province. They are permitted to collect nothing more than a percentage of profits earned by mining <:ompanies. This has resulted in the receipt of no payments whatsoever from the Bell Island company, on the grounds that that Company has shown no profits during the period in question. My ministers will lay before you legislation designed to remedy this serious deficienq, and your attention will be invited to it.

You will be asked also to give consider.1- tion to legislation enabling my Government to create and operate a system of Forest Management in this Province. My ministers are hopeful that the successful operation of this plan-will have beneficial effects gener­ ally _on the forest resources of the Province. You will be asked at this session to give enactment to a full Charter of the City of Corner Brook, held over from your Jaslses• sion. My ministers are concerned over the somewhat rapid fall in the number of sd1ooners and other vessels engaged in the fisheties and coasting trade of Newfound• land.

It was always the hope of Govern­ ments in the past that the ship-building bounties would be sufficient official en­ couragement to ensure the continued build­ ing and oper.ition of schooners in our local waters. This has not proved to be so, and my ministers will lay before you their proposals for a plan to pay bounties for the repair of local vessels, in the hope that this will aid at least in holding the local fleet at its present number. Since your last meeting our Common­ wealth has been strengthened by the birth of a new Dominion, the Dominion of the Caribbean.

Newfoundland has already ex­ pressed her great satisfaction over the an­ nounced intention to create the new Domin­ ion, and you will, I am si.tre1 ,Vfsh to express now our ,vannest congratulations to the people of these \Vest Indian Islands, who have been brought together in the n~west federal union of our Commonwealth and Empire. Various other. matters requiring legisla­ tion will be laid before you in this session. I know that I can with confidence leave these and other important matters to your sound judgement and patriotic action. I will later request you to vote Supply to Her Majesty.

I ask God's blessing upon your deliberations. His Honour left the Chair. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair. NEW MEMBER INTRODUCED: Hon. M.M. Hollett (Leader of the Opposi­ tion): Mr. Speaker, I have great pleasure in rising to introduce to you the newly elected member for the District of St. John's South, Mr. George Rex Renouf. Mr. Renouf was duly sworn this morning, and I was a wit­ ness to the swearing in of the hon. member. Mr. Speaker: I-have much pleasure, as your Speaker, in welcoming Mr. Renouf t6 this hon. House of Assembly.

I have to inform hon. members that at three o'clock this afternoon His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor, was present and opened the second session of this 31st Gen­ eral Assembly of the -Province of New­ foundland. At that rime His Honour was graciously pleased to deliver a Speech.from the Throne, of which for greater accuracy I have obtained a copy. ls it the will and

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 7 pleasure of the house that Mr. Clerk read this Speech? Hon, J.R. Smallwood • (Premier): Dispensed. Mr. Speaker: Is it then agreed that the read­ ing be dispensed with? On motion, reading of the Speech from the Throne was dispensed with. Hon. LR. Curtis (Attorney General): Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to move a BilJ enti­ tled, "An Act to Amend the Commissioner of Oaths Act, 1954" be read a first time. On motion, Bill read a first time, ordered read a sec0nd time on tomorrow. THRONE SPEECH DEBATE: Mr. E. Winsor (Labrador North): Mr.

Speaker, I rise for the purpose of movihg that a committe~ be appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, with which, His, Honour. the Lieutenant-Governor, has been pleased to open this 31st General Assembly. It is in­ deedagreathonourforme, Sir, to have this privilege, and I feel it is a great tribute to the people ofl..ibrador North, whom 1 have the honour to represent. Following the 'pattern of past years arid with your permission, Sir, I shall take ad­ vantage of this opportunity to comment briefly on some of the various matters re­ ferred to in the Speech from the Throne.

It must be indeed a joy to all of us that this Government has attracted the interest of such a great company as Crown Zellerbach to conSider seriously the establishment of a third paper mill in this Province._ I am sure thata}l hon. members of this house join with me iri expressing our admiration 'for the way in which the hon. the Premier and his colleagues have succeeded in bringing this Province and its resources to the attention of that great paper-making company. Itis worthy of note, Mr.

Speaker, that the two paper mills operating in this Province today had their beginning under Liberal GovernmenL The Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company through the efforts of that great Liberal Leader, Sir Robert Bond. began to.make its influem:e felt on the economy of the Province in the years 1905 and 1909 when the first roll of paper was produced. In an equally successful manner, through the efforts of Sir Richard Squfres, a ;Liberal Leader of renown, ap~ proximately twenty years later the wheels of industry-began to turn in Corner B_rook. It would be almost natural, Mr.

Speaker, for the pe_ople of this Province to expect this Goverhment 1 under another_ outstanding Liberal Leader, to continue the trend and establish still another paper miJI. It would be difficult indeed. Mr. Speaker, to visualize what this Province would be without the miJls of Grand Falls and Corner Brook~ At the same time it is not difficult to realize the boost that a third mill would give to the present economic life of this. Pro­ vince. The economy of every individual throughout the length and breadth of New­ foundland and Labrador would be influ­ enced for the bCtter.

Hereto fore people of that vast rebrion of Labrador have derived very little benefit from the influx of economic progress in this Island of NewM foundland. In re]ation to the establishment of a third paper miJI. Mr.

Speaker, the proposed op­ eration will depend, in a large measure on the successful utilization of large areas of Labrador's vast timber resources. ; LabM radar, for the first time in history, will be converting its timber resources to the economy of th_is Province and will in turn be receiving what we all sincerely hope will-be a boom of prosperity for its mvn • "people; a people who down through the year~ .have often been deprived of the bare necessities of life. I am certain. Mr.

Speaker,-. that many, many people here on this Island of Newfoundland have no idea at all of the wonderful size and wonderful wealth of Labrador. Even those who can tell us with­ out having to stop to think that l..ibrador has one hundred and ten thousand s,quare miles of territory, do not really have any true understanding or appreciation of what a vast area Labrador is. It is not far short of being three times as big as Newfoundhmd itself. '\Ve could put five Provinces the size of Nova Scotia in Labrador and still have room for three or four the size of Prince Edward Island.

It has a coast line-if you follo\-v the bays and coves and harbours - alrriost as long as the United States Atlantic Ocean coast line. I have heard the hon. the Premier more than once refer to Labrador as a great storehouse of natural wealth, and I fully

B HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS believe-it. I am one Newfoundlander, Mr. Speaker, who will be greatly surprised if, in my own lifetime. L"tbrador does not become one of the truly_ sources of developed wealth in all tlic Dominion ofCanada. She has what is absolutely the greatest single source of hydro-electric power that you' could find anywhere iri C..tnada today. I refer to the H.imiltOn River; which contains the Grand Falls, or as it is beginning to be called; the Hamilton Falls.

I understand thri.t some­ thing like four miUion or five million horse power of electricity can be developed On this one falls alone, not counting-the power that can be developed from other parts of that same Vast watershed, a watershed as big as the Island of Newfoundland itself. As for minerals, most of the world knows by now that Labrador has some of the mightiest deposits of iron ore so far disco­ vered on our earth. The time is not· far distant when thirty or forty million tons of iron ore will be shipped from L1bra~or every year.

And iron ore is-not the only mirtern.J wealth down there, where already. after a bare two years of exploration, the British Newfoundland Corpom.tion ha\·c discovered a·uranium mine which should be in production_ before many more months have passed, I refer. of course, to the new uranium discovery iriside Makkovik in Kip­ pokak Bay. Those best equipped to know are quite convinced that very important dis­ coveries of base metals will be made.before many more years.

But, Sir, when all is said and done, we have to admit the forests of Labrador constitute one of the most won­ derful sources of wealth in this 'Province of Newfoundland today. As the hon. the Pre­ mier pointed out in his New Year's state­ ment to the people, ·Crown ZeUerbad1 can expect to take about a quaiter of a million cords of pulp wood from the Island of New­ foundland each year for that paper mill which is proposed to be built: That is about as much as rnn be found in Newfoundland today, over and above the pulp wood stands owned .by the existing paper companies.

When it comes to the proposed mill, a quar­ ter of a million cords a year will not go very far towards meeting the need when this mill reaches its maximum. The vast and unbe­ Jievable quantity of one million cords a year will be required. This vast quantity of pulp wood can be obtained in Labrador. More than that, Mr. Speaker, it can be obtained in only one set.tion of L-1brador, namely. the South-east corner of that great territory. I refer to Sandwich Bay. But that is only one part of Labrador, for on the shores of that great sea known as Hamilton Inlet many more millions of cords of wood can be ob­ tained.

The aerial photographic survey made of that area, checked and double­ d1ecked by ce11ain spot surveys made on the ground, show a total stand of over forty millions cords of growing timber. That is alone one-third more than the combined stands afBowaters and the AND Comflany here On the Island of Newfoundlal1d, nor are these areas the only sources of pulp wood in this vast Peninsula of Labrador. Further, Mr. Spea~er, a word must be said about the wonderful quality of this timber. Because of the fact that it is nearly all black spruce and is rather slow to grow, Labrador pulp wood has a very high degree of density.

The result is to give Labra~_or pulp wood an extremely excellent fibre, and qf course fibre is what the_ paper-makers look for. A cord of Labrador wood yields much more pulp wood than that of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, or even New­ foundland pulp wood would yield, There is no doubt the people of Newfoundland would be very fortunate indeed to have these great stands growing on the soil of this Js1and, that is if there was room on this is­ lanCfto contain them. But, Sir, they do not grow on this Island of Newfoundland, but on the soil of Labrador.

Down on that vast peninsula_. we have living a race of h.irdy Newfoundlanders very little different from ourselves; just as br.ive, just as intelligent, just _as good as the best of us here in New­ foundland. They, too, are Newfoundlan­ ders. They are Cariadians. They too are British subjects. I, for one, am pleased_ and delighted that they will share rightly in the dcyelOpmCnt of Labrador wealth. I say, therefore, the people of Newfound­ land muSt not reg-.i.rd the wea.hh of Lab­ rador as merely something to enrich and henefit them.

Labrador must not be treated as just a source of wealth to be brought to the Island of Newfoundland. Labrador must be developed for the welfare of the people of L,brador just as much as for the wealth and welfare of the people of New­ foundland. I am sure that this Liberal Gov­ ernment, which has received such wonder­ ful support from all the people of Labrador,

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS g will stand by thos~ people when Labrador's wealtl1_comes to be developed. I am equally sure, Mr. Speaker, that the hon. the Pre­ mier,_ who received SUf:ll wonderful support f'rom the people of Labrador in .his great battle for Confederation~ wiU stand by them now when Labrador comes under de~ velopment. It may be thought that I am counting the chickens before they are hatched. I do not think st1 • I have very little doubt that Crown Zellerbach will find in Labrador the quality of timber they are looking for.

But even if they do not I will not despair, for I am fully convinced that some day the timber of Lab~ radar will be turned into wealth of one kind or another. Mr. Spf'aker, I am convinced that the hundred and ten thousand square miles of Labrador have a vast pOtential which requires only capital and initiative for its development. We are happy indeed that the hon. the Premier has si.Icceeded in mak­ ing this a possible reality. It has been said, Mr, Speaker, that the short navigable seas@n of Labrador will ll)ake the successful operation of transpor­ tation of timber a difficult one.

With larger and faster ships and more modern methods and aids to navigation, I have no doubt that this difficulty can easily be overcome. \Ve are all eagerly anticipating, Mr. Speaker, the final decisions and recommendations of the Royal Commission. We all believe this , Province is entitled to an upl'.mrd revision of the financial terms of union.

As a resultj especially of the decisions of the conference of the Atlantic Provinces we know that spe­ cial adjustment grants, in conjunction with the upward revision, will give this Govern­ ment an opportunity to expand and in­ crease still further the educational, health. social welfare and other public services of this Province, which we all know are still many years behind the rest of Canada. I know, Sir, all the people of this Province will be pleased to note the reference in the Speech from the Throne to the Government's proposed expansion in the field of Public Health.

With the advances in medical science in ,the past years, the pa~­ ents of all Newfoundland children, irres­ pec...1.ive of financial circumstances, will be happy to hearthey will be able to avail them­ selves of the best of these facilities without the worry of heavy financial burdens. It is a_ great pleasure to me personally, Mr.

Speaker, to note that in the Speech from the Throne there is a special reference to the expansion of the ship-building bounty pol­ icy. 1 believe, Sir, that the dwindling of our local fishing and coastal fleet has resulted in a large measure from the high cost of ship­ building and repair. I feel sure that, as the Speech suggests, this will help to hold the present fleet as it now stands. But.

Sir, if we want to hold the reputation of the best small boatmen in the world, I believe it will he necessary for both the Provindal and Fed­ eral Governments to give serious considera­ tion to this particular aspect of our way of life. and give every encouragement to many who have found the going difficult to get back once again into their sphere of activity, Mr. Speaker, I move a committee be ap­ pointed to draft an address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. Thank you. (A pp la use), Mr, E, Jones (Burin): Mr.

Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to second the mo­ tion so ably proposed by the hon. member for Labrador North. In this, which may well be the most momentous year in the history of Newfoundland. it may be more than mere coincidence that the member from the most southerly district should join wilh, the hon. member for the most northerly district in proposing and seconding this motion. The Speech from the Throne has out­ lined the plans and proposals of Her Majesty's Government to bring to New: foundland another paper mill, as well as another pulp mill.

This development will draw from the resources of the North for its wood, and our still untapped hydro poten­ tial of the South, to develop an industry which. cannot fail to benefit us all, whether we be from the north, south. east or west. Mr. Speaker, it behoves us all, as true New­ foundlanders, regardless of whether we view this undertaking from your left or from your right, to see that we do or· say . nothing which might hinder or.hamper the steps which are being taken to create this new development of our resources. God knows we need it.

In the history of Newfoundland there have been four really big industrial de­ velopments. These consist of the pulp and paper mills at Grand Falls and Corner Brook, and the mines at Bell Island_ and Buchans. There have truly been other in-

10 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS dustrial developments. but the four I men­ tion are the really great ones in our Island's history. It would be impossible, I think, to tell the full benefit brought to the people of Newfoundland by these four great indus­ trial enterprises. \Ve just could not imagine what Newfoundland would be like today if the b'Teat pulp and paper mills had never started at Grand Falls, and this is even truer of the still larger mills at Corner Brook.

These two enterprises have paid out many hundreds of millions of dollars to New­ foundlanders in the form of wages and salaries, and in the purchase oflocal materi­ als, and no tongue will ever tell the good that these two great liberal industries have brought to our people. That is why the people heard with such -wonderful satisfaction the Premier's an­ nouncement on New Year's Day that he and his Government had succeeded in interest­ ing the famous pulp and paper mill com­ pany, Crown Zellerbach, in the vast timber resources of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The coming of this Corporation, provided they build the pulp and the paper mill that they speak of, will put the finishing touches on Newfoundland's modem industrial de­ velopment and as the Speech from the Throne points out, opportunities will be opened for some thousands of our people - opportunities for jobs, opportunities for promotion, opportunities to earn good wages in one of the big industries of the world. It has already been pointed out that the pulp and paper industry, especially the newsprint ~paper

section of it, is presently in a condition that falls somewhat short of flourishing, and this situation is already being used by a few skeptics to suggest that the prospect for the third paper mill is a slender one. To this there are two answers that will appeal to all reasonable-minded men. -Ih the first place, the Crown Zeller­ b_ach Corporation are not dependent on newsprint paper, for three quarters of the paper they make and sell is not newsprint at all, but consists of about four hundred dif­ ferent grades and types of paper.

In the second place, even if the newsprint industry is presently slowing down somewhat, who can doubt that the remarkable upward trend of the last quarter of a century will be continued in this industry after the present hesitation is past. It would take two years or more to get the new paper mill built, and ready for construction. once the decision is made to proceed with the building.

If it takes Crown Zellerbach the best part of two years from now to make the decisioit to pro­ ceed with construction, this- means that it will be four years or possibly even a big longer before the actual production of paper would commence in the new miH. By that time the demand for paper will have caught up with the supply, and passed it. This is not my opinion, for the house would not be too much interested in my opinion on so technical a matter, it is rather the opinion of the greatest authorities and experts there are in the whole pulp and paper industry of North America.

The remarkable progress _of the __ last hyenty-five years has not been a steady, un­ broken, upward march. Rather, it has had its hesitations and brief periods of marking time, but always the upward march was re­ sumed, and there is no reasmi in this.world to doubt that the great upward march will be resumed again and that the market for newsprint paper and all other kinds of paper will boom once more in the world by the time these new pulp and paper mills can be constructed and ready for operation.

I would be less than human, as the member for a South West Coast District, if I did not find particular pleasure to learn from the Premier's statement ori New Year's Day that the location of the new mill will almost certainly be somewhere on the South West Coast, at the head of Placentia Bay, or somewhere in Fortune Bay or Bay D'Espoir.

Goodness knows, the people of the South West Coast need these mills, and they are praying, as one man and as one woman, that the Premier's plans will come to pass and that he will bring them this great blessing, as he has already brought them the countless blessings of Confederation itself. Mr. Speaker, reference has been made in His Honour's Speech to this house that legislation will be introduced to provide substantial assistance for the repai_r of locally-owned coasters and fishil1g vessels. All members of this house will readily agree that such a measure is long overdu~.

We have all viewed with concern the disappear­ ance of our fleet; first the Labrador fleet, then the banking fleet, and now the coasting fleet. But such a programme of assistance can be only successful if we have adequate

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 11 docking facilities within the Province. As long as our fleet of small boats are required to go long distances to obtain docking facilities, any benefits derived from the plan will be lost. For this reason it is my intention to continue to press for the early construc­ tion of docking facilities in or near the communities where our chief maritime en­ terprises are centered. It is my considered opinion that the Speech from the Throne certainly has not exaggerated the great benefits which will follow upon the implementation of the Children's Health Plan.

The future of the Province depends almost entirely on the health and education of her children, and if, in the past, the Government has been criticized for money spent in trying to pro­ vide jobs for the fathers, let no one under heaven criticize us for what is being done for the children. For those who are not too familiar with our outport life, it is very easy to take a detached view of the problems of the Newfoundland family, which is obliged, through no fault of its own, to live in semi­ isolation on a subsistence income .

But, it must be of real consolation to the fathers and mothers of Newfoundland to know that, at last, their children can, and will re­ ceive adequate medical and hospital care, not as a privilege granted, but as a right under the law. · In this whole field of Children's Health, Mr. Speaker, the present Government of Newfoundland have gone further than any other Government in Canada. The Children's Health Scheme is the most ad­ vanced and progressive that you can find in any part of Canada today.

One or two other Provinces have Provincial Health Schemes something like our own Cottage Hospital Plan, or even more elaborate; but no other Province in Canada has moved so far ahead as to give completely free medical and hos­ pital care to every child up to the age of sixteen. Even after the great new National Health Insurance plan is brought in, start­ ing around the 1st of July - a scheme in which all the Provinces of Canada will un­ doubtedly take part - there will still be a unique and distinctive Newfoundland fea­ ture of health development in this great Canadian nation.

I feel that the Govern­ ment of Newfoundland deserves the war­ mest thanks of all the people in this Pro- vince for this magnificent great develop­ ment for the welfare of the scores of thousands of her citizens who are under the age of sixteen. Speaking of this great Children's Health Scheme, Mr. Speaker, I think it only fair to make brief reference at least to the great new increases the Government have re­ cently made in prnctically all the welfare payments under its Welfare Programme.

The rates of relief payments have been con­ siderably increased , the rates for needy families, such as crippled and other depen­ dant persons, have been increased, several other rates have been increased, and finally with the co-operation of the Govern merit of Canada itself, the rates have been increased for those who receive Old Age Assistance. I am not one who would say one word against the Government of Canada for having in­ creased the Old Age Pension, and for hav­ ing offered to share half the cost of increas­ ing Old Age Assistance .

I do not share the political views of the new Government in Ottawa, but there is no reason why I should not give them credit for the increases they have recently put into effect. It is only fair play, at the same time, to remind ourselves that out of the total fifty-five dollars now being paid to Old Age Pensioners in Canada, the Liberal Government only brought it up to a total of forty-six dollars a month. They should get full credit for only forty-six dollars a month, and at the same time we must give full credit to the new Government for the additional nine dollars a month that they are paying.

With regard to all these payments that our people are now receiving, and all the other payments that they will receive in the years to come, there is one thing that needs to be said, one thing that must never be forgotten. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I am quite sure it will never be forgotten by our New­ foundland people, and that is the fact that all these benefits are flowing into New­ foundland from Ottawa because of one thing that the people of my district fought for, and the people of my coast fought for so hard, namely, Confederation itself.

What Old Age Pensions could be paid today in Newfoundland but for Confederation? What Old Age Assistance would be paid today but for Confederation? What benefits would the hundreds of thousands of our

12 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS peopl e be receiving at the present time if Newfoundland had not gone into Confed­ eration nine years ago ? My hon. friends ac­ ross the floor of this house may not be happy to hear this statement made , but I feel quite sure that the people of New­ foundland are well aware what they must thank thank for these great blessings . When, later in the present session, the affairs of Newfoundland come under de­ bate, I hope to bring before this house some of the problems of my own district , of Burin, but today is not the right time for me to do so. My district, as you know, Mr.

Speaker, has been very hard hit by recent events, and I know that this house will hear with sympathy the facts that I will be bring­ ing before it in the course of the next week or two . Mr. Speaker: It has been moved and sec­ onded that a committee be appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. Hon. M.M. Hollett: (Leader of the Op­ position): Mr.

Speaker , in rising to support the motion so ably made by the hon . member for Labrador North and also so ably seconded by the hon. member for Burin - the district where I was born, I wish to say that I do not want to take up too much of the time of this house, because, as we all know, we are guests of Your Honour, as soon as we get out of this place . So it is not my intention to keep you very long . But I do want to congratulate the two young hon! members for their excellent speeches. They read them just as well as did His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor .

I was delighted to l:ear the things they said and their com­ ments in regard to the Speech from the Throne. I was not so concerned with the remarks made about Confederation . I have been aware of the fact that we have been in Confederation for eight or nine years, and I am quite sure the people of Burin Distri~t, the district where I came from, are qmte familiar with the fact we are in Confedera­ tion and a part of Canada, as anyone within the radius ofCJON Television would know who has seen the hon. The Premier a few days ago elaborating on the merits of Con­ federation in Ottawa.

I will have something to say about that at a later time. First I would like to go on record, as Leader of the Opposition, and I know our friends on the opposite side of the House are delighted to have with us today the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor, the hon . Campbell McPherson . The McPher­ sons are Newfoundlanders. They came here away back, I believe it was about one hundred and fifty years ago. Peter, I believe his name was - the original McPherson - came here and settled in Port De Grave . From them we have had a long line of McPhersons who have contributed very, very much, Mr.

Speaker , to the welfa~e of the people of this country . McPherson 1s an hon . name, not only in Scotland where they came from, but here in Newfoundland. Today the presence of His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor, here to read the Speech from the Throne, indicates the es­ teem in which the McPhersons are held , not only by the people of Newfoundland, but by Canada, to which we now belong. I am very happy to be present here today, to see a member of a one-hundred-and-fifty year old family come in here and read the _ Speech from the Throne. Mr.

Speaker, also I would like to co_nvey to you , Sir, our gratitude to the Almighty for bringing you safe and sound back from the trip you made. I believe you visited In­ donesia, Pakistan and God knows whe:e you have been. Evidently you have bee~ m the sunshine,judging from the compl~x1on you have today . We are very happy, Sir, to see you back, and on this side of the h<?use we will endeavour to support the vanous rulings you make in the coming session. I am also very happy, Sir, to have had the pleasure to introduce the hon . member of St. John's South, George Rex Renouf, to you as the member for that.

District: I am quite sure the Renouf family too 1s one which is familiar to all Newfoundlanders, and the bearers of that name down through the years have contributed much to this country. I am very happy to introduce him for the district of St. John's South. While on this I might say too, Sir, I am very happy to see opposite me the Liberals who got fog-bound up there. As a matter of fact, all the Liberals in Canada wee fog­ bound ever since June 10th.

We are happy to have seen the twenty-six hon. members on the opposite side emerge from the foggy land of Canada to come into the wonderful Province which we inhabit. I do not think we have ever had any better weather t~en we

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 13 . had in this last month or so - a little fog occasionally, but we are used to thaUl am . glad now to see these Liberals back. Imagine twenty-six hon. members from the opposite side of the house went away off to Ottawa to lend their support to the election of the new Leader ofthe Liberal Party; I do hope they voted the right way. Make sure they did not all vote for Mr. Pearson. I know that some voted for the.other man, Paul Martin. You know Liberals do not always stick together like that, but we are glad to see them back.

If they had not been back, Sir, you would not be sitting there now and I would not be standing here. However, we welcome them back. We are going to cross swords with thelil. Tliere are only a few of us; I know they are not going to be too severe. The hon, the Premier, wants us to be as severe as we can. He loves a fight-,- he loves a row, and whenever that opportunity occurs, we will be glad to give in to him. · Coming now to the Speech from the Throne; 1 am not going to take up any time; Surely anybody who read the Daily News this morning has seen practically what is here in the Speech.

There is nothing in it except the Zellerbach deal, which we have heard of since the first of the year. That is important. That is one of the.most impor­ tant things, I think, this Government has brought before this house for a long time. I want to know what the results are to be. I am quite sure the hon. the Premier does not know. He hopes, and everyone in this build­ ing and every man and woman in New­ foundland today hopes, that Crown Zeller­ bach and subsidiary companies will be able to open up a new mill somewhere in New­ foundland.

As my hon. friend from Burin District said, he hoped it would be some• where in the vicinity ofBurin District. Well, we all hope something will come to that part of the coast. It appears not too. much has been don.e for the fisheries up there. I believe the Liberals have been in power in this country, Sir, eight years and I fail to see very much being done up there for the fisheries, As a matter of fact I am not blam­ ing the Government for that so much - it is the situation we find ourselves in · as the 'r',?:ith Province. lwill go into that later.

I do hog#;if there is a new industry established in re~f•J to pulp and pa per, that it will be near the\~nrin Peninsula and Fortune Bay. Thefl.; is one other thing in the Speech from the Throne to which I would like to refer, which has already been referredto by the seconder of the motion, Le. the bounty · in connection w~th repairs to scho.oners.

Sir, unless something is very soon done to en~ courage the owners of small fishing vessels and schooners and coastwise vessels to ena­ ble them to keep their ships in repair, shortly we will have no smalt schooners to go around between the twelve hundred, more or less, ports in the Province, We cannot expect the Canadian National Railway to send ships to every port in this Province, and we need these boats to convey freight and bring awayfish, and oil, and so on, if we are going to rehabilitate our fisheries.

Well, Sir, I said I was not going to say very much, but I do want to say too, in connec­ tion with Crown Zellerbach, that we, on this side of the house at any rate, feel that we are with the Government on this thing, in thatit is my ~lief that we of the Opposition las.t ye\lr had, done our best to pt;rsuade the Government that the selling of the NALCO shares to another . Corporation . was >a dangerous procedure. Then, I think possb bly we would not have had any Crown Zel~. lerbach comingjnto this Province, I am ar~ raid.

I am very grateful to d1e Govern~.ent for considering the opposition which we did put up, and more than that I am very grate­ ful to the members c:ifthe Cabinet who en­ deavoured in their wisdom to see to it that we held on to that twenty-five thousand square miles of territory which NALCO has in Newfoundland and Labrador - for, Sir; if we had not held on to that land and the timber rights on the concession which they own, then I doubt if we could have per~ suaded, or if anybody could have per­ suaded, Crown Zellerbach or anybody else to come in and make investigations into our timber resources.

I am grateful to the Government forthe notice they took of the fight we put up last year. It just shows it does pay to have ari Opposition. It just shows an Opposition is realty a part of the Government, and that sometimes an Opposition with a snmU number can really sway the Government. · Of course, I am not going to talk Feder.ii politics. I am surprised to hear certain things in the ah' in connection with the re­ cent convention \vhich the liberal Party had. It seems to me we are in hard times;_ these Tories are in again - They have been

14 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS in Se\'en months and- they have increased the unemployment, Sir, almost double. That is the song we heard, the theme song from Ottawa last week. It is awful,Sir, and I do hope, Sir, that you will dd your best to persuade diese Tories to try to alter the trend of things so we may have more emp­ loyment, more work, more capital expendi­ ture. Sir, it is pitiable- 111ere is one excep­ tion - I must say -I will say this for_the hon, the Premier, he did not dwell on that - He did not dwell on that to any great extent.

I say that, in that connection, he-was very wise, Und I was glad that-he did not say very much, but some of the others almost upset my very strong stomach, to hear them talking about the terrible times being brought about already by the impact of the Tories - What is it called by them? Hard time Tories, or something like that. Nm\\ Sir, I am not going to stay any longer On this, Again let me congratulate the two ,hori. members - I am glad to see theyoul1g rrien take part, an active paft. It is th_e young men, Mr.

Sp_eaker, who have to can,' on, and have to be supported by the people of this country if we are to succe·ed as a· terith Province of Canada. Again, Sir, I congratulate them, and thank you for bear­ ihg with me so long. (Applause): Hon, J.R. Smallwood (Premier): Mr, Speaker, I would like to join the hon, Leader of the Opposition in an expression of .congratulations to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor on his appointment to that very, very high office in this Pro­ vince. To be the personal representative of the monarch is truly the highest honour to which any Newfoundlander can aspire within this Province.

Of course I speak en­ tirely of the constitutional, political, public field. As the hon, Leader of the Opposition said, the family from which the new Lieutenant-Governor comes_ is a very dis­ tinguished Newfoundland family, a family which has been notable for public services rendered. I have no doubt at all, as most of us have no doubt, that the new Governor will be an exemplary person who will fulfill his duties admirably, impartially, and that he will be a successful Goverrior.

I should like to add a word about the out-going_ Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Leonard Ollterbridge, who was, I believe, the most distinguishe"d Governor Ne\\'- foundland has ever had, We have had some very famous men as Governors of New­ foundland in the first hundred years or so, and the appointment as Governor of New­ foundland was regarded as one of the plums for very high-ranking officers of the British Navy.

That is why. for most of that one hundred years some very, very famous British Admirals - names famous"in naval history, the naval glory of Britain, were happy and glad to an:ept the position of Governor of Newfoundland. But in that long roster of Newfoundland Governors, filled by distinquishcd military men of high rank, no one ever served Newfoundland in that office with greater distinction than did Sir Leonard Outerbridge, I have served now tindef-- two Lieutenant-Governors and I am about to begin service under a third.

For over eight years I have served under Sir Leonard Oi.lt­ erbridge. and I can speak with perSonal knowledge - with very intimate personal knowledge, ofhis great ability, of his deep loyalty to Newfoundland, and ofhis intense patriotism, In him, Newfoundland had a great Governor. He was, if I may dare say it, probably the greatest Lieutenant-Governor in the last decade, I think he would have made a magnificent Governor-General of this nation. I think that would have been extremely acceptable to all the people of Canada, had he been willing to accept the appointment of Governor-General of this nation.

I think all the more kindly of Sir I.:.eonard beat use he was one of the original Confederates, I will always think with kind­ ness of any Newfoundlander who took an open stand, as Sir Leonard Outerbridge did, as an ardent advocate of union of his own country with the great-Canadian na­ tion, I should like to add my voice to those who have already expressed congratulations to the new member of the house, the hon. gentleman who represents St:John's ~outh (Mr. Renouf). He co_mes too from a fainily extremely weil-known in Newfoundland, honoured and distihguished; a family with a record of fine public services.

It is_ his second atte~pt to get in here - his sec0nc:J - I am quite sure that he will add tq,t!ie dignity of this house and to the stren1M, of debates here, I believe he is going 11,5 ]le a fine addition not only to the Oppositi<ill but to the house as a whole. , 'f

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 15 J would pass on to express my yt::r:y warm C!)ngratulations to the two h.on. gentlemen ,vho mpved and seconded the motion we are presently debating, that a co~miuee be . appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the gracious Speech from the Throne.

The hon. member for Labrador North is one of . our best known mariners in N ewfoundlancl, and the hon. gentleman, the member for Burin, was one of our best .known magis­ trates, The ranks of this party have. been greatly strengthened by the coming of these two hon. gentlemen here to this house, I think we are all quite impressed by the speechs they delivered. J regret the absence today of some half dozen of tl1e gentlemen who occupy seats ordinarily on this side of the house, because · of that same fog.

My hon. colleague and close friend the Minister of Highways, the Minister of Public Works, the Minister of Provincial Affairs and Solicitor General the memberfor Fer:r:yland district (that my hon. friend from St. John's South will know all about} are absent, as is the hon, Minister without Portfolio, the member for Harbour Main. I see one hon. gentleman has talt.en his seat while I have been speaking;l did not see him come in - the member for Green Bay. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we were in Ottawa. We did attend tlte Liberal Convention. We were up there representing Newfoundland and playing our

part in selecting the next Prime Minister of Canada. (Applause from the Government side), · For the next few years my hon, friends opposite will be buoyed by the knowledge that for a while their party did Oct?U py actual power. It has been too long since they oc- . cu pied office. It has become a sort of dim tradition. At one time, I believe, there was a rumor that the Tories did hold office in Canada.

Now it is an enormous triumph that for the last seven or eight months, or until there is an election, they hold office, and for years to come the Opposition will be strong and buoyed by tlte fact that as re­ cently as 1957, about halfway tltrough tltis present century, they did manage to get in again for a few months. That will encourage them and they will put up a better fight than efer here in this house, and generally in this Prqvince. The hon'. Leader of the Opposition has his terms a little mixed.

Their term is not "hard time Tories;,_ I never heard it that way before, The expression is 'Tory Hard Times"; that is well-known....,... thatis t:rndis tionaL We Ne,vfoundlanders know ~II abou.t that- "Tory times are hard.7times'.\ The people of Canada indeed are notlin­ familiar with it, and they are .being re­ minded daily.of that classic. statement in Canadiap history and in Newfoundland his­ tory, not by the Liberals who speak ofit, but by three-quarters of a million, who, as an­ nounced by the Minister of Labour. himself the other day, are seeking jobs.

I think per­ sonally, that we ought not to be talking about i~. l am sorry the hon. gentleman mentioned it.) do not tltink politics oughuo be made of unemployment, lt is" too tmgk fo the unemployed. · Mr. Hollett: It was played up in Ottawa. Mr. Smallwood: Some may have done it'.

Now I 1\'ant to say just a word in passing about Crown Zellerbach and comment on what the hon. gentleman, the Leader oftlle Opposition said, when he said some things which I could not quite follow inrnnnectfort with. the . coming. of Crown Zellerbach to Newfoundland; about tlte quick .actiorfof the Opposition last year in opposing the sale of NALCO shares to Canadian Javelin. Of course there is no connection. The ttmberlri which Crown Zellerbach are interested is not at all the tin1ber that NALCO has.

NALCO has a concession, from this Legisla­ ture, of timber- primarily on the Kena!Ilu River on the south shore of the Hamilton Inlet, BRIN CO has another great .tim,ber concession on the south shore in the area of North West Arm, but the timber in which Crown Zellerbach are interested, the timber tltey would use. as a source· of supply for their proposed pulp mill, is in Sandwich Bay and Alexi.s Bay, many hµndred of miles res moved · in distance from the NALCO tirriber. It is true that we have decided to add as well, later in the session, when the legisla­ tion is brought down, a third

section to the proposed Crown Zellerbach concession: a concession in the north east corner of the Hamilton Inlet, generally ip the~irecticfn of the Hamilton Inlet, up on the north east corner where Baine Johnston once control­ led some timber, which reverted to the

16 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Crown. due to ac.tion of this Legisl~ture, since we have been in office. That having reverted to the Crown, we have now de­ cided to pass it over to form a part of the Crown ZeUerbaCh stands. So there is no connection in the world, none at all. riot in the slightest, between the Crown Zellerbach proposal and NALCO timber holdings. I am sorry to disappoint my hon. friend, but there is no connection whatsoever'.

He rilay have been- right or wrong in opposing the sale of NALCO shares, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Crown Zellerbach's proposal any more than the Brinco timber holdings. I was a little surpriSed today to hear the hon. Leader of the Opposition deprecate what this Government has done for the fisheries on the South Coast and the District of Burin.

We have advanced sol1lething like $12 million to fishery development in this Province to assist plants. to enlarge or ex­ pand plants already existing, or to enable plants to be built or started in the fish.indus­ try, and then later on to help some of these plants, that we helped to be established, to further expand. Altogether, I think it was some $12 million.

Now the plants \Ve helped to get established, or else helped to expand, were in SL Anthony and in Englee and in Seldom-Come,By and Fogo and in Greens­ pond and in Bonavistaand a couple in Trin­ ity Bay, at Dildo and Hearts Desire, and at Carbonear and in Bay Roberts and in Re­ news and in sevecil other spots along the Southern Shore, and in Trepassey, and also in Burin.

Grand Bank, Fortune, Gaultois a1,1d Burgen, five of the main towns of the South West CoasL We have advanced to Gaultois $500,000 to enable them to estab­ lish a fish plant, build one in the first in­ stance and operate iti and a half~ million to Burgeo, or $650,000 to Fortune, $450,000 to Grand Bank. That is practically $3 mill­ ion, of the twelve advanced by this Govern­ ment, for fishery development in these five extremely important South West Coast set­ tlements. How then, can the hon.

Leader of the Opposition suggest that this Govern­ ment have done nothing to encourage or to aid the fishery development on the South West Coast in the district of Burin. There are thre'e of the plants in Btirin district, Burin, Grand Bank and Fortune. Mr. Hollett: What have you done for the salt fishery? Mr. Smallwood: This is hardly the occa­ sion for it. I was merely replying in passing to the gen,eral observation made by the hon. Leader of the Opposition, that the Gov­ ernment ha.cl done nothing for the fishery.

I would remind him that the fresh fish indus­ try is an integral and necessary/' art of the fishery of Newfoundland, an I under­ stand most people agree that the inofe the fresh fishery has been developed, the more safe, and the more Sound are fishermen of Newfoundland. I think that is certainly ag­ reed, and certainly we have endeavoured to encollragea turn over to fresh frozen fish as distinct from salt, although on the salt fishery, I could give a long story of the de­ gree to which we have aided that industry as well. · Well, Mr. Speaker, it begins to look at though this will be an extremely pleasant session.

It looks as though there will be vir­ tually nothing controversial to come before the house. The main piece oflegislatiori is Crown Zellerbach, and I can scarcely im­ agine that the Opposition will wish to,say a single word that will make any difficulty or make any doubt in that picture. I think they will follow the lead of the hon. Leader of the Opposition who expressed himself in,a pat­ riotic and very sensible and very practical manner. when he said that everyone in this house, and indeed in Newfoundland, is hoping and praying that this Crown z.eller­ bach deal is going through.

May I be very frank and say I do not know any more than does the hon. Leader of the Opposition as to whether Crown Zellerbach will decide to build a paper and pulp mill. I do not know. I have faith thattheywiUand I certainly have hope that they will. All of that I have, and I have a little more than hope­ ! have some faith that they will. You see I · have had the advantage of sitting down and discussing the matter with them face to face. We spent a week going daily to their offices and discussing the matter with them.

In ad­ dition to listening to the words they used, you listen also to the words they do not Use, and you look at the expression on their faces, and listen to the tone of their voices; and you dci your best to_ size up their feel­ ings, to get a realistic impression of what they are really getting at. We all did that; the Attorney General, the Minister. of Educa­ tion, and Mr. Pushie the Director Gerieral of Economic Development, the four qf US

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 17 and when we attended dinners and lun­ cheons and the like, we sat with different directors at different times, and we tried to sound then{out;a little, a little stray w~rd here; and a little stray word there, put !Jy us, a11,1 something said by them, sometimes en, . a bled us toread betwee11 the lines; always of course with the possibility there . that they said these words so that we would read bet­ ween tI-ie lines.

But we were always trying to size up wI-iat their intentions were; and we came' to the firm condusion, au four of us, that Crown Zellerbach are indeed highly ·. interested ard are very, very sincere about it. They are an extremely big concern, very, very big, but they cannot grow any more, they can only grow appreciably bigger if they tome to the .Atlantic Seaboard of this Continent. They own enormous empires of growing timber in British Columbia, in the State of Oregon, in the State ofWashington, in the StateofCalifomia.

They are perhaps th~ biggest timber owners today in Not;th America on the Pacific Coast and they have .some fifteen paper and eighteen pulp mills. lnok how Bowaters has grown since the war - Bowaters, since the war, has ex­ .· panded the great mill at Corner Brook, they have built a huge mill in Tennessee, they havejust bought a paper mill in ~ova Scotia -:-· I do not know what they have done in England nor I do not know what they have done in Scandinavia, but they are growing yery rapidly. So also is Crown Zellerbach.

They are somewhat larger than Bowaters, but not as large as International Power and Paper, Theybave been growing at a great rate but they cannot grow any more unless they move to the great new source of raw material, and these can be found only on the Atlantic Coast of this Continent, and 011 that AtlantkCoast, really only in Labrador. Let us all thank God as Newfoundlanders that we own that. Let us thank God it was not sold for ten million dollars. Let us thank God we had that heritage and did not give it away but still have it.

It is still ours; it is probably the only great stand left on the eastern halfofthis Continent, the only great stand of undeveloped timber, that should be the basis for a very great development, spread over a number of years, Now, I would like to think they are going to bring the paper mill to five hundred tons, and the pulp to 2,000 tons a day, in the next four or five years. I would like to think that. But I do not think they will move that fast. I dare say it will be ten or twelve or fifteen years.

They can take longer by their agreement. 1 think they ,viU take ten or twelve or fifteen years to get lip to these maximum stages. But that the'yare coming to Newfoundland, that they are going to build these miUs, 1 have no doubt whatever. !may be wrong. I may tum out to be wrong. I have been wrong before and will be wrong again, but based on the knowledge I have I am firmly convinced Crown Zellerbach are coming in here, and if they do, it will be a gift from God to the people of Newfoundland ,vho need it so badly. .Mr.

Speaker, may l say one thihg finally: It looks now as though we are going to get some pretty substantial increases in the amount of monies coming to us from Ot­ tawa. As His Honour's Speech said, we are going to get the Revision of Term 29-; We have asked for fifteen millions. I do not know whether we are going to get fifteen millions, but . we will get a substantial amount. We are goingto get our,share of the Atlantic Provinces Adjustment Grant. I believe; from what knowledge I have thadt will be six or seven millions a yeart. The four Provinces have agreed on a formula, fill'.ed, at a fixed level. Mr.

Marshall and Professor Goundry went to represent Newfoundland at Halifax and Nova Scotia, New Bnmswic;k and Prince Edward Island had their rep­ resentatives present, as also did the Domin­ ion of Canada. They agreed on the formµla. Whatever the total would be it was, to ,be distributed as follows: 30% of it to New­ foundland, 30% of itto Nova Scotia, 30°/o of it to New Brunswick and the remaining 10% ofittofrinceEdward Island. We have some reason to think that the amount is to be $25 millions a year, which would give us $7 mill­ ion each between the three, and to Prince Edward Island the balance.

Now, that would meet the extremely important point that the grant ought to be made on the basis of physical need, to him who needed it most; it should go along that line. N,.ew­ foundland, with a population of 430,000 gets the same amount as Nova Scotia, ,vhh a population of upward of 700,000, an.d the same as New Brunswick with a population of around 600,000. We would get the same amount-,- a dear recognition of the physi- cal n~d .. Then finally, unless there is a general

18 HOUSE QF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS election and the Dominion Provincial Con­ fere.nce is put off - and the Prime Mi n1stcr has given no indication whateverin reply to questions put to hiin in the House of Com­ mons as to when the Dominion Provincial Conference will resume, this month, next month or when. He has not given any indi­ cation at alL If it is resumed this winter it is extremely ltkely there will be a general up­ ward revision ofall provinces; that would be over and above the AtlanticProvinces Ad­ justment, and over and above what we get as our contact relationship under the Terms of Confederation.

As a result of all these, we should have before the coming of the finan­ cial year is over, theyear beginning on April lsL we should have before that year is over, pretty substantial ii1creases in the amQunt we will be receiving from Ottawa.

Now I want to say this, and this is the _thought I have been heading up to- If the Government of Newfoundland can receive much more money, and spend much more inoney on public services, 1t is all to the good .:._Newfoundland needs ic But if we do not get another paper miU or pulp mill or anol;her mine or two orthree more mines, if ,~e do not get development cif our fisheries, our forests, our mines, our soil, we canriot all live on new roads, we cannot all live on new hospitals, we cannot all live on new schools, we cannot all live on new hydro­ developmentor riew water or sewerage sys­ tems.

These things are good. These things are necessary. But these are not the things to ''make the mare go"; industry does thai. So. that what we must, as a people, as a house, as a Legislature, concentrate on is the discovery and development of our natural resources. As His Honour so rightly said in his Speech, there and there alone lies our only hope for real progress and real and lasting prosperity in Newfoundland. (Applause). Mr. Speaker: The motion is that a com­ mittee be appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne; Car- ried. .

I name the following to be that Commit­ tee: The hon. member for Labrador North (Mr. Winsor), the hon. member for Burin (Mr. Jones), the hon. Leader ofthe Opposi­ tion (Mr. Hollett). NOTICE OF Hon. Mr. Curtis (Attorney Genel"lll): Mr. Speaker, I give notice I Will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a Bill "An Act Re­ specting the Designation of Beneficiaries Under Pensions and Other Plans.'' Hon, SJ. Hefferton (Minister of Welfare): Mr.

Speaker, I give notice I will ori tomor­ row ask leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Blind Persons Al­ lowances Act;'' also a bill, "An Act Further To Amend that Old Age Assista·nce Act." Hon. C.H. Ballam (Minister of Labour): Mr. Speaker, I give notice I will on tomor• row beg leave to introduce a Bill;·"Ari Act Further to Amend the Workmen's Com­ pensation Act." Hon. Dr. F.W. Rowe (Minister of Education): Mr. Speaker, I give noticehvill on tomorrow ask leave to imroduce a Bill, "An Act to Amend the Vocational Educa­ tion Act.'' Mr. Smallwood: Mr.

Speaker, in moving the adjournment of the house, may I say that it is our hope that the Opposition win be ready to resume on Wednesday after the customary adjournment.

If they are ready to go forward ,vith the debate ·on the Ad­ dress in Reply, well and good; if they are not; they might be ready to go forward with the second reading of some of these ,Bills, the Bills we have given notice oftoday:They are not too terribly important but we might be ready to go forward with them Wednes­ day and advance them a stage or so, so that we could occupy ourselves until we get into the proper swing, and the Opposition has had ample opportunity to study the Speech from the Throne and decide what position they are going to take in these matters.

We might in the meantime occupy ourselves with some Jess important legislation until we all get properly warmed up and into proper swing: NOTICE OF QUESTIONS: Mr. J.D. Higgins: (St. John's East): Mr. Speaker, might I ask if we haa any question period today at all?

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 19 l\,fr. Speaker: Well the floor was open for nC1.tic:e of questions after notice of motion, when there was a pause. Is itagreed the hon. member be allmved to give notice of questions? Agl'eed. ... . Mr, Higgins: Mr. Speaker, it is the first tlnicl have asked a question in about four years and I had to miss it. I give notice I will on tomorrow ask the hon. Minister of ~1unidpal Affairs, or either appropriate Minister to lay on the table of the house the following information: (See Appendil<). . Mr, A.M. Duffy (St.John's Centre): Mr.

Speaker, I give notice of questions on to­ morrow. . )lr.G.R. Renouf (St.John's South): Mr. Speaker, I give notice of questions on to­ morrow. :Mr· Hollett . (St. John's West): Mr. Speaker, I give notice of questions on to­ morrow. On motion, the house at its rising ad­ journed until tomqrrow, Wednesday at three o'clock. Mr. Speaker: I would be very pleased if hori, members, their wives and other distin­ guish.ed visitors will join my wife and me in the next room, presently, after the rising of the house. Wedn~sday,January 22, .1958 (Afternoon Session) The house met at three o'clock. Hon. Dr. J. M.

McGrath (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker,l would like to rise to a point of personal privilege. This morning's newspaper, , The "Daily News" contained an

article headed "Old Age Pen­ sions Require a Year to Study.'' That was a communication, I believe, from Canadian Press. This

article dealt with amounts paid to individuals under tJ::ie Old Pension Age Scheme and contained certain statements by Professor Gordon Huson, who appeared to be on a fact-finding Committee dealing with Old Age Pensions. Professor Huson said, in thP last paragraph: "Newfoundland's Health Mlnister consi- dered the present $55 a month pension high for pensioners in his Prmince, but it might not be considered so in central Ptt.l­ virices whci'C living.costs may be relatively higher." .

I want to state here flatly, that to repute such a statement to me is quite untrue, I would like to make it quite dear I am nht blaming the r1ewspaper nor the rnrrespon~ dent. I assume they reproduce the news as given them. I do say such a statement is embarrassing and damaging to any public man in Newfoundland. I never made any such statement nor ,my statement resembi­ ing it. The statement quoted does riot re­ motely resemble my views on the matte!': So far as I am aware 1 have never in my life met Professor Huson nor made any sta,tement to him.

I have cabled Professor Huson requesting an explanation from him. 1 feel that in justice to myself l should make this statement here in this house. Presenting Petitions: Mr. C. A. Sheppard (Harbour Grace): Mr. Speaker, I rise to preserita petition from the residents of Harbour Grace South and Byram's Cc:ive in the district of Harbour Grace. The petition deals with some matters · that are of more interest to the Federal Government than they are to us; but they have asked that this hon. house ask the Fed­ eral Government to have the matter forth­ with attended to.

The first prayer of the petition is that steps be immediately taken to prevent the removal of sand and gravel from the patt of Harbour Grace known as King's Beach. I have been in touch withthe Department. They further pray that th~s hon. house and the department of the Pro~ vincial Government concerned may inter• cede with the Federal Government to have King's Beach Pond dredged and made a safe anchorage for the increasing number of valuable fishing boats in the area; They further pray that this hon.

House of As­ sembly, and the department of the Provin­ dal Government concerned may intercede with the Federal Government to have the wharf on the south side of Harbour Grace repaired, as said wharfis in such a state now as to be unfit for practical use. They further pray that this house and the department of the Government concerned may bring this matter to the appropriate authority in Ot­ tawa. I present this petition, Mr. Speaker,

20 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS and ask that it be referred to. the depart­ . ment of our Provincial Government con­ cerned. On motion, petition· received, or­ dered referred to the department to which it relates. · . Reports of Standing and Selecting Com­ mittees: H~n. J. R. Smallwood (Premier): Mr. Speaker, the house would be willing to hesi­ tate for a moment while the Chairman of the Committee agpoirited to draft an Ad­ dress in Reply, requests the signature ofone of the rriembers of that Committee? Mr. Speaker: Very well, if ag~eed we wiUgo on with the notices of motion.

Giving Notices of Motions: None; ·· · ·· •;c Giving Notices of Questions: Notices of Questions on tomorrow given by Mr, Higgins: . . ANSWERS 'I;'O QUESTIONS: Question No. L (See appendix for Questions and answers). Question No. 2 · Question No. 3 .Premier Smallwoo,d: Mr. Speaker, the question is divided into five parts, I can give the answer to the fifth part. The answeris that the. firm in question has been paid $47,097.00. Invoices have been. received from therri, but the amount not paid for ($28,694). . .

With regard to the first part of the ques­ tion; it has not been the practice hitherto in this house to answer. Question No. 4, Mr. Smallwood: l\fr. Speaker, with regard to Question No .. 4, asked by the hon. Leader of the Opposition, with regard to the number of shares etc. There has been no change in the information already tabled in this house. That is ( 1) With regard to (2) the answer is the same; No change. With regard to (3) the answer is the same: The position is the same, there has been no change. The answer to ( 4) is none.

There are no members of the Cabinet presently directors of Canadian Javelin Limited. The answer to (5) is June 28th 1 1957 . The answer to {6) is thatldo ridtknmv. I know only that all the bonds have been re­ deemed, all have been cancelled, The guarantee of the Government has never 6een withdrawn . . With regard to (7) the answer is not com­ pleted. I am sure the hon·; gentleman means, rails laid and ready for use: in that sense, no miles. · .• Regarding (8) the position is exactly the same as when last answered in the House. The answer to (9) is none. A. M. Duffy (St. John's Centre): Mr.

Speaker, may I ask if there is any time allot­ ted for further questions? Mr. Speaker: The hon. member wishedto give notice of questions? Very welL l called notices of questions before balling answers to questions. Mr; Duffy: Mr; Speaker, I give notice of questions on tomorrow • Mr. Hollett: Mr. Speaker, I give notic~ of questions on tomorrow. While I am on my feet I would like to thank the members 9fthe Cabinet for being so prompt in anS\Vering the questions we tabled on Monday. I am quite sure if the session proceeds along that line we are not goirig to be here very long with quf1fions. Mr.

Speaker: The committee appointed to draft an Address in Reply has brought in the following report: (addressed to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor) We thank Your Honour for the gracious speech with which Your Honour has opened the present session. It is signed by Earl Winsor and Mr. Hal~ Jett. That is sufficient, two signatures are sufficient. The motion is that this report to be received and adopted. · (Applause from the Government side of the House). THRONE SPEECH DEBATE: Mr. G, R, Renouf (St. John's South): l\fr.

Speaker, it falls to my lot to be the first speaker from this side of the house follow­ ing the Speech from the Throne. That as­ signment has been made very pleasant in-

HOUSE. OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINQS 21 deed, because in my

preamble I wish spon­ taneously t9 offer to·you, ~fr. l;,peaker, my personal,congratuhtions, which previously 1 gave to you in a private capacity; I wish now to formally, place on record my con­ g9tulations on your appointment of Speaker to this hon. house. Tribute has al­ ready J;ieen paid, deservedly, to your talents an,d to your wisdom and your discr~tion for t}:iisJ10n. position. I wish you well in your future conduct of affairs in this house. .. My second pleasure, Mr. Speake~, is to c:9nvey to the moverof the Addres~ in l«iply, the hon, mem.ber for 1.abrador North (Mr.

Winson), and likewise to the · hon'. member for Burin (Mr.Jones), both of whom so ably prnposedand seronded that motion for an Address in Reply to the Sp,eech from theThrone, my sincere con­ gratulations.The speeches were very well prepared a~d delivered ,in a very earn~st illld interesung manner. They .were a sm­ tere expression of tl)e wishes and hopes of all the people of tliese districts, and the ··wishes and hopes of all Newfoundlanders. I ihink that the members of the younger gen­ eration, such as the two in question, have the destiny of this country in their hands. .

We• trust that during thi~ session we shalt hear more than that from the two hon, gent­ lemen. I likewise think it fitting and proper to say a word of my satisfaction in hearing the Speech from the Throne read by our es­ teemed new Lieutenant-Governor. I have ho doubt that he will uphold the constitu­ .tional role with all the needed dignity and honour which the ancient office has'.

I think, in the natural sequence o[Jhese re­ marks 1 would wish also to refer to our previous Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Leonard Outerbridge, whose prestige in service to this country is so well remem­ bered br the members of this house. I also wish to assure this hon. house of the honour which I feel has evolved upon me in being a member of this historic chamber. .1 wish at this time to assure you, Mr. Speaker, that I shaU do everything in my power to uphold the dignity and traditions df this Assembly. · In a modern day, Mr.

Speaker, it is a temptation for a new member to paint a verbal panorama of this country, from ~he time it was discovered, up to the· present time, I am going to resist that tern ptation because .is far as history is a storehouse of wisdom and knowledge nevertheless 1 feel that theproblenis of today and the probe !ems of the future are our main challenges.

I am also going to resist another temp~tion and that is the indulgence in a reminiscence, having read some time ago in thejournals of the Assembly of about eighty years ago where a fiery rebellious ancestor of mine, of the name of Major Henry Renouf, did the unconstitutional act of either proposing or seconding a motion ofnoncontidente in the Government of that day, on the motion on the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. Oddly enoughJ believethat mo~ tion was passed. What happened after I would not be quite sure.

I wish to assure Your Horio·ur that history will not repeat itself on this occasion; We all realize how difficult good Gov~ ermnent has become of recent days. The every growing demands for the material standards of living has put pressure upon the Government of the day and the duties of Government have become correspondingly hard in trying to assess how far these de­ mands can be met and what breaks should in wisdom be put upon them. The present Liberal administration has much to its cre­ dit. It is true that at times the achievements were a little clouded by propaganda.

On the other hand a great deal has been done; de­ velopment has been taking place, services have peen expanded and such things as the BRINCO development are a very great achievement which holds a great future and great promise for the area of Labrador and the country in general. l do frel, however, that we members of the Opposition, likewise, have to scrutinize and point out to the public what we consider to be some of the fault~ and defects in the Govermnent as regards its policy and con~ duct. We have noted some trends that we do not app~eciate.

We feel that a Government in the majority should not take the position that it has the licence to do things which depart from constitutional Government. One instance we deplore is the practice which seems to have come into effect--:".the recruiting of members of the civil service

22 HOUSE' OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS for elections, and their reinstatement in their former positions should they be de­ feated. We tmike record of that practice as being; we consider, against the best princi­ ple and tradition of the civil service. We likewise place on record, with the greatest of hesitation and the greatest of distaste, the departure from the prindple of ministerial responsibility which in recent times has been inade evident. ' We feel none too assured thatthe present Liberal administration has been as careful or frugal oreconomkas it might be.

We feel in certain aspects the apparatus of Govern­ ment has been somewhat .overloaded with some extravagances. We ·doubt very much that the enlargement of the Cabinet and rni1sequentexpense is warranted; We feel some boards and committees· and au­ thorities have been created · without any necessity of it having bee11 done.

We feel, too, experts have been brought in to make surveys and reports which have involved a very great deal of expense and which,fo our opinion, could quite as ,veil and easily have been done by our own Auditor General. · Now at the moment, the topic closest to my heart and mind is the district of SL John's South, which I have the honour to represent, and which formerly was reps resented by that 'courageous gentleman, Mr. 'W.J. Browne~ our present minister at Ottawa. I feel that this district comprises a very important segment of this Province of Newfoundland ..

It 'comprises the territory of the waterfront of St. John's or a very i,rreat portion of it, and a few old and new. sections of St. Johnts West. It includes the dock, the railway, the Northside waterside premises and all the Southside which goes along the way to Cape Spear, Blackhead, Petty Harbour and the important

section of the Goulds and Kilbride and part of Mount Pearl. The people of that district are very hardworking. They are independant minded people. They are however, particu~ larly in the farming sections, up against very great difficulties. The factors that make it difficult are the problems of the farmers, the cost ofincreased freight rates and possi­ bly more than anything else, the flow . of imported vegetables from the Mainland and elsewhere, some of which has been sub­ sidized or partly subsidized. Now, I quite well realize that farming problems cannot be over simplified.

I realize there are factors thrit have no easy solution, but 1 feel that there is need to be more energetically behind the problem of saving the farming areas of this country both North, East, South.and West. In par­ ticular, I would make a plea here and now that the Government take note, Mr. Speaker, of what I consider to be the urgent problem of the farmers and dairymen of this country. If we do no~ put some push into the farm policy we will tiave;"Mother Earth" absolutely deserted by the dis~our­ aged farmers of the preserit day.

I think we should help them by an. immediat1= forma­ tion of' a commission, or ~ommittee group, that ivill vigorously attack the problem. I know the Department concerned hairdone a lot. They have worked hard. They have progressed far, but I stiU feel it Js riot a full-scale program, involving the efforts of good salesmen, g~od s~les prmnotion, prac­ tical farmers themselves; in other tvrirds a ftlllscale attack before farmingfades ciffthe map in Newfoundland.

In imagination for a fow moments, J am going to usurp the prerogatives of the Mii1istcr of Highways and the Tourist Di­ rector by letting my imagination run for a moment in a selling job, again for the dis­ trict ofSt.John's South. Nqw, Ca~Spear, as you know is the most easterly point bet­ ween here and Ireland.

It has, very ¢lqse to St.John's, great attmctions both for t9urists and for other purposes; Cape SpearJan be reached by mad, up Blackhead and out over the hi!l to Cape Spear; Branching off this road to Cape Spear is a road which years ago connected with Maddocks 'Cove, which in turn connected with Petty Harbour. This road in question needs very little ~o have it in working !Jrder again because it islevel, the road bed is there and dearly it is merely a matter oflight machinery work.

I was very amazed last summer, when I had occasion to visit the district, at the number of hun­ dreds of car owners who make that area their destination for picnics and outings. I saw Americans bythe score going with their camerns, up to a novelty like the ligh~house. I feel that a little attention to this are<( by the Highroads Department would not cost it a great deal, and would prmide as well as an attraction for tourists relief now from the

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 23 dar1gcrously oven:ruwdcd highro,ids that we have undet the traffic conditions of today. Mr. Smallwood: I think there is a sugges­ tion of putting a tea room in the ol~ light­ hl)use which still stands there bestde the new one. I do not know how far anyone has gotten with it. Ra~her than tearit d~wn .I understand there ts a thought ol rentmg 1t .for a tea room for visitors, · Mr. Renouf: I think that is a good sugges,. ·tion, and [ think that is an inspirillion to be followed. Thank you.

Now leaving more parochial matte_r~ forthe mome1it, I think it is rather surpnstng that the Govemme.nt has not taken more active steps to study the unemployment situation this season. We do not want to stress unemployment, but we tannot be like the ostrich and ignore the p~sition entirely, S!.John's, ofrnurse, ison_e ol the areas that 1s. badly affected, and tt seems to me that it is time that whatever is available from federal sou recs or otherwise, ,rbu!d now be vigorously undenaken. In this connection there was a c1ucstion from the hon. member for St.

John's East in the i'ederal house, asked a few days ago, on December 17th. I belic\·e, when he asked the 11inister of Public Works what he was doing about the proposed federnl pntject lr1r the erection of forty-six housing units fonvorklng class people in the centre of the dty; one unit for. forty-six, .1 believe and another for one hundred and fifty. The minister stated that this program had be~n planned for· the working class people for low rate accommodations back in 1956.

There had been nothing heard of it since • the project was announced with a blare of tnnupets at that time. · Arising from that question, the ininister said that at the time one tender had been received and rejected, but that the project had been held over or stalled at the request cifthe Government of Newfoundland. Now there may be some explanation for that. But, Sir, I would stress the point that now is the time, when employment is at rather a low ebb, that steps should be taken to see if that 'project could be implemented.

The hive of industry that would result in the centre of this town is not hard to imagine. I think the ring ofhanunets and industry and activity is much to be desired, and I hope that something will be done to implement that idea. I believe $15,000 was given by the federal Govemmerit for the clearing of the area. That, I believe, has been dorie, so that we earnestly look forward to more news in that direction. Now, the Speech from the Throne hacl a number of omissions, but we were s9me­ what disappointed to find no great out• standing reference to the fishing industrv ofNewfoundland.

We know that, tradition­ ally, the fishing industry has been beset with a great many complications and a great many problems and difficulties. which are not easy to solve, The present Minister .of Fisherits enjoys the confidence and the. re­ spect or the fishermen of this country and members of the fishing trnde. He lms been working very hard, no doubt, to try and· keep the fishing industry afloat. The people engaged in this industry are made up partly in the fresh fish trade and partly in the salt fish industry.

I believe something like,100 million pounds of fish are sold by Canada to the United States and elsewhere, and possi­ bly half of that amount would be supplied by this Province. I think the fishing industry ,iould need more constructive comment at a time when it might be concentrated .on without any second distraction. I hope that the industry will pie k up from the de pressed and uncertain conditions of 1957. There may be some indications that the fresh tish industry will improve from now on.

In the salt fish section, I hope that there will be some effort made to retain the small patt that is left of that partkular branch of our industry. One thing that appears to me, Mr.

Speaker, is that it appears to the laymen that, with the fresh fish business the 1nain concern these davs. the main effort should probably be not 01lly in production, wliichis sometimes not hard to keep up with, but in the sale of it, which needs a great deal of work and effort and influence to keep it going" I wonder in that direction whether the Department of Fisheries and the Gov­ enunent in general had availed sufficiently inthepast of the services of the Depart111ent of Trade and Commerce. The Department of Trade and Commerce is made up of a number of expens in all lines of trade, and

24 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS the fishing industry which they have rep­ resented in various parts of the world, It was a high-powered and well-organized de­ partment µnder the former minister C,D, Howe in the lastLiberal Administration, In the new Federation of the West indies may lie some hope of keeping the salt fish. sales going. We hope that the Department of Fisheries will be on the qui vive to let no opportunity slip for the survival of the branch of the industry. The Speech from the Throne had. other omissions as well.

We heard nothing of the Tourist Board activities, the tourist indus­ try, as one might call it that, We feel some­ what disappointed, but we are not quite sure whether the policy of tourist promo­ tion was too fast or whetherit was generally misdirected in the type of tourist accommo­ dations and attractions for this country. · Some of the efforts of the tourist board were good. The director is an able, energe­ tic man. He has drawn upa numberofrules and regulations relating to the tourist in­ dustry, the matter of hotels and different establishments catering to tourists.

But with the road situation so far retarded, itis ques­ tionable ifit was wise to adopt the policy of building a number of glorified taverns in places; some of them ill-dmsen, some close to already existing ones. lt is a question whether it would have been wiser to have heldoff on the actual promotion of the tourist industry and concentrate perhaps on 6ne unit in some pan of the country which would at least be able to cater to, let us say, the influx ofconventions which we hear are already \\'illing and anxious to come to this Province.

The main pan of the Speech from the Throne which rang a note of omission in my ears was again an absense of the words far­ mers or farms. I am not going to elaborate on that unduly now, because I have already covered it, in part at least, under the

section relating to my own district. · The high-light, of course, was the Crown Zellerbach deal, and I will have a few re­ marks to make about that in a moment. We know that the Government has plans in other directions for dealing with the expan­ sion of welfare programs. We know that education is not being overlooked. That partictdar topic is one of sµch complexity that I would not care to analyze it or pass comn:ient at the moment. \Ve are fortunate however inhaving a Minister of Education who is a praltical educ:ator himself. I think it may be the tlrst time since the late, lamented Dr.

Barnes, that we have had a professional educator as head of the Education Depart­ ment. Mr. Smallwood: No, the Minister of Welfare. Mr. Renouf: That is correct- I forgot that at the m.oment. It is also a tribute i11'a gen­ eral way to the present i11cumbenf of the ministry because the task is a colossal. one for this Province.

We know from a birds-eye view of the hundreds and hundreds ofsmaU schools that are spread throughout the Is­ land, these one room schools and two room schools, and the struggle that the teachers are having to educate the children of this Island; we know it is going to call for"huge sums o( money; we know that the whole educati.on policy will have to be promoted and pushed in a very vigorous. manner. However, we feel that the efforts in this direction will and should pay· dividends. The emphasis on education, ofcourse, can­ not be overdone. We have certain flaws in that.

We know that there was a blueprint for education, issued some time back,Jvhich embodied \vhat is hoped to be the ultimate goal of the education policy of the Govern­ ment; the promotion and activity 'in the building of schools and training of teachers to bring them up to the necessary standards, so many of whom are unfortunately lacking in the necessary standards, without other problems, in itselftoovercrowd the present teaching training facilities of the university. That in turn is going to lead to accommoda­ tion problems for these same teachers.

We feel that it will have to bea program that.will have to be worked out carefully and cauti- ously over the next few years. · We are anxious to learn something of the plans in view for the opening of our new university. Some time ago it was announced that, the new building,. so badly ne1:ded, would be commenced in the northern area of the city. Perhaps before the session is over we may be able to learn something of the authorities" plans in that direction.

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 25 I am not going to keep the house unduly long in this introductory speech of mine but I cannot let pass my remarks without men~ tioning the Crown Zellerbach deal which we will he asked in this session to study. and_ to analyze. I am very weJl pleased at the man­ ner in which this important projec_t was an:­ nounced.

There was a tone of restraint and conservatism about the announcement which was very refreshing. \Ve are given a balanced view of what was hoped for, what could be expected, and we sincerely trust that, when we examine the agreement, ,ve will find that everything will be in order and that the deal will be in-the best interest-of this Province. We shaH-analyze and assess this agreement in as thorough a manner as we possibly can. VVe will scrutinize it. we will criticize it, anything that we find worthy or necessary to criticize, without the least hesi­ tation.

In all matters oflegislation coming before this house we \'dll, courageously, and with­ out fear or favour of anyone, support to the fullest extent all measures iritroduced by the Government which we deem to be to the advantage of Newfoundlanders. On the other hand, however, we will in matters which we deem worthy of criticism attack tooth and nail. We will fire our broadsides to the best of our ability against any legisla­ tion which we think is detrimental to the rights, liberties and advantages of our peo­ ple. I will, Mr. Speaker, close my remarks now.

I wish to thank all hon. members for the kind attention which they have given to me. I wish them success in their administra­ tion. (Applause from both sides of the house). Hon. Dr. F.W. Rowe (Minister of Education): Mr. Speaker, in rising to speak to the motion I am afraid I have to open my remarks with an apology. During the past few hours a developing head. cold is going to make it perhaps a httle difficult for me to be understood this afternoon.

My first duty, I think, is to express my congratulations to the hon. gentleman who has just spoken; to congratulate him first of all on his election to this House of Assembly and secondly to congratulate him on the excellency of the speech which he has just given us. The hon. merµber for St. John's South comes from a family which i_s famous in Newfoundland's public life.

But .as has been said recently of a distinguished Gov­ ernor, jµ publi~ life he does not need to stand in the shadow of his predecessors, be_cause he himself, as this house must be aware, has· made signal contributions to the culture and to the economy of this _ci_ty in particular, and o_fthe Province in general. I think I speak for all members on this side when I say that, without any way depreciat­ ing the capacity of the other gentlemen who sit \vith hitn, the general ability and capacity of the Opposition and indeed of the house itself will be benefitted greatly by his com ing into this Chamber. Mr,.

Smallwood: Here_; Here. (Applause) Mr. Rowe: I want also at the beginning, of my remarks to e_xpress my congratulatio_ns to the two young gentlemen, young hon. gentlemen, who spoke. Mr. Hollett: Hon. members not "hon. gent­ lemen." Mr. Smallwood: Oh yes. Mr. Rowe: The member for Labrador North (Mr. Winsor) has been a friend of mine, and I have been actively associated with his family for a number of years. So that I am sure the house will pardon me if I say it gives me particular pleasure to be able to sit here and listen to him speak in the able and convincing way that he did at the op~n­ ing of the session.

That hon. member comes from a family that has distinguished itself for a hundred years in the life of New­ foundlandt particularly in our seafaring ac­ tivities. Then too it is a matter of.grea~ per­ sonal pleasure to me to be able tq listen to the hon. member from Burin (Mr. Jones), who did S'QCh an excellent job in seconding the motion. Here too I have had some per­ sonal connection with him.

I am sure the house will recall he was formerly a member of the teaching profession, and on one_ocra­ sion we worked very closely together, I feel, Sir, that I am speaking for all members of the house when I say we are looking for­ ward to future contributions from these two men.

26 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEOINGS Mr. Hollett: Here, here. Mr. Rowe: Mr. Speaker, in the short time that I it1tend to speak I would like first of all to' niake some-fairly brief reference to'my district, which is that of White Bay South. This is the second session of the house that it has been my honour and privilege to rep­ resent that district and to speak for the peo­ ple who live in that pa~ of our Province. This year, as it happens, I cannot speak in suc·h optimistic terms as last ycai· as far as economic terms are concerned.

That dis­ trict, in company with a great many other districts in Newfoundland, is very seriously affected by recent declines in the pulp wood activities in the Province. I suppose two­ thirds of the district of White Bay South is actively connected with logging, or with some phase of the paper industry. Conse­ quently, the very serious curtailment in this past year has had a most detrimental effect on h great many of the residents of this district. The whole Baie Verte Peninsula isa logging area, and from that area Bm\'atcrs have cut wood ,vhich has gone into Corner Brook.

Mills, and many thousands of cords have been exported to the old country. The prospect at the present time is not so bright, and indeed the prospect for the next year is fn some doubt. However, there is no doubt whatsoever but that this is a passing phase. As-it has already been pointed out here in this house, I believe the great,paper indus­ try, looking at it from the standpoint of the world markets, is subject to fluctuations, as any other industry.

It is only a few years ago sinte there was a surplu_s of paper in the world markets, but about three years after that - in fact sint'e my coming into this Government-there has been a great shor­ tage of paper; so much so that paper mills all over Cahada were trying to work seven clays a week on a twenty-four hour basis. Well, we know that within the past two years a number of great mills have come into pro­ duction, particularly in the southen1 part of the United States, sn that temporarily there is a surplus of paper in the world-l1mrkets.

We may consequently expect that within the next two years-I have here the word of some of the greatest authorities in the paper industry-=within anot_her two years or 'SO, there will again be a shortage Of paper throughout the world. \Ve then may take heart in this respect that, although there is something of a recession in paper and log­ ging activities in this Province, that is only a tempora_ry phenomenon; we in C'othmon with the test of Canada, and the world for that matter,'.\vill eventuitlly have this read­ justment which" will bring us back to the forerilost rank of prosperity in this particu­ lar industry.

In the district of White Bay South, the greatest single need has been that of com­ munirntions, of being linked up with the rest of the Pfovince. I am very happy to be able to say that already we have made a start in linking up a number of those places with the rest of the Province, At the invitation of the Premier, in common with all ._other members, I submitted to the Government a four year program of road-building which, when implemented, will mean that the great majority of the settlements of that district will be linked up with th"e rest ofNewfrnind­ land. l would like at this.timc 1.Mr.

Speaker, to draw attention to two or three other needs of that part of the Province. This past year. the people of White Bay South lost many tens and , perhaps many hundreds of thousands of dollars because of the bait situation.

From a great many people I have received representations requesting that some attention be given to that matter, As this l10use knows, it is not something.com­ ing within the province of the Government of Newfoundland, but I am speaking of it here because I feel that this should be brought to the attention of the public and to the attention, patticularly. of the people in the Government of Canada who are,con­ ccrned with these matters; this need of bait depots which I know has been brought io the attention of the authorities in Canada by my hon. friend, the Minister of Fisheries, amongst others; this need seems to be of paramount importance if the fishery ·or Newfoundland is to nmtinue tu be of nny particular material significance to our peo­ ple.

I would like also to make brief reference to the problem of unemployment insurance amongst the people of 'White Bay. I would say that of all the many hundreds of letters that I have received from people since I bec.:ame the member for \Vhite Bay, that by

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 27 far the brreatcr number had dealt with un­ employment insurance. I say, not as a criti­ cism of; the unemployment insurance peo­ ple, nut as a criticism of any p_erson_s but rather indicatillg that in some way or another the program, the implementation, the techniques used- are defective; other­ wise there could not be so many misunders­ tandings and so many frustrations 1 and-so many resentments amongst our people. I do not know what the solution of this prob­ lem is, but urge that an unemployment in­ sllrance office ought to be est.."lblished at other places in the Province.

Some of usdn fact most of us, have been fighting for that dming the past few years. However, we must recognize this fact, that it is out of the question to establish regi_onal offices in every small pait of the Province, in every district or in every bay. The overhead would be tremendous, and the need is not there.

My suggestion is,and I have already made it in other quarters, that the people in Ottawa who are responsible for unemployment in­ surnncc ought to make it possible for offic­ ers to visit, periodically, various parts of the Province-strategic p~rts of the Province-particularly at the time wh_en the demand for services is at a peak. In that way mui::h of the misunderstanding could be eliminated at the sourc-.e, and certainly this interminable corresponden'ce which takes place could be avoided.

We do know of !=3-Ses, and what I am saying now I am sure is true 'of all members of the house, we know of cases where there has been cor,respon­ dence back and forth spread over weeks and rtlonths, in an 3.ttempt to find a solu­ tion. In the meantime, the people making application have suffered, and ol\en they have been forced to apply for Government assistance during the interim period. That, of course, is a matter of great distaste to _a man who has worked hard and accumu­ lated stamps he thinks necessary, and who firmly believes he is entitled to unemploy­ ment insurance.

It is a matter of great dis­ taste to him to have to apply for Govern­ ment relief. I would like to make a brief reference also to the mining prospects of While Bay South. What I said a moment ago about the paper industry throughout Canada applies with even more force to the mining industry. We know that a great many mines· in Canada and the United States have dosed down. \\'e know that the prices of base metals- have gone clown to a point below that which the greatest pessimist thought two _years ago.

We know, for example. that mining shares which' were selling at $5 a sh_are ar,e_ now listed today at fifty-three cents. Seriously, Mr. Speaker, I want at this point to place on record my coq.viction that the great mining activity of Tilt Cove, ,vhich is not in \Vhite Bay South, bur-which is 22 miles from it,and ne-ar enough to draw most of its labollr from \Vhite Bay South - I want to place on re.­ cord my conviction that this mine will be an unqualified success.

I had the opporttinity last sum111er of spending the day at Tilt Cove, going right through the plant and other developments there. 1 left it ,vith _th_e feeling, as I ani·sure anyone else who Visited must have. that there is no doubt at all tlbout the ultima'te-success of Tilt CoVe. The prospect for an asbestos develop­ ment at Baie Vcrte is still as bright as when I spoke here almost a year ago. Unfortu­ nately in that particular development, like so many other things, it has been cut doWn in this tight market, this money squeeze.

A'i a result the people who were developing or helping lo develop the asbestos holding in Baie Verte have had to defer some of their plans. There too I think itis only ainatterof time. We know that the deposits arc there. \Ve know these deposits are extremely rich and we know that in the ordinary course of events it is- purely a matter of time _before these great deposits, which are right auide water, are developed. I am brought up to date on one aspect of their asbestos de­ velopment. The hon. the Premier has just informed me he has heard from Mr.

Boylen to the effect that~ in order to bring about development there, it ,vm be necessary for him to give, the absolute control which he has hitherto exercised over these holdings. I understand that is to be done in the near future. The prospect is therefore-that there will be development in the asbestos holdings of Baie Verte and vicinity in the not too dist.ant future. Mr, Hollett: Will the hon. Minister say why he has to give it up? Mr. Rowe: Mr. Boylen, for my knowledge of it, Mr. Speaker, hoped all along that he

28 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS would be able to hold all control over these developments in his own hands. Unfortu­ nately, the difficulties he has encotimered in trying to finance it, an undertaking 'ivhirh I believe would require upward of $20 mill~ ion, apparently makes it 1mpossible for him to finance thatenterpriseand still hold on to the control ofit. I would think, Mr. Speaker, that .what has actually happened at Baie Verte has happened in a great many other cases.The general marketsituation;the fal­ ling offin prices, uncertainty in the market ,lnd a few other things like th;it have all played their

part in deferring development in that area. , Mr, Speaker, I.want to say a few words ,i.ith reference to the Speech which the l1on. .mi;mber for St. John's South, gave us a few moments ago. May I repeat what 1 said at . the beginning, that I regarded tpat speech as one of the finest, <!rid certainly one cifthe fairest that has been made in. this house since I have been here. It indicates to me a sincere desire on the part of the hon. gent, leman to see both sides of the picture, to give a certain amount of credit, at any rate, where credit is due.

Believe me that is some­ thing we do not always find in Government. So ,often we run against people like the character in "Pilgrims' Progress.'! They see no good because they do not want to see any good: • · . .Mr. Hollett: In Government? lam sorry to hear that. He meant the Opposition, L pre• sume. There is an odd one here and there. Mr. Rowe: I ,vas surprised to find that my hon.friend voiced objections to some ofour practices here. He did not elaborate but did make some references to practices or the alleged practice of recruiting from the civil service.

I do not know if there has been any law written, or any unwritt.en law, sayin~ !1 Government cannot recruit from the civil service. I recall recently reading the memoirs ofa very famous civil servant who ,vas amongst other things private secretary to Gladstone. On several occasions Mr. Gladstone requested him to enter the Cabinet. Of course, if you choose to go back and look it up, you will find that many former civil servants in England entered politicallife.

We have example after exam­ ple of it in the Canadian Government, and certainly in one of the most brilliant prime ministers Canada ever had (McKenzie King), who was a deputy minister prior to his· going into public life. The present LeaderoftheOpposhion (Mr. Pearson), the man who undoubtedly will be. the next prime minister, was a civil servant before going into public life. I do not know who had found the law nor who had made the law that said a civil servant should not be recruiting into active political life. Certainly we should try to get the best men possible into public life, active political life.

If we accept that, then there should be no barrier, nothing to say a man, because he a magis­ trate or a deputy minister or whatever else, should not be admitted into J)Ublic life. I cannotand do not see that the Government ·· has been guilty of ariy greai crime in.that nothing to say a man, because he is a magis• trate or a deputy minister or whatever else, should not·be admitted into public life.

I cannotand do not see that the Government has been guilty of any great crime in that matter, · I was particularly interested also in wha.t my h0110urable friend had to say about what he called ."omissions" in the Speech front the Throne. He spoke of the failure on the part of the Speech to make any great r~fer­ ence to the fishery. That same argument was usep last year, if I recall correctly.

I do not see how any Speech from the T~fo11e can deal with .all the aspects of GovJ:!rnment acthities yearafteryear, Certainly I think if the hon. gentleman would go back and look at previous Speeches from the Thronp in the life of this Govemrrient, he would find the majority of them made more th.an pas­ sing reference to the fisheries, arid the same thing holds true of tourist developrqent. The fact that any one item is omitted from the Speech frorq the Throne~· for instar;ice there is a passing reference, almost a casual reference in the Speech from the Throne fo education - does that mean the.

Govern­ ment now ce;i.ses to regard education of any great importance? The hon. gentlerq,an complained that there was no reference to · farming. There has been in the past many references to agriculture. In fact, this Gov­ ernment thought enough about it to setup through this house, a Royal Commissionon Agriculture, and to do a great many,other things. While I am on that, Mr. Speaker, I

HOUSE, OF ASSEMBtY'PROCEEDINGS · 29 jotted down from memory two ~or . three things that came into my mind, the time he used the expression,} believe-'-:-"fading off the map'' -'-:-fanning,vasfadingoff the map in Newfoundland. The simple fact of the matteris thatno Govemmentin Canada­ ! am going to make a categorical statement now:-No Government in any Province of Canada has done more, proportionately speaking, for agriculture than the present Government of Newfoundland has done for agriculture in this Province. Yoti need only to think, for. example, of the bovine :anti-tuberculosis campaign.

You mightsay that was a health measure. It also was a measure el affecting ·cry farmer ,vho had a cow in Newfoundland, We went the whole hog in that. We compensated every farmer in Newfoundland who lost an animal, one animal or a dozen, we compensated him for the loss of these animals. Certainly our program of land~dearing is as generous as anybody can findacross Canada, Our prog- ram of land fertilization through the use of limestone is as generous as anything any other Province has done.

Our program of bonusing purebred stock, of encouraging farmers to buy purebred stock, including I might say, even $10,000 bulls:.,- I invite all my hon. friends here to go out and see it.I have seen it. Mr. Hollett: Where is that one now? Mr. Row~: It should be in a museum. Our program of vetetjnarian services to farmers is as generous as anything you will find. So I could go on. What I am heading up to, Mr.

Speaker, is this: It is very easy for any per­ son to getup and say that nothing is being done for our farmers or not enough, or that fanning is in a precarious condition; the fact of the matter is that - and we may as well face up to it'-We have to, there is 110 Province in all Canada and certainly very few countries or states in the world where it is as difficult to carry on farming as in New­ foundland, There are so many things stacked up against a person, whether it is climate of soil conditions or fertilization of · our soil, or lack of fertility, or markets and all the other things, they are all stacked up against our farmers.

Mind you, in spite of that, Mr. Speaker, I think this should be said; that while we have fewer people grow­ ing vegetables today yet it is possible my hon. friend who just spoke does notrealize that at this very moment there are tyiore people in Newfoundland, more families in Newfoundland making a living, and s.ome cases a very good living, out offatmingthan ever beforcJn ohr;history, I think when we arc critical of the Government's program in agriculture we ought to keep that in mind.

The fact of the matter is that this Govern­ ment has done as much as could beTeason­ ably expected from any Government to help agriculture. We have not solved all the problems. We have not solved aU the ills. Perhaps nobody could ever do it. But cer­ tainly we have gone a long way to make it possible for a great many farming families in this Province to make a livelihood out'of the work. T'he fact that they a re doing so at this very moment is proof of what! have said, I understand; Mr. Speaker, the ladies responsible have coffee ready outside. · If agreeable l would ask far a recess. Mr.

Speaker: We have only one steno~typist and that is the reason why we usually recess at this time. lfogreeable, the house ,viU re- cess for ten minutes, ·. The house stands recessed for ten minutes. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair. Mr, Rowe: Before we recessed I was refer­ ring wtwo of the alleged omissions inth~ Speech from the Throne, I believe I was on the point of making some commentbn edu­ cation. At this point I would like to thank the hon. gentleman (Mr. Renouf) for his com­ plimentary reference· to me in connection with' my department and the educational program of Newfoundland. I appreciate his remarks.

I think any person in public life is only too happy when he hears some com~ pliments, so rarely does he get them. But I would like to make this point dear, Sirc:...:.No minister in this Government to my kriow­ ledge, has ever been responsible . for any Governmental· program. At the most; he has been able to make recommendations.

Any program, whether it is abmit health or welfare or municipal dev~lopment or edu­ cation has been the deliberate decision of the Government as a whole, aml the fact that I \\;as able to speak recentlyas l did in such optimistic terms about the futtfre of eduratioi1 in this Province is merely arcflec-

30 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS tion of the attitude of this Government to­ ward the importance of educat1onal de­ vdopment in Newfoundland. Itisin a sense almost an accident, purely iitddental, that 1 happened to be holding the portfolio atthis time; The Go,·ernmerit has never at any time been Jacking in its responsibility for education. The facts and figures are there to prove it. It has been purely a matter of economics,. This Government, for several iyears now; has been spending more on edu­ ratfon, proportionately speaking, than any either Government of the other ten Pro­ vinces of Canada.

The fact speaks for itself. • That brings to mind, Mr. Speaker, the allegatipn which is so freq4ently heard against us that we . are a burtch of spendthrifts; that v,e ,have rnj..en millions and millim;is of dollars and we h.ive squan­ qered this much and. that much, I would like some day for somebody to put these things down in black and white and show us how it is true,. as it has been frequently argued. Some of the money has be~ri spent to de­ ve)op. new industries, in, an. effort to get more jobs, Some of that money was not wisely spent. That has been argued over arid over.

His not my purpose atthis point to debate the pros and cons of that. I will say, however, that in the Government prog­ ram, they had one main purpose in mind, and that was to provide a livelihood . for Newfmiridlanders. Those . people who al­ lowed their hatred of this Government, arid .particularly their hatred of the leaderofthis Government, . to lead them into making · statements cal.culated to injure those indus­ tries, have a great weight or guilt on their consciences because they have notinjured . tlle head of this Government, they have not injured this Government.

The injury has been to the families of Newfoundlanders who have been getting a livelihood out of those industries. But to go back to what I had in mind there, Sir, when we hear these charges of exµa va gance-,- I think the word used by my hon. friend. in his comments here _:_ these charges of waste - I would like sometime for somebody (because I have gone over it myselfvery carefully) to show where ,ve have wasted $200, $300 or $400 million for industries, We spent more, I thirk, on education.than on any other item of current revenue. Now, how many mill-, ions of that were wasted?

I cannot see that any millions were wasted. l do not know where· $100,000 was wasted in education, giving the present system we have. We did not make the system. It is a good system. By and large l believe it is. What part of the millions we spent in the last eight years on education were wasted? The charge is heard over and over again against us. Mr. Hollett: On education? Mr. Rowe: A Tory spokesman said "Oh, another $7 or $8 million for the Govern­ ment to waste." The charge was made on money coming from Ottawa, not education; but that is a blanket charge made against us over and over again.

I would like to know wherethese extravagances and wastes have been. For example, the $70 or $80 mi11itm we spent on public health - how mui:h of that was wasted? I dare say if you weritinto some institution, the Samitorium, the Men­ tal Hospital, any institution; you can/ find waste, duplication, unnecessary overhead, and you will find dishonesty, because rio one has yet discovered any means iJf carry­ ing on great enterprises, employing hun­ dreds of persons and have assurance that everyone of them is 100 percent honest 100 percent of the time. Nobody has ever disco­ vered that.

So that if one went into any institution one would undoubtedly• find some example of these things. Take the ex­ treme case of graft - You will find that anywhere in the world, The head of one of the greatest fiiins in Canada told me they lose $2 million a year fr<?m employees through pilfering alone, and they are One of the most efficient. · One of the $70 or $80 million speqt in public welfare, how much • was wasted? There again I dare say some applied and got allowance to which they were not enti­ tled. You .will find that in every social meas­ ure on earth.

You will find some old-age pensioner got his pension illegally byJying about his age, or somebody got unemploy­ ment insurance he was not entitled to~ but by and large, can anybody argue that the money spent on welfare in Newfoundland was wasted, or the money spent on mineral development was wasted? The point is, 1'.fr. Speaker, that it seems to me that many. of our critics are not so much concerned with painting a true picture, not so much con-

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 31 cerned with public morality ,as they are with attacking the Goveinment._ e_ither collec­ tively or individually, and particularly indi­ vidual~y. There is a disease which I would call "Smallwood Hatred." There is a band in Ne'.vfourtdland of "Smallwood Hatred" who are motivated, actually, by nothing but malic~ against, the Leader of the Govern­ ment. Hon. M.M. Hollett (Leader of the Opposition): Mr. Speaker, I wan.t to ask if the hon. genderilan is directing remarks at the Opposition of the hoµse. ¥1'· Rowe: Mr.

Speaker, Jam speaking in the debate on the Address in Reply, and I feel that I have every right to make broad and. general s~tements in a debate of this kind. Mr. Hollett: By accusing us of"Smallwood hatred" to which I object very much - ¥1'• Speaker: Order. The hon .. gentleman spoke of critics of the Gove.mment. He did not refer to the Opposition or to anybody in the house. He just referred to critics of the Government - they could be anybody. Mr, Hollett: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Rowe: Mr. Speaker, lam dealing with the Gove'rnment program-in general, and criticisms levied against