Proceedings of the House of Assembly During the Seventh Session of the Thirtieth General J\ssembly of Newfoundland PRINTED IN CANADA av GUARDIAN LIMITED, ST . JOHN'S. NP'LD . ~ I I i

Proceedings of the House of Assembly During the Seventh Session of the Thirtieth General Assembly of Newfoundland WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1956 The House met ait 3:00 of the clock in the afternoon , pursuant to adjourn­ ment. SERGEA:NT - AT - ARMS: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to inform you, His Honour ,tihe Lieutenant Gov­ er.nor has just arrived to open ~his Seventh Session of the Thirtieth Gen­ eral Assemb.ly of Newfuun<lland: Mr. Speaker le.aves the Qh,a,ir, His Honour, the Lieutenant-Govern­ or takes the Chair. His Honour then reads the Eo1low­ ing Speeoh from -the Throne: MR.

SPEAKEIR AND MEMBERS OF THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY: ln the last session of ,bhe Thirtieth General Assembly your atten -tion will oe invited to a number of maitters of great importance to the people of the Province. A,t every session of tihe present Generail Assembly you have dealt with many public affairs of the moment, and so i,t 'Wal! in the General Assembly which preceded this one.

F110m the hour when Newfoundland beoame a Provi •nce of Canada, jus.t be- fore the stroke of midnight on ~he last day of March, 1949, there have been ten sessions of your Honourable House, this one whiGh commences todaiy being the elevCIJJth. In •thooe ten sessions over 500 sepairaite pieces of legislation have been oonsidered, debated and pa<SSed iiruto law. I,t .is an impressive seven.-year ,reoord of work done in be­ ha·U of your constituents, the people of the Province of NewfoundJ.and.

The most ,im,po11tant s.i,ngle piece ol legisl<ll~ion to engage your studies in this present sessi,on wihl be one whicli my MinJ9ters willi swbrniit for lihe pur­ pose of giving ·them authority, and making ·it mandatory wpon them, to introduce and enforce a system of Children's Hea~tih Benefits which m'Y Ministers ibelieve will raipidly become the greatest system of its kJind an'Y­ where to be OOUIIld in No11th America. My Prime Minister has already an­ nounced, by DHl3111S of television and radio, ·the broad outlines of •the 5ystem which you will be asked to aipprove arud aubhorize.

This is a system under whiich the Gove111lmerut of Newfound­ land will take on full responsibility for the costs and exp=es of all med­ ical, derutal and op tiioa,J care of all children in Newfoundlaind and Laihra-

4 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS dor untull they reach Vhe ,age of sixteen. From ,their s ~udies of the ,facts my Min­ isters believe ,t1m,t h wiH coot severa1l rruiLJi.ons of doUa,rs ,to ca1rry out this great Children's Health scheme. They are ,£m1tiher co11Jvinced that so great a project cannot be put into full effect in .IJhe firs t year.

More ~ha:n 170,000 chiild:ren. ,wll come u,n,der ,the scheme, a,nd tihis numbe.r wrnl of course increase as the general popuJ,a,tion increases , Additional numbers of medical doctors , de.nili;ts, ·optorru,nrists and opticians wiLL lhave ,to be found ror Newroullid ­ la:nd and Labrador. AdcHtion:aJ Hos ­ pital beds will have to be provided , a,nd i,t is the i,nten,tion of my Minister s to make pbns for ,the provision of a Ohildnm's HOl\l'it,a,J in St. John's, a second Children 's Hospital which w1U t:>e in Gander, and a third which will be in uorner B·rook.

All of -~his will , of course, take more than one year to carry out, no ma,tter how energetically the Government proceeds with their plaru; . -Lt is my Mini s ters' plan to oommence ,the programme 1n •the pres­ ent year by providii'Illg corrup1letely free hospital ca,re for awl ohildren up to t,he age of sixteen. This one feature alone is a very great step, but it wW be .followed -by other .features of equal or even grea ,ter imipor,ta,nce., urutil •th e whole p1lan is in operatiOIII:. I know that. you wi,H give these maiHers your ca,reifuL and sympai!Jhic consideration in the days and weeks a1heoa:d.

A second ma,Her of considerable im ­ por.tanc e which you wi1! be asked to consider is my Ministers' desire to in­ troduce drasbic <Jha,nges in the present system of maintaining purely local road s. For the grca ,tcr paTt of the cen­ tury, prior to the system of Govern­ ment by Commission , the Government of Newfoundland was solely respon­ sible for the upkeep of all roads in Newfoundland, induding those with- fill ,the border s of all the towns a nd 6et­ tlements.

The Commission of Govem­ menit ,i,n,trodu,ced wihat was for New­ foundland a completely new feature of road pol,icy wihen ,they announced tha,t bhey would no longer be isespon­ sible for the upkeep of roads within the boundaries of the settlements. The mo.~t ,the Commissiion of Goverri­ ment were p11epared- to do was to make matching grants to those settle­ ments which took steps to have Local Road Committees. My Ministers now propose to re­ verse bhe policy , a:nd to re-ad opt th e policy thait a'l<Ways existed before the system of Government by Commission was instituted in 1934.

The policy which you wi!il be asked to approve and authorize wi'll be one in which the GovernmenL will ag-din be respon­ suble for ,the mai,111lerna,11ce of aill loca ,J roads, and you wiH be asked to approve an appropriation of neady three-qua11t­ ers of a million dol1lars for the purpose in ,the present year. As i,t wil,l take a year or two to get the new system working smoothly my Ministers do not propose tu ask your authorization of a larger amount for the present year, bull feel t,ha t thi s sum wiM suffice for the coming road season.

My Ministers, who believe strongly in the develop­ ment of the system of loca,J self-govern­ ment, do not propose that the new system, or rather the restoration of the old system, shall be permiibted to dlis­ courage the continuation and expan­ sion of the system of Town Councils and Community Counciils, and their proposals take ,this coru;ider,ation fully JllJlo accounit, as will! ap-pea,r wlhen the details are suhmitt.ed to you . My Ministers believe that the present system of maintaining locaI roads, whille it had meri,t in bhe ,times and under the conditions that existed in the Newfoundland of 1936, is now

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 5 hopelessly, even absurdly, out of pilace in the prosperous and fast-growing Pro­ vince of 1956. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the pres­ ent month Newfoundland will have been a member of the Canadian family of Provinces for exactly seven years; and that fact reminds us of an extreme­ ly important clause that was written in­ to the Terms of Union.

When the representatives of Newfoundland and those of Canada were drafting the terms under which it was proposed that Newfoundland shourld become a Province of Canada there was a frank recognition of the fact that nobody was capable of foreseeing precisely the effect that the proposed union wouild have upon the finances of the Govem­ mernt of the 111ew Province. Newfound­ land had been for long centuries a Colony of Britain, or a Dominion, or a Dom~rnion whose consliitutional sta,tus as such was in suspension.

To enter the federal system of Canada, with its division of jurisdictions and responsibilities, was a very great step for Newfoundland to take; and it was of the utmost importance to make aU possible provision for the financia,J success of ,the union ,from the stand­ point of the new Province. This was done, but there remained a field of uncertainty which onty time and experience could enable responsible statesmanship to remove. All of this situation was given frank recognition by both sides, and the recognition is plainly stated in Term 29 of the Terms of Union.

This is a Term which pro­ vides for the setting up, by the Govern­ ment of Oa:nada, of a Royal Commis­ sion wih<ich would exwrnine Newifound­ l~nd's fimmciall pos~tiion after Confeder­ tion and make recommendations as to the fol11Il and scale of addiitiional £inan­ cial assiistian,ce, ,if any, th:ait may be re­ quired by the government of the prov- ince of Newfoundland to enable it to contiilllUe pub']ic servi-ces at the levels a:nd s•tandards rea,ched subsequent to ,tihe date of Union wi•tihout =ting to •taxaition mol'e burdensome, ihavi111g re­ gard to <the capacity to par, than that obbaiined generalLy i,n the region com­ pris~ng the .ManH:ime Provinces of Now.

Scoti,a, New Brunswiick and Prince Ed­ ward Island. Term 29 is, in effect, candid recog­ nition of the fact that the Terms of Confederation could not be worked out and agreed fully in 1949, or indeed at any time before Confederation had been in effeot fur some years. The Terms of Confederation were not final­ ized in 1949. Perhaps they never wHI be final, but the time approaches rapidly when the next great step must be taken. This is the setting up, by the Government of Canada, of the Roya.I Cornmi>'!Sion .for which Tel'ID 29 provides.

More ,than eighteen mOIIIJths ago my Ministers began the preparation of Newfoundland's case for the forth­ oom1111g Royal Commission. This tih(!)' did by securing the appointment of our owru N ewfoundla,nd Royall Commis­ sion on revision of the terms of Union. For a year and a half the distinguished citizens who constitute the Royal Com­ mission have been hard at work at their task.

They have engaged the ser­ vices of able assistants in finance, econ­ omics and statistics; and my Ministers wi1l be adequately equipped, thanks to all this painstaking preparation by the Newfoundland Roya,l Commission, to advocate Newfoundland's case vigor­ ously Jxirore the Fedenal Roya.I Com­ m1ss1on. My Ministers propose, later in the present year, to request the appointment of the Roya'l Commission agreed to in term 29, and they wil,J strive ,~o insure 1bhat this Term of bhe Union of Newfoundland and Cainada

6 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS w,H! be honoured by the fulH imple­ mentation of its pk1frn meaning and spiri,t. Since you last met in session my Min­ isters have held discussions with the Government of Canada regarding the problem of unemP'loyment assistance. These talks have resulted in an agree­ ment whereby the Government of Can­ ada will assume responsibility for one half of the cost of all unemployment a.ssista,nce a,bove a basi.c minimum fig­ ure of slightly less than one ha:lf of one per cent of the population of the Pro­ vince.

This agreement wnl include persons receiving sick reiHef and De­ pendents' Allowances, as well as those receiving periodic ablebodied relief. You will,l be a~ked to consider legis­ lation embodying this agreement which, it is estimated, will bring annually into the Provincia,l Treasury approximately one m~Mion dollars from Ottawa. After a considerable period of pre­ paration, during which foundations were laid and other basic work done, •the fishenies developmel!lt programme is beginning to take shape. The new plaint a,t Qui11pon has lbeen com:pleted and will go into operation this year.

The plallllt a,t Merasheen also is finished and wrll operate in the coming season. Construction of the plant at Seldom­ Come-By will commence this year and shou1Jd be completed before the end of the season, thus making this enterprise ready for operation next year. Con­ siderable progress has been made in the great new plant at LaSde. The large new piers wHl be finished early in the coming summer, and construction of the plant itself will then commence without delay.

The waterlines will be laiid in the present yeaT, and ,t,he con­ struction of •the new break-wa-ter wm commence in this season and prob11ibly will be completed before ,the end of the year . The pla11Jt at LaScie is de­ signed to be ,the fargest fish esDaJblish­ ment ,in Newfoundl,a,lJJd and it may we!~ be the 1aTgest in Canada. As you are well aware, these four plants have been built or are to be buillt as a result of recommendations made to my Ministers by the Fisheries Development Committee, of which Sdr Albert Walsh was the Chairman.

They are experimental in character and pur­ pose, and in the cases of Quirpon, Sel­ dom-Come-By a,nd Mera.sheen, success in their operation wi'll almost certain­ ly result in the establishment of num­ erous similar plan ts in different parts of our coast ,~ine.

Successful opera~ion of the great new plant at LaScie would be followed at most hy t.he establish­ ment of a strictly -limited number of such estahlishrnen ts at appropriate points, and success in the operation of a'H four of these experimental ventures would, my Ministers believe, stimulate a great new interest in the profitable poosiibili,ties of our ~isheries for fisher­ men aind meildhants alike.

In the meanwhile two weH known fishing companies in Newfoundland have applied to the Government for financial assistance to construct large new sa,J,t fish ·pla.nts, ,a,nd• negotiaLioms on these maitten. are proceeding p.res­ en tly. Other salt fish plants are in con­ templation, and my MiJ'llisters believe <hat there is a,t least the begi1IJ1ning of a revival of interest in the salt fish in­ dustry. My Ministers are anxious to extend sound financial and other as­ sistance to any reputa~le person, com­ pany or co-operative group who wish to play a more active

part in the devel­ o.pmcn,t of -the sa,I,t fish industry . I,t is the firm belief of my Ministers that one of Newfoundland's greatest present­ day needs is for enterprising persons or groups to engage more energeticaUy than ever in an industry which is far

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 7 from collapse or extinction. You wiH be asked in this session to appropriate further considerable sums of money for fishery development . We have all, I feel, been deeply pleased by the encouraging news we have heard with regards to the British Newfoundland Corporation, that im­ pressive combination of almost thirty large financial, industrial and mining companies of the United Kingdom and Canada.

BRINCO, as it is popularly known, have come into Newfoundland and Labrador with great stores of ex­ perience and capita'!, and have from the commencement pursued their sur­ veys and prospecting with skill and vigor. They have spent some milliom of dollars in the past three years or less, and propose to spend millions more, on their programme of intensive prospect<ing a,nd dirilldng.

We look forward eagerly to the early develop­ mernt of <the vast hydro-eleotric poten­ tial of the Hami'iton River watershed in Labrador, and even more eagerly to the outcome of this coming season's driHing in the Monkey HiH and the Stormy Lake regions of Labrador, where profoundly impressive deposits of uranium-bearing pitchblende have been found. It is coming to be widely recognized that Labrador is almost certainly the greatest single storehouse of undeveloped natural wealth existing anywhere today in the whole of North America.

Any province of Canada, j,ndeed any 9tate of the United States of America, would be ha,ppy to have withiin ,i,ts houndamies so vast and rich an area as Labriador. My Miirnisters have s,t,riven, and conitinue to strive, to expedite the developments of this great s,torehouse of weailth. I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that all Newfoundlanders ,rejoi.ce in -the never­ ending growth of .the prosperity with which our Province and people have been b-!essed almoot from the Confederaimon COlll· wiith mencement of Canada.

Not a~l NewfouncManders enjoy the standa ·rd of living -to •whkh, as Canadi0.ns, they a-re en.tided; there are stil'l some sectors of our Provincial economy t,h,l't bad,ly need strengthen­ ing but it is scai,cely ,to be denied that in broad outline NewfoundJ.and is mov ­ ing rapidly ahead. Never were so many of our bread-winners employed. Never were wages so :high. Neve.r were they so welL fed, so welll clovhed, s,o well ,housed , so heal~hy . Never were our people so oorufident of their future. MR.

SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HONOURAJBLE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY: You ,wilJ be requested to make pro• vision for supply to Her Majesty. I know that you will apply yourselves with zeal ,to the public business t!h<llt will come before you in this Session, and I pray the blessing of Providence upon your labours. Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair: HON . L. R. CURTIS ,(,Attorney Gen­ eral) : Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to intro­ duce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the R egistration of Deeds Act," and I move that this Bill be now read a first time . On motion Bill read a first ,tdme, or­ dered read a second time tomorrow. MR.

SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that at 3:00 of the clock this day His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, was pleased to open the Seventh Sess­ ion of the Thirtieth General Assembly of Newfoundland. At that time His Honour was pleased to deliver a Speech from the Throne, which, for the purpose of accuracy, I have ob­ ta.ined a copy, and wiH now read to the House: Speech from the Throne read by the Clerk:

8 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS MR. COURAGE: Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of moving that a Com­ mittee be appoi'Illted ,to draft an Ad­ dress in Reply ,to the graciOU& speech winh whkh Hiis Honour, ,the Lieu,ten­ ant-Govoonor, ha!! opened ,thi5 session of the House of A55embly. I know, sir, that all members of this House and the people of Newfound­ land were delighted to hear of the childrens' health benefits which this House will be called upon to bring into effect this year . We all know that there is a vast need for improved health facilities in the Province.

Espec­ iallly is ·~his •true on the south coast and in the District of Fortune Bay and Hermitage, which I have the hon­ our to represent in this House of Assembly. For example, it is impos­ sible for a person on this coast to receive the services of a dentist . Now with Vhe coming o[ ,the heahh bene­ fits which will call for the appoint­ ment and implementation of many more doctors and dentists and occulists it will be a wonderful thing for our children.

I doubt if those of us who live in towns and cities and large areas can really appreciate what a profoundly wise move this will be on the Govern­ ment's part and what it will mean to the children of the country, and, as I said before, to the grown-ups them­ selves., who will, of oourse, be alble to avail of the services of the den tis ts. As one who had several teeth at various tdmes b.roken off by a nuroe not strong enough <to pull •them, I can teH the members of ·the House that it is a ter­ rible ,t,hiing ,to be without •~he services of a dentist.

And, sir, as these benellits go out to our children together with improved educational .facilities, we wi-II one diaJy in, this House ·be blessed by tho:se sa,me ohtiildren. Now, sir, I was very much pleased to hear that there is going to be a change in the local roads situation, the system whereby a man works for one day under pay the next day free, gave his services free, and which has long ago outworn its welcome . And I found it to be one of the most unpopular measures in my district. I felt the people felt it was outmoded and that it had outgrown its usefulness.

And I am very glad to know that it is being changed, and so will the people in the settlements. Because, Mr. Speaker, a little bit of road may be a quarter of a mile long or a half mile long and may not mean much to the person liv­ ing in a town, but it means a great deal to a person living in a small com­ munity in Fortune Bay. And that road must be kept up, it must be main­ tained, and the people must maintain it. And this change back to the old system is a great improvement I am certain.

I might say that in spite of this old system which is being out­ moded the people in Fortune Bay and Hermitage were doing a remarkable job with their road committees, even under this system. And I feel con­ fident that under the new system we will have reason to be proud of the local roads and the committees in New­ foundland. Sir, while I am on the subject of roads, I would like to say once more what I have said in this House many many times, that is, those areas which do not have roads can never grow . They are the arteries . They bring the lifeblood to a community.

And we have in discussions in the conference taking place at the present time on the South Coast a,ffa,irs, a;nd I am gl'ad ,to know thaJt •there wiLI be a road pro­ gramme of expansion on the highroads of that South West Coast.- Now, sir, to come to the fisheries: I was very glad to know that this

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 9 House will be called upon to vote large sums of money for development of the fishe1·ies. This House cannot vote money for any more worthy cause than for nhe development of ,the liisherJes, because fish is the lifeblood of the South ·west Coast. We have there to depend upon the fisheries more than upon anything else. We are a fishing people. We live in communities that are suitable for fisheries, and we need an intensive development programme.

I regret that I have suffered from a Jack of people who have sufficient money, sufficient capital and sufficient knowhow to develop the fisheries them­ selves. We need at the present time, fish plants in various communities in For-tune Bay and Hermh,age; at Har­ bour Breton, for example and at Belle­ oram , for example, at Bay L'Argent, for example. There we have some of the finest harbours, some of the best fishing grounds, some of the most ex­ perienced and hardy fishermen to be found in the world, and all we need is someone •to go there and develop the natural resources that lie right at hand.

Now the Government has not gone into the fishery developing business. The Government has helped those who wish to put fish plants in, but I think that the whole programme will have to be reconsidered in the light of these thilllgs that I have mentioned. I know that the Fisheries Development Authority are working at this moment on these very matters that I have men­ tioned. But, sir, there is another im ­ portant aspect: Unless we get un­ employment insurance for fishermen I am afraid that there will be no fisher­ men left to catch the fish even if the plants are built . Now that is a very impo:rinant p<>mt.

This House does ruot have airn}'tlhing .to do with unemploy­ ment insurance. That is a measure which has to be brought before the Parli,a,me nt of Cam,ada. And oi,t .has been brought before ,the Pa,rl,i,a,men,t of Can­ ada by Major Carter, our very worthy and very enthusiastic memb er there for the South West Coast, the riding of Burin-Burgeo in that Parliament. Ancl I don't know whether my voice will carry to the Parliament of Ottawa, but my words have a way of finding their way to Ottawa.

I would like to say that when Major Carter says that the fisheries of Newfoundland are doomed unless we get unemployment insurance for our fishermen, he is speaking the truth, he is not exagg erating one iota. This is a very important matter be­ cause the fishermen are going to leave the fisheries. Other people get un­ employment insurance, people who labour at other work but the fisher­ men come home and do not have enough to live on, and they get no un­ employment insurance. They can only turn to relief, and that, naturally enough, is something they do not want to do. It is a blow to their pride.

Consequently, the fishermen are not going to stand for that. They are go­ ing to turn to other work. And, Mr. Speaker, an experienced and skilful fisherm an cannot be trained in a matter of a few weeks or a few months. Fishing is a highly technical and skil­ ful trade, and once this present gener­ ation of fishermen are gone there will be no one to replace them . So I lift up my voice hoping that this word will wing its way to Ottawa. And, I say, a scheme for granting unemploy­ ment insurance to fishermen must be worked out. Now, Mr.

Speaker I am sure that we are all glad to hear of the dis ­ coveries that have been made in Lab­ rador and Newfoundland by BRINCO, that great association of talent and wealth and industrialists that came

10 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS here to Newfoundland through the work of the Premier. His idea of going to England and of selling these people the idea of coming to New­ foundland was a magnificent one. It was a dream but it was not a pipe­ dream because the Premier is a man who combines th e ability to dream with the energy to put his dreams in­ to practice.

And he went to England and through the h elp of Sir Winston Churchill, who called this a great con­ cept of Empire, through the help of that great statesman and the Roths­ childs he was a hie to sell the idea of discovery of minerals and developing Newfoundland, to these great indust­ rialists of England, of Canada and of the United States. It was truly a mag­ nifkent undertaking, which we will , in time, recognize as one of the great­ est enterprises of our present day. I know it was ridiculed. I know some member rose and called this Bunko .

That was because they were men of little imagination and little understanding. But the day will come when we will rise up and hail this great undertaking of BRINCO . Now, Mr. Speaker, I cannot let this opportunity pass without welcoming the many delegates from the South West Coast who are with us in this Chamber at the present time. There is a conference going on on South West Coast matters and this includes the districts of Fortune Bay and Hermit­ age, that ancient and honourable dis­ trict which was one of the first districts to send a member to this House of Assembly in 1832.

I feel very proud to represent this district. And I feel very proud and happy to welcome so many delegates from the South Coast who are here with us today. Never before dirl this House, I suppose, see such a represent ation gathered from the outports of Newfoundland. We have clergymen , with fishermen and loggers, with magistrates and mer­ chants, with welfare officers all sitting down together considering the pro­ blems which we have on that coast. For the first time in history the spot­ light has turned on the South West Coast, and I feel confident that much good will come of it.

As a matter of fact much good has already come out of our deliberations and the pooling of our knowledge . This is only a small example: Today I was able to an­ nounce that as a result of a number of discussions that I h ad had with Mr. Al­ bert Martin, the General Manager of Bowat ers , Bowaters have agreed that

whereas before they were taking rough, unpeeled wood from Bay D'Espoir they will now peel that twenty-five thousand cords of wood. That will mean more work for the people of Bay D'Espoir. It will mean an additional one hun­ dred and fifty thousand dollars into the pockets of these people from Bay D'Espoir each year. And this money will go into the pock ets of the people of Bay D 'Espoir without coming out of the pockets of any other people in Newfoundland. No one will lose. But the peopl e of Bay D'Espoir will gain.

This, I might say, might seem of small interest to some people of this House, but it is not a little thing to the people of Bay D'Espoir. And I was most happy to be able to make this an­ nouncement this morning. And regarding the health services, I am most happy to be able to announce that a doctor will be stationed in Bay L'Argent, and that even now applica­ tions for that position are being con­ sidered by the Department of Health.

Aithough this may sound to be a small thing it is not small or trifling to the people of Bay L'Argent, the people of English Harbour East and the peo­ ple of the lower part of Fortune Bay

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 1 1 who have had so much difficulty in securing medical services when they need them because the doctor at Belle­ oram had so much work to do it was humanly impossible for him to give good service as he wished to give, be­ cause we have a good man in our doctor at Belleoram at the present time. Now. Mr. Speaker, we are beginning a new session. We have been called together to consider once more the problems of the districts which we re­ present, and we must consider and pass legislation for the good of Newfound­ land. That is our purpose.

And I hope, sir, that we will do that with dispatch, with speed, with dignity, with courtesy and so bring credit upon our­ selves and upon the districts which we have the honour to represent in this House. (Applause) . MR. NORMAN: Mr.

Speaker, in ris­ ing to second the motion so ably pro­ posed by my honourable friend the member for Fortune-Hermitage, it must be very notable that the Honourable the Premier this year invited two mem­ bers from the South West Coast Dis­ tricts to move this historic motion that is passed at every session of the House of Assembly, namely that there shall be a committee to draft an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. This is a great compliment to the South West Coast, and I am sure that it comes from the fact that there is go­ ing on in St.

John's at the present time a conference of approximately one hundred delegates who have been in­ vited to this city from the entire coast extending all the way from the twin towns of Channel and Port-aux-Basques to the head of Placentia Bay. This conference is more representative of this great coast than any other confer­ ence ever held in our history.

Clergy- men of all denominations, medical doc­ tors, magistrates. welfare officers, fish­ ermen and fish merchants, mayors of town councils and numerous others have come together to have a frank discussion with members of the Govern­ ment and with high ranking officials of the Government on the many prob­ lems that face our coast today. I pray that out of this great conference will come some solution of our problems. And I pray that out of this conference will come a ray of hope for the thou­ sands of bread-winners who live in tha• great part of Newfoundland .

I am a proud man today because I have been given the honour to speak on this historic occasion when there are more people present in this Cham­ ber from the South West Coast than were ever gathered together inside these historic walls in the hundred years of this building's history. It is an occasion that will linger long in my memory. Sir, this Speech from the Throne contains so many approaches and mat­ ters of supreme importance to our peo­ ple that I can be forgiven if I hardly know where to begin.

I am sure, for example, that the Government's great new health scheme for children will touch the hearts of all our people. It almost makes you wonder if you are asleep or awake when you regard the vast improvements that have taken place in the welfare of our people, and especially our children, in these past six or seven years. First we saw the great and famous Canadian system of family allowances brought in as a blessing up­ on the children of Newfoundland. Then we saw a great system of old age pensions brought into this Pro­ vince, a blessing to thousands of our worn out toilers.

And now. sir, we have this great scheme under which the Government of Newfoundland will pay

12 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS all the doctors bills and all the med­ icine bills and all other bills for den­ tal and optical care for every child in Newfoundland up to the age of sixteen years. Surely, Mr. Speaker. Newfound­ land is now leading the new world in the progress she is making in public welfare. The people of this Province, sir, have shown their faith in the Leader of this Government, the Premier of New­ foundland, and it is surely rewarded by this great piece of Liberal legisla­ tion which will come before the House in this present session.

It so happens that I have had some part to play in this development of local government. I was, for a while, the Mayor of the Town Council in Channel-Port-aux Basques. As such I came to grips, together with my fellow councillors, with the problems of streets and roads and I have some knowledge of Lhe great struggle it is in all our towns and small councils in Newfound­ land to keep these streets and roads within their boundaries in a condition at least partly fit for civilized man.

And it is because of this knowledge that I am now proud and happy as thousands of our people will be at the Government's new policy announced in the Speech from the Throne today, that is, the Government will make a special grant every year in the future towards the upkeep of every local road and street in every settlement. I am very happy to know this is to be done in such a way as to encourage town and community council movements to con­ tinue.

It would be a great tragedy if any scheme should have the effect of injuring or discouraging these local seats of government that have done and are doing such good work in New­ foundland today. Our people are proud to know that the British Newfoundland Corporation have had such wonderful success in their explorations, as we were told the other day when the Premier announced the discovery of uranium in Labrador, this new and wonderful metal which sells for anything between six dollars and ten dollars for every pound of six­ teen ounces.

This is just what we need to convince the world of the vast riches that lie in Labrador. These riches, sir, will be developed, some of them will find their way to the public chest and from that public chest most of it will find its way into the pockets of our people. The Premier never did a greater thing than that of bringinE, that great British Newfoundland Cor­ poration in here from the Mother Country. We wish the British New­ foundland Carporation every success in their efforts, and we look forward with confidence to the 1·esult of their work.

Sir, the district which has honoured me by electing me as a member to this House, is a district in which there are no industries whatsoever except the fisheries. We have no great resources of timber, Mr. Speaker, we have no minerals or they have not as yet been found. we have not even got much soil where farming could take place, but, sir, if we have not got these things we have got a great fishery, and we have got great fishermen. That is why I am so pleased to hear the reference in the Speech from the Throne to the development of the salt fish industry.

Some people seem to think that the salt codfish industry is finished or that it has no future. This I do not be­ lieve. There must be some room in this world for the high protein food represented in our Newfoundland fish. What is it. I ask, that holds our fisheries back? Why have they not gone ahead as other industries have? These questions must be answered. And whilst this occasion is not the place

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 13 nor the time to find these answers, the answers must nevertheless be found. It is just plain silly to think that New­ foundland can be prosperous, endur­ ingly prosperous, if the fisheries and fishermen are not prosperous. New­ foundland's economy can never be tru­ ly healthy until the fishery is healthy. I hope and pray some of the answers can be found in this South West Coast conference that began in this city yes­ terday and will continue for two or three days more. Mr.

Speaker, there are many pro­ blems in Newfoundland today that re­ quire our careful thought and careful decisions . I do not put forward any claim to be a great statesman, and I do not even pretend to know the an­ swers to all these questions. I am a plain Newfoundlander who has earn­ ed his living through his lifetime and who has been greatly honoured by the people of Burgeo-LaPoile by sending me in here as their representative. Pro­ bably they could have found a much more brilliant representative. Probab­ ly they could have found somewhere a representative who is much more learned than I.

My only claim, sir, is that I am endeavouring to represent my district honestly, sincerely, and to the best of my ability . I believe, ac­ cording to the Speech from the Throne that this will be a very useful session for the people of my district and the people of Newfoundland. I have pleasure, sir, in seconding the motion . (,Applause) . MR. M. M. HOLLETT ~Leader of the Opposition) : Mr. Speaker, it is not my intention to delay the proceedings this afternoon to any great extent.

I feel very happy indeed this afternoon to congratulate the members for For­ tune Bay-Hermitage and Burgeo La­ Poile on the addresses which they have given. I was particularly touched by the statements made by the honourable member for Fortune Bay when he de­ scribed the difficulty in which the nurse was placed in taking out his tooth. I am glad that he was able to give a very excellent speech in spite of it. Mr.

Speaker, it has been said by one of the speakers that this is the first time in history that delegates have all sat down together here or elsewhere in Newfoundland in order to work out the salvation of any particular part of our coast, or words to that ef­ fect . I imagine it is not the first time in our history del egates all sat down together. You know, Mr. Speaker, I am inclined to think we have a cute Gov­ ernment .

Here we are in the last ses­ sion of the House before an election comes up . and we have huge delega­ tions coming in from the east and west and the north and the south - no, I think we have left out the east - at any rate from three sections of the coast. And, sir, I am very glad to be here today to see here in this House such a large number of the delegates who have been brought in. And, sir, I don't believe they are all here as Liberals, I believ e there are some Tories amongst them.

But I want to give them this advice, sir, they better watch themselves even if they are Tories because they are likely to be converted or perverted before they go back to their respective homes . There is a danger, sir . I was about to say we have a cute Government. MR. COURAGE: Did you just find that out? MR. HOLLETT: They are shortly going to the country. Aft er seven years they are going to tell all the parents of this country , we are looking after all your little children until they are six­ teen years of age. We will pay for

14 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS clearing out their ears and for aden­ oids and for teeth and we will get you glasses for them too. We are go­ ing to have an election by and by, sir, don't forget that. A cute Govern­ ment, sir. In the fisheries : Seven years of thi• Government, Mr. Speaker, and now with tears in their eyes, sir, they tell these delegates from the east and the west and the north and the south about the millions they are going to spend to bring the salt codfishery back to where it belongs. I have been told about the milliono. The Honourable the Premier told the delegates about the millions.

Where a1·e we going to get them? That is a question. I ask, where are we going to get them? If he can get them, my blessing to him. I hope he will get all he can because anything this Government does for the fisheries they do for Newfoundland as a whole. I am going to inject in there. If they do not do something for the salt fish industry and the fishermen around our coast, particularly the salt fish industry, Newfoundland will not be Newfoundland long before I pass out of the picture-unless you do some­ thing for the fisheries. But, sir, I ask, for the past seven years what has been done? What have we done, sir?

We set up a Royal Com­ mission which made certain recom­ mendations. Only today we have been told, two , I think, of the salt fish flakes have been finished . That is all that has been done. Not another thing ex­ cept to get about three parts of the fishermen in the country, sir, away from the fishery and I don't know but a good part of them away from our shores. A few of thell!l have been taken and put in a building around Concep­ tion Ray, and as soon as the building closes down I don't know where the fishermen go. Perhaps they all got a pair of rubber boots they took home to go fishing again .

Sir, it is a cute Government. Now don't think for a moment, sir, I am against looking out for the child­ ren's health up to the age of sixteen years. I wish it had happened when my children were small. I am quite sure it would have been a grand thing for the children and for me. So far the government can implement some legislation which makes that possible, then I say, I give them my blessing. I will help them to do anything I can, and so, I am sure, will my colleagues. Then, sir, local roads: Local Roads: They talk about the new system. I say, sir, they are only going back to the old system. A very fine system.

And although they would only pay ten and fifteen cents when I was a boy at least they paid everybody, and when they worked for two days they were paid for two days. That was the old system, and it was a good system, I say. We paid people for their work. But, sir, it is a cute Government. They do it this year after seven years. They did not do it before now. This is the year they do it.

My honourable and learned friend, the member for Fortune Bay - and speaking of Fortune Bay, I am quite sure he knows and I am quite sure the honourable member for Burgeo and LaPoile knows exactly how much has been done for the fisheries in this particular area. I was told the other day how men had gone from one of the places in Hermitage Bay last year to Lunenburg, as they have had to do over the centuries . Nothing has been done in the last seven years: Sir, I think everybody knows the story about somebody having to work seven years, Rebecca, I think, I think the Govern­ ment will have to work pretty hard

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 15 now even after seven years . If the peo­ ple in Fortune and Hermitage and along that coast are necessary for the salvation of this country they have been neglected ever since 1949. Actually the Government has done nothing to maintain them and then began kick­ ing them out again . Incidently, about kicking out: I will say, sir, that the Government on the opposite side of the House will soon not have a privat e member to move an address in reply. I miss faces every time I come back . This time I miss three . They decided only yesterday that this is no place for them.

I ad­ mired them. They were sitting on the other side of the House and decided it was no place for them and , to heck with you, we will get out. And they left the Government, sir. And more power to their elbow when they wrote their resignations out. But, sir, we don't swallow these resignations exact­ ly as they are. They are in pretty plain English, but I don't read it just as it is there. Yes, the Government has fallen in love with the fisheries and with the fishermen - after seven years, sir.

It reminds me of the rascal who left his first love and travelled the world for many many years and then finally, sir, returned to the land of his birth and looked for his first love. So, Mr. Speak­ er, the Government h as come back again to its first love, the fisheries. The fisheries - this, that and the other thing. They are going to spend mil ­ lions upon millions on the fisheries - after seven years and on the eve of a11 election. A cute Government! There is one point which my hon­ ourable friend from Fortune-Hermit ­ age brought up - unemployment in­ ~urance for fishermen.

And I am quite sure I ca11 agree with him wholeheart- edly , as will every member here, that unless and until ,(' am quite sure the Honourable the Premier is familiar with that phrase, spoken from the very chair in which he sits) - HON. J. R. SMALLWOOD (Prime Minister) : No, this is a new chair. MR. HOLLETT: Well. unless and until unemployment insurance in some form or another can be brought in whereby our fishermen can gain the same sort of benefits, the same sort of plan as the man on the wharf who wheels the fish from the wharf head to the stor e-he gets unemployment insur­ ance.

But the man who goes out to sea in the boat, he is not considered. I am quite sure every man on the opposite side, as well as we here on this side, sir, will fight for that until we die, and we are going to get it, I can assure you whether from the Liberals or Con­ servatives. It seems to me there is a race on as to who is going to get it. I 'hope the Liberals are going to stay in to get it. That would mean the fishermen are going to get it the soon­ er. Unless they do, sir, we will have no fishermen. But let us keep on fight­ ing for it whether we are a Liberal or a Tory.

The section, sir, about BRINCO re­ minds me of counting your chickens be­ fore they are hatched . MR. COURAGE: The hen must be bought though . MR. HOLLETT: A good hen like \Vabush . \Vabush was a good hen. Javelin was a good hen, but does not seem to be functioning properly . I hope she does some day. Javelin was supposed to pay for the childrens' teeth, I understand. Well, I had better not say anything more about that . But praising up BRINCO too much at the moment and the wonderful discovery

16 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS of uranium, counting your chickens be­ fore they are hatched-I read from an

article somewhere which says BRINCO so far discovered certain reactions to a certain experiment which Jed to the belief there were certain deposits of uranium in that particular area. That is all they know at the present, as far as the world knows. But I say, don't le t us go all out on a limb about BRINCO just yet. And, sir, if the Lab­ rador has so much mineral wealth and every other kind of wealth why was it necessary for the Honourable the Premier to go to Germany and to Eng­ land and various places all over the world looking for people to come in here? Why did he have to go to Rothschild?

Why was not the great Canadian nation to which we now be­ long and to which we will always be­ long now, why was not that great Can­ adian nation all ready to step in and help us in the Labrador development without the Honourable the Premier having to go back and forth so many times to Great Britain? Now, sir, then again the honourable member for Fortune Bay - Hermitage has been very successful in the last few days as far as his district is concern­ ed. One of the wood companies is ready to come in and peel all the wood, after seven years.

Of course, there are more people on it now than there were seven years ago. But I have some re­ collection that wood was at one time peeled in that area. I am not sure I am right, if I am not somebody will correct me. But I have an idea that at one time before, wood was peeled in that area. Well, sir, I am not going to delay any more on the Speech from the Throne. I should not say anything more about it at the moment. It is lengthy, and I have not had time to study it properly. I am quite sure we are going to find something to say about it later on.

Let me conclude my remarks by again congratulating the member for Fortune Bay and Hennitage and the member for Burgeo and LaPoile on the excellent speeches which they have giv­ t!n. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker! MR. SMA!LLWOOD: Mr Speaker, I should like to congratulate the honour­ able member for Fortune - Hermitage and the honourable member for Bur­ geo and LaPoile for the very excellent manner in which they moved and sec­ onded the motion now before you, that a committee be appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

I should like at the same time to con­ gratulate my honourable friend, the Leader of the Opposition, for the friendly and good-spirited speech on the same occasion. I am more than happy to see 10 many here today both upstairs and down, from the floor anrl from the gal­ leries here, from the great southern side of our Newfoundland triangle.

I think notwithstanding the witticisms of my honourable friend here, I think the honourable members were correct when they said that was truly the greatest conference:!, the greatest assembly of representative men and women from the whole of the South West Coast thar has ever assembled since Newfoundland was discovered, I think that is the sim­ ple truth.

I don't think that ever be­ fore in our Newfoundland history did so many people come together from the great South West Coast, so many rep­ resentative people, representing every interest, logging an<! fishing, business, shopkeepers, magistrates, welfare offi­ cers and clergymen of all denomina-

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 17 tions, a hundred delegates from the whole coast, sitting in for four days with the Ministers, the Finance Min­ ister, the Deputy Ministers of the New­ foundland Government and some of the highest ranking officials of the Government of Canada, some of whom came down here especially for the purpose of being of service to those hundred delegates. I welcome them most sincerely to the people's House, to their own House. And for many of them it will be the first time that they have even seen, perhaps, the outside of the building let alone the inside.

And surely no one has a greater right to be here than those same people. Now, my honourable friend, the Leader of the Opposition must feel, notwithstanding the little joking he did, the good - natured joking he did, notwithstanding that I am sure, as one who is himself a native of the South West Coast, of the grand old town of Burin - because he does bear a name that is known and hon­ oured throughout that whole coast, and I think that as such he must himself be extremely happy to see so many here today from that same coast. Now, sir, I rather enjoyed the re­ ference of my honourable friend to BRINCO.

His honourable colleague on his left must have been uneasy, be­ cause if there is one thing the honour­ able and learned member for St. John's East is rather apprehensive about it is any reference whatsoever to BRIN­ CO. Because he is the author of the immortal Newfoundland classic which deserves to go down in our Newfound­ land story. He is the author of that great description of BRINCO, when he dismissed the whole subject here one day in a moment of impatience by calling it just Bunko. Now this "BUNKO" rather intrigues me. It is made up of some thirty of the largest companies in the United Kingdom.

It has some thirty share­ holders and each of these thirty share­ holders is a great corporation, the head of which is the great House of Roths­ child. One of them in the great Im­ perial Chemical Industries and the English Electric Company, British Pru­ dential, which is the world's greatest life insurance company, four other banks and three other great British insurance companies, half a dozen of the great British mining companies in­ cluding the famous Rio Tinto. There died in London the other day, Mr. Oppenheimer, one of the directors of the British Iron Corporation of South Africa.

That corporation was one of the shareholders of BRINCO. This company has assets of three thousand million dollars. And that is only one of the thirty great companies that make up BRINCO. BRINCO has gone into Labrador on a great programme of exploration. They have so far spent about three million dollars, in slightly more than three years.

A few days ago their Board of Directors met in Montreal and decided that they would now ex­ pand this year, this very Spring, as soon as navigation opens and as soon as the breakup comes, the construction of a great road across the heart of Lab­ rador, a road that will run from the east to west, from the great railway which runs now from Seven Islands down to Knob Lake, from that rail­ way, at some point about half way in to the Grand Falls, a great road is to be built which will cost some hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BRINCO has come to the conclusion, having engaged the great Montreal Engineering Com­ pany and the Shawinigan Power Com­ pany to conduct a very costly survey of Grand Falls and Hamilton gener-

18 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS ally-there vast water powers can be developed very profitably, and they have decided to commence the con­ struction of the road, which must be built to get in there to commence the construction and production of the power. Now it is true that I announced here a short while ago that BRINCO made a discovery of uranium . I :read the last three issues of the "Northern Min­ er," and in these three issues I read at least a dozen references to various uranium discoveric1 across the great Canadian nation, most of them in Ont­ ario and Saskatchewan.

Ami in each story of these uranium deposits I was particularly interested to notice that the reference was always to the per­ centage of uranium anrl it wo11lrl nm .576 or .364 or .892 or .973, that is to say that it wonlrl run fwm one­ half of one percent or a little over up to but not quite up to one pe1·­ cent uranium oxide . And if you were to take all the uranium mines in the Beaver Lodge Province or in the Blind River Province you would find they averngc something of 1hr. orcler of one-half of one percent of uranium.

In my announcement I said that grab samples taken by BRINCO at Monkey Hill and hy Frobisher a,t Stompy Lake had nm (and I did not say which was which) from five per­ cent uranium oxide lo the ton to six and a half percent uranium to the ton. No one ever suggested, no one would be such a fool as lo sur;­ gest that it is going to average five percent uranium or six and a half percent uranium when the average across Canada is one and one-half of one percent. If Monkey Hill averages one - half of one percent it will be a great an<l fabulous discovery if it is there in any quantity.

It has to be only the average of Beaver Lodge or the average of Blind River to be one of the truly great uranium provinces of the whole nation. There are those who think it will average well above one-half of one percent. Mr. Speaker, BRINCO the other day decided to sell some more shares. It was the first time they had sold any shares since the origin al ones they sold to theit · original shareholders. They decided the other day they would sell two million more shares at three dol­ lars a share. If they succeeded in sell­ ing twn million shares that would give them another six million dollars in their lreasmy.

They did not a<lvertise it . No advertisement of the fact ap­ peared anywhere in the world. The shares are not listed on any stock mar­ ket. They had nu advertisement what­ soever.

And of course some people would wonder would a company such as BRINCO, operating in Labrador searching for minerals, measuring hy­ dro-electric potentials hut having no mines, no production, having nothing in production, a compa11y with merely sole right for a certain length of time from this House, this Legislature, the sole right to explore in Labrador and to explore in Newfoundland over cer­ tain areas, with no more than that, could they in fact find anyone in the world willing to part with six million dollars for these two million shares? IL was an interesting question.

The answer is that there were people pre­ pared to part with the six millions, and actually they were offered some­ thing over twenty million dollars. In­ stead of selling two million shares they could have sold between six and seven million shares at three dollars each. They refused it. All they accept­ ed was the six million dollars and they sold only the two million shares. I would suspect from the fact that

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 19 there are some people in the United States and in the United Kingdom and in Canada (because it was in these countries that this money was offered to BRINCO) there are people who have a high opinion of BRINCO and a high opinion of the uranium find in Labrador and a high opinion of the prospects of this great BRINCO Cor­ poration. I was sorry when my honourable friend at first ridiculed the Childrens' Health Scheme, but was very happy that he amended that as he went along, and praised it and expressed his welcome and said that he would support it and that his party would support it.

I welcome that from my honourable friend. MR. HOLLETT: Mr Speaker, to a point of order. I don't think I rid­ iculed that particular item at all. I might have said something about the honourable member's teeth in Fortune Bay, but I certainly did not ridicule the idea of the Chiklrcns' Health Scheme. MR. SMALLWOOD: I misunder- stood my honourable friend. I did understand him to ridicule it at first and in the end when he came back to it to praise and welcome it. I[ I mis­ understood him on the first occasion I am happy to know I did, and would stand on what he said on the second occasion.

My honourable friend did engage in some ridicule with reference to the fisheries. He said, with a wink to the galleries and to the people of New­ foundland generally - throwing them a fast wink - he said - Well, the Speech from the Throne has some­ thing to say this year about the fish­ eries. Hal Ha! There is an election this year. Of course, at least I think, obviously what he meant people to in­ fer was - Is not this a little thick? Is it not plastering it on a little bit thickly?

Here they have been in power for seven years, and there is go­ ing Lo be an election this year so they are talking about fisheries and fishery development. "What have they done," he asked "in the last seven years?" Then he asked the question again - "',Vhat has been done?" Then he says: "But now they are going to spend mil­ lions and millions, on the eve of an election." ,vhat have we done? In the seven years we have spent ten million dol­ lars on the fisheries. MR. HOLLETT: It was the salt fisheries I referred to. MR. SMALLWOOD: Some of this ten millions was on the salt fishery.

My honourable friend did not dis­ tinguish between salt and fresh fish, he just said the fisheries. Maybe the honourable gentleman meant the salt fishery but he certainly did not say it. This Government have in the past seven years !en t out ten millions of the people's money for the fishery, to various firms and concerns in New­ foundland to enable these Newfound­ land concerns to expand or enlarge the fish plants they already had or to enable those concerns to build or buy more draggers or to enable firms to build entirely new fish plants.

There are some very outstanding fish plants in Newfoundland today built almost entirely with Newfoundland Government money, and others are in course of construction at this very mo­ ment. Ten million dollars - Has that accomplished anything? The number of people employed in

20 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS the fish plants around Newfoundland, in these plants tha t we lent the money to, was fifteen hundred in 1950. It is now four thousand thanks to the ten million dollars we lent the plants. The plants to whom we lent the ten million dollars had employed in 1950, fifteen hundred persons, ashore, in and around the plant , and in 1955 they had employed four thou­ sand. The wages paid to those same workers in I 950 was one and a half million dollars for that year, precisely $1,522,980.22, down to the very exact cent.

Last year it was four and a quarter millions, thanks to the ten mil­ lion dollars. In one year, last year, these plants to whom we lent the ten million dollars paid out to their staff, the men and women who worked in and around their plants, four million dollars. Don't forget this has become a great Newfoundland indu stry . Don't forget that. Thanks to the enterprise of the owners of these plants and thanks to our ten million dollars we lent them. The combination of their energy and brains and our public money the frozen fish industry in New­ foundland is now Canada's great froz­ en fish industry.

It leads the whole nation. That is not to be disputed. The inshore fishermen from whom those plants bought fish in 1950 were seven hundred in number - seven hundred inshore fishermen - Last year there were four thousand inshore fishermen, who, if they had not sold their fish to these plants would have been obliged to salt the fish. And they were paid for that fish one and a quarter million dollars in 1950 and last year they were paid three million dollars.

The number of crews on the boats that went out was one hundred and six and jumped to five hundred could give it year by year , but it has come up to one million dollars. So it goes on. Ten million dollars we lent, and already, already, to the end of 1955, and now we are beginning a new year and we have another ten years ahead. I mean this Government, of course, obviously, at least ten. And already these companies have paid out thirty-two million dollars . We lent them ten million dollars .

We lent them ten million dollars and as a re­ sult (I am not naming any of them) these companies have already paid out thirty - two million dollars in wages and for fish to the fishermen. We have only lent them ten million. They are not in full production yet because some of that ten million was for plants not finished and which have not pro­ duced one dollars worth yet. The great plant in Twillingate, the great plant at Catalina, the great plant at Trepassey are only partly in produc­ tion.

When all these plants are in production they will pay out about ten million dollars a year as a result of our loan of ten million extending over five or six or seven years. How much of that is on the South West Coast? I have the names of the concerns. I won't give them here at this moment. Six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

That is a total of two million, one million nine hundred and eighty thousand, twenty thousand below two million, actually well over two millions because I have not included all here. Two million of that ten million. My hon­ ourable friend, the Minister of Fish­ eries says he has a later check and and the wages paid to them three hun- it is over three million . I am aston­ dred and forty thousand dollars. I ished, surprised at that. I have not

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 21 had them all . Ramea, Burgeo, Grand Bank, Fortune , Gaultois, is not here. MR. HOLLETT: Fishery Products. MR. SMALLWOOD: No, not one of these is Fishery Products, not one. Gaultois is not Fishery Products. Ramea is not. Burgeo is not. For­ tune is not. Grand Bank is not Fish­ ery Products. MR. HOLLETT: Burin is. MR. SMAI.JLWOOD: Burin is. No, that is not included in these plants, three million dollars, which we have already !en t to develop the fisheries of the South West Coast.

Now I am not boasting about that, nor am I giving the figures to con­ vince anybody we have done enough . I don't think for one moment we have done enough. I don't think we have done nearly enough . We have not done h alf nor quarter as much as the members for those districts have ask­ ed us to do . But our great lack is for enterprising merchants and firms . Our great need is for energetic and progressive and capable merchants. And if they want another three mil­ lion for the South West Coast, God bless them . We will help them. We will give it if this House will agree .

Everyone on this side and I am sure on the other side will agree to that. But we cannot give it to nobody . There must be somebody . So far we have given those who have asked for it except in a case here and there where somebody wanted it on condi­ tions that we just could not accept and we did not accept. Two oth er things and then I am done . I should like to pass a mild com­ ment on the extraordinary propen- sity of some sections of the press to be misled or to mislead itself .

I notice in the evening paper tonight, for example, an example of that very propensity, an item which says that the Leader of the Opposition said that if the honourable members for Green Bay and Trinity South had not re­ signed their seats, he, the Leader of the Opposition, would have gotten them unseated. And the same item went on - (and my honourable friend will be interested. He has probably not read it yet.) MR. HODLETT: No. I have not read it. MR. SMA:LLWOOD: I will tell the honourable gentleman what it says. He will be surprised, no doubt, as I was when I read it.

He is quoted as saying it is a good thing for them they did get out. If they did not, he, the Leader of the Opposition, would see that they would lose their seats, be unseated, fired out of the House. Then it went on - (I notice my honourable friend shook his head). I cite it as an extraordinary example of how the press misleads itself be­ cause I know no one could have said it to the press. My honourable friend shakes his head, meaning he did not say it. Of course he did not. Then it went on to enlarge on the reason he is supposed to have given .

And the reason is that these h o n o u r­ able gentlemen, who are here this evening, I see sitting in as visitors - I suppose they find, having resigned their seats to go into private life, find it a little difficult not to come and see the opening of the House - The reason alleged is that they had violat­ ed the House of Assembly Act which lays down the qualifications for mem­ bership in this Chamber, violated it by accepting positions of emolument

22 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS under the Crown. Now that is a long and rather stilted way of saying they accepted jobs from the Government. And it cited in the case of the Hon­ ourable member for Trinity South the fact that he was the liaison officer between the Government of New­ foundland and the Iron Ore Com­ pany of Canada, which , in fact, we all know to be true.

And every one of us, Opposition and all for several years past have known that fact and every one of us for several years past, or most of us have been very happy to use his good offices to get jobs for our constituents because he has gotten jobs for thousands of New­ foundlanders in the last three or four years and will continue to do so. But cvcryouc kuows he was the govern­ ment's liaison. The Government does not pay him a cent. He was paid by the company from whom he held the position.

The company asked me, as Premier, if I would suggest some­ one who had our confidence to act as liaison to see the Newfoundlanders rights at Seven Islands and Knob Lake, and see they were protected. And I said, yes, I know the man for you, a good Newfoundlander, a man who has knocked about this island and knows our people. He has not lost the com­ mon touch and can mix amongst our own Newfoundland people and talk to the biggest officials of the Company and see that Newfoundlanders are pro­ tected. I said, we have the man for you, Max Button. So they gladly ap­ pointed him and paid him a salary ever since.

He did not vacate his seat for that. There is no reason in the world why he should. Nobody in this world could put him out of this House for that if he did not feel like going out. T,hen the honoura:ble members for Green Bay and Fogo: They ,would have been expelled from the House, this item says in the evening paper; on the authority of the honournble gentle­ man. They would have .been expelled from the House because ,they had po sitions of emolument under the Crown. They had been employed by companies receiving loans from the Government.

If that were ,true, and my honournble friend knows it is not true, if tha,t were true ~hen his col­ league -who sat here for six years, Mr. Fog-will, w:ho is an employee of a com­ pany receiving many hundreds of mil­ lion s of dollars from the Government of Canada, and could not have sat in the House of Commons. ,ve know that rail-way men do so in the House of Commons. The fact that the Gov­ ernment lends money ,to a company docs not mean by any means that an employee o,f -that company cannot be elcctecl to the House of Assembly, anrl ha,·ing been elected cannot sit. Of course, he can sit.

It is weU known Baxter Morgan ds •t•he manager, and has been for some time, of Koch Shoes in Hai,bour Grace, and he is doing a splendid job. And it is well known tbat Gordon Janes is manager of At­ lanlic Hardboard Industries Limited, And he .is doing a spiendid job too. It is well known these two men brought these plants from the "red" into bhe "black", from losing money to breaking even. T,hey have done excellent work. But by doing so could they be kicked out of this House? Of course not. And I am quite sure my honourable .friend did not say he in­ tended to have ,uhem kicked out.

It is just a piece of misinformation and ,inference. I cannot suspect, I have not the ifogg,iest notion who could :have any hard feelings for the Liberal Government, anyone assooiated wit-h the pariticular paper in question, Nev­ ertheless it appeared there. And I

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 23 am gllad now t-he matter has been MR. HOLLETT: Not in the press cleared up. in this province. Finally may I say t,his one word. Incidentally prob<11bly I should be hap­ py the piece did appear because if I know my men (and I still say "my men") when the election does come, if Baxter Morgan is not down in Green Bay and Gordon Janes ,is not down in Fogo and Max Button ove r in Trin ily South campaigning for th e U ,bcrah Party or whoever will be the Liberal candidates, I don't know 111\ men. I can t:hank ,t-he

article in ques ­ tion for winning a few thousand votes, if possibJe, in those distrJcts, where we get practicaHy all there are anv­ how. Finally, may I say t,his, Mr. Speaker, my honourable foiends opposite are a small Opposition in number. They are not small otherwise, but they are small in number, very few in num­ bers. Let me pu,t it -this way.

I have never known a session in ~hose ten sessions to which reference is made in th e Speech from the Throne, I have never known a session when the newspapers did not pPint pieces ta~k­ ing along· ,this line: "T,he gallant Ji1 - tle band of Opposit.ion members fac­ ing a bunoh of tyrants sitting across from them who with steam-roller tac­ tics slug the l.ife out of them, would not Jet a word in edgewise, wi,th no t.ime to debate, not time to consider." That happens every year since Con­ federation . MR. SMAIJLWOOD: Yes. MR. HOLLETT : Dreaming. MR. SMALLWOOD: No I was not dreaming. I don't know.

We have been very sensitive about ,this. We have gotten mad, good and angry. Who does not get mad and angry? If a man ihas not got .it in him to get mad sometimes the1·e is nothing in him , he is just an em,pty shell. So we all g·et angry and good and sore . .But that passes off quickly and theie is nothing vindictive about it. I think Lha I we have co-opernted this seven years pretty well with the Opposition. I know that bhe Oppo&ition hav e co­ operated pretty well-pretty well. They have co-opera-tecl pretty weH with the Government. They have been accommodating. They have attacked us. They have to do ,that.

They have attacked the legislation. That is ,t,heir duty, their job . I do want to 1el:I ·bhem if>Ubli-cly again for the eleventh time, as I have clone a-t every session, all the time they want to de­ bate any piece of legislation we will bring .forward, !hey can hav e. Lf 1hey want postponement so that they can give further thought, th ey can have the •postponement. Anything -we can do to help rhem to study the legisfation and take w,hat tim e th ey need is there for the asking in this session as in every session of the other ten. A MEMBER OF THE OPPOSI- TION: That is not true. Last year MR.

HOLLETT: Not in this you told us, on opening day, the day Province. you were going to close. MR. SMALLWOOD: I kn()W it did not hap.pen but it d'id appear in ~he papers . MR. SMALLWOOD: The honour­ able member is referring now to the regular session and not the special

24 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS sesgion. I ,told the House on opening day at the regular session that I was ex.peoted to attend 1tJhe Dominion­ P·rovincial Conference and that I pro­ posed to attend i,t. That ddd not fol•· low •that ohe House had to clooe. J.t did ,in faot close. But it did not have to c.losr, T cou ,ld ha,ve attended the conference and oould have :been ac· companied ihy the M.inister of Fdnance and the Honoura:bJe the Attorney General and the House could have gone on . There was no need to do it. All ,the t,ime was given anyone who needed or wanted it. MR. BROWNE : That is not true. MR.

SMALLWOOD: I ohink it is true. At al!l events whether it was ever true !bflfore or not it is true now today. All ,the time ohe honouralble gentlemen want, four of them (one of them has resigned and 0here is an­ other gentleman who comes in here once or twice throughout a session) whatever time they may need or he needs they can have. All the time they want is ,ulrnre fur t'he asking . Let us make this a good ses~ion for 0he children, -let us make i,t a good session ,for the fishermen, let us make it a good session for all -the people of Newifoundland. MR.

SPEAKER: Lt has been moved and seconded ,that a Commiotee be appointed to draft an address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. The Commiotee wi!Jl consist af the follow.ing ihonoura'ble mem1bers : The honourable members who moved and seconded the motion and ~he hon­ ourable member for Harbour Main­ BeH •Island who sits on my right. MR. SMALLWOOD: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by ,the Honourable Leader of ,the Oppasition that this Hou8e desires to record -the ex-pression of ,its deep sorrow a;t bhe deaith of ohe Right Reverend Ph,rnip Selwyn Albra­ ham, M.A ., D.D., six·oh Bishop of Newfoundland.

T,he late Bishop Abrarham was a great Newfoundlander. He was a New foundlandcr, not by birth but by adoption. BUit I believe tha,t he loved every river and every rock, every tree, every bay, every

section of this island. I believe Bishop Abraham came to be at heart a real and true Newifound­ lander. He was known to tens of th o-usands of our people, and he was respeoted by al! Newfoundlanders. He was an Engliishman. He was born in England in 1897. He served wioh the Royal Ai,tillery, in fact, in Wo11ld War I. In 1937 the was ap­ poirnted Bishop in England and in ~he same year appointed Co-adjutor Bishop of Newfoundland and on the death of the Late Bishop Whlte in 1942 was appointed BishoP to succeed him, and ,was enithroned as Bishop of Newfoundland in 1943.

Ill health followed him for several years, but he became dangerously ill on November 18, 1955, and was ad­ mit-ted ,to hospital. He died on the 22nd of December 1955, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter. Mr. Speaker, ever since, I think, since Confederation the Bishop of Newlfoundland ,honoured this Chamber and the House by coming here as the head of his church in Newfoundland. We were aU extremely proud to see His Lordshi -p viisi,t us here on opening day. He was an e:,ctremely &imple man, unpretentious, very friendly. I found that he was an enormously learned

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 25 man. M~re t,han once I visited him at Bishop's Court and in his study discussed many matters, not all of them ,temporal matters, not all of them mat­ ters of state, sOIIIle of them very per­ sona'! and a•Efecting matters of the ~pirit. I :found him always an extreme­ ly friendly man, an extremely simple man. :I shall never forget, jus,t befme Conlfederation I call'ed on him on :New Year's Day a,t Bashop's Court to pay my Te&pects to ihim as thousands of Newfoundlanders did on New Year's Day.

I was somewhat known at Lhe time as an advocate of Con­ federntion, of union of New.found­ tand wi,th Canada, so when my turn came and I was presented to hlm, I said: "My Lord, I think ,t,hat per­ ha,ps you are uhe first Confederate, you were a Confederate before I was." His eyes ~winkled, and he wanted to know what I meant by ,that. I said: "You advocated the union of ,the Church of England in Newfoundland and in Can­ ada." That union, I think, either just recently had come about or had S'hort1y a,fter .

So ·he appreciated ,Vhe aptness of the j![Jus-tration I used to call hrrm a Conf ederate, Whether he was or not I really do not know. But I know that he was a ve11y foiend­ ly and very sincere man. And I know that Newfoundland has lost a great man and a great Christian in the late Bis:hop Abraham . MR. HOLLETT: Mr. S.peaker, in rising· to speak •to the motion spoken to so well by th e Honourable Lhe Premier I would like •to say t'hat the Lord Bishop who has recently passed a,waiy was, in my opinion, a fr.iend of all men. He •was big, large in stature but he was mighty, Sir, in spirit, in soul.

He loved to go out amongst his people and amongs,t the people of Newfoundland and talk to them and go here and there and everywhere around -tlhe coas,t ,in a:11 weathers rrn order uhat he mi,ght brjng the message of his Master to the people whom he served. He was a great man . He was a big man in every sense of the word. And I shall always remember his stride as he came into this building and in fact on any occasion when I saw him .

J had the honour, as did my honourable and learned friend on my right to at­ tend a university, the same university or at least one of the colleges of the same university with His Lordship the Bishop. And as he has passed through life hei·e in Newfoundland during the past twenty years he has clone more probably for the peopl e of this coun­ try -than any other man with whom I, at least , have come in contact. I would like to say something· else, now that I am on my feet on this particular motion touching the sorrow which also 'has come ,to the home of the famil,y of the Honourablle the Premier.

And I say, this, sir, with all humility and all respect because within a week we shall probably be at each others throats, so to ~peak, but I hav e grea:t sympathy for the Honourable the Premier . And I wish to express on behalf of myself and my colleagues on this sid e, our sympathy and ,condolence on Lhe recent sadness which came to him i-n the loss of his aged father. I did not know Mr. Smallwood al all.

I was privileged, I will say to know his son very well, and having had the privilege of knowing his son very well, and I strongly suspect that in order to Jive to the age he J.ived, well over eighty years of age, I think he too had somewhat of the fighting spirit. So, sir , in seconding the motion

26 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS made by the Honourable the Premier 1 would like to couple with that also our expression of sympathy, sincere sympathy; for the family of the Hon­ ourable the Premier on their recent sad loss. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker! MR. SPEAKER: It has been moved by the Honourable the Premier and seconded by Lhe Honourable Leader of the Opposition that the House wishes Lo express its deep sorrow on ihe death of the Bishop Abraham, sixth Bishop of Newfoundland. On motion resolution adopted. Copy nf resolution ordered forwarded. ,VfR. CURTIS: T give notic:,·, Mr.

Speaker, J will tomorrow ask leave tn introduce a Bill "A11 A(t Further to -\mend 1he MFn101ial UnivP1sity .\ct". and also a Bill 'An Act Further to Amend the Memorial University (Pen­ sions) Act." HON. C. H. BALLAM (Minister or Labour): Mr. Speaker, I give notice. 1 will on tomorrow ask leave to intro­ duce a Bill "An Act to Amend the \Vrnsk:men's Compensation Act." HON. DR. F. W. ROWE (Minister ol Mines and Resources): Mr Speaker.

I give notice I •win on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a Bill "An Acl to Amend the Ag-ricultural Societies Act," and also a Bill "An Act Respecting rhe Disposal of Waste Material and the Protection of Non-Tidal \-\Taters,'' ancl a Bill "An Act to Amend the Frobisher Limited (Confirmation of Agreement) Act," and a Bill "An Act to Amend the Saw Mills Act," and also a Bill "An Act Further to Amend the Crown Lands (Mines and Quar­ ries) Act." Mr.

Speaker, I give notice I will on tomorrow ask leave to intro­ duce a Bill "An Act to Approve and Gil'e Statutory Effect to an Agree­ ment Between the Government of Can­ ada and the Govcn1ment of Newfound­ land Relating 10 Assistance to Unem­ ployed persons and the Sharing of the Costs the1 cof." HON. G. J. POWER (Minister of Finance) : Mr. Speaker, I give notice I w i II on torn or row ask leave to intro­ duce a Bill "An Act Further to Amend the Cancer Control Tax Act, 1953." Giving Notice of Questions MR.

BROWNE:-To ask the Hon­ ourable Lhe Minister of Economic De­ velopmcn t to lay on the table of the l·[ousc ihc following information: (I) \\'hat was Lhe total cost of the Special Session of the I-louse of Assem­ bly held in September 19~5?

To table all copies of correspondence between the Minister and/or the New­ foundland Labrador Corporation and the Javelin Company and/or the Lake , ,vabush Railway Company relative to the development of the iron ore con­ cession at Lake Wabush. (\:!) To ask the Honourable the At- 1mney General to lay on ,the table of I he House a copy of the Report of the Commission of Public Utilities on Lhe application of the United Towns Electric Co. Ltd. for an increase in the rates charged for electricity, to­ gether with copies of correspondence between the Minister and the Com­ mission or Chairman relative to the same.

By what method were the rates declared by the Commission subse­ quently altered? How were the final rates arrivd at? MR. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, I have a large number of questions here to submit, but due to the lateness

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 27 of the hour I will let them lie over to the next sitting. MR. SPEAKER: I would appreci­ ate it. MR. HOLLETT:-To ask the Hon­ ourable the Minister of Fisheries or appropriate Minister to lay on the table of the House the following in­ formation:

(1) The total amount of money paid to the Newfoundland Fish­ eries Authority since its appoint­ ment - the amounts to cover the cost of salaries, wages and travel­ ling expenses, item by item. Give the names of persons and the amounts paid out under these headings.

(2) How much h.is been paid out for technical services, salaries and ex­ penses, including sundry expenses in connection with the Newfound­ land Fisheries Authority.

(3) What amounts have been paid out under the following headings from the Authority Grant? Fish­ ing Demonstration, General En­ gineering, Commercial Plants and under any other heading.

(4) How much money has been spent for Fishery Development by the Authority at the following places:­ Quirpon, LaScie, Seldom, Valley­ field, Badger 's Quay, St. John's, Merasheen, Change Islands, Joe­ Batt's Arm, Twillingate, Catalina, Trepassey and any other Fish Set­ tlement?

(5) Give details as to just what work has been accomplished in these places.

(6) Give a detailed account of the number of fishermen now engag­ ed in (

a) Salt Cod Fish, Fresh Frozen Fish Industry, to include the names of each Settlement, the number of fishermen there and the total number of quintals of Salt Cod landed in each settle­ ment. The total number of quin­ tals of Salt Cod cured and the total number of quintals shipped away as Heavy Salted and the place to which this Heavy Salted fish was shipped.

(7) Give the location of all Fresh Frozen Fish Plants in Newfound­ land and also the quantities (in millions of lbs.) of fish processed by these plants since April I, 1955. The number of men and women employed in each said plant. List the names of all such plants who secured a loan from the Govem­ men t, showing the amount of said Loan and the .-ate of interest be­ ing paid and the portion, if any, of the principal which has been paid back to the Government.

(8) Give the total amount of monies which have been loaned by the Government to (

a) All Fresh Frozen Fish Plants, (

b) All firms or individuals for the purpose of Salt Fish Production. In the case of the latter, list the names of companies or individuals . MR. SMALLWOOD: Mr. Speaker, I move that the House at its rising do adjourn until tomorrow Monday at 3:00 of the clock. On motion the House then adjourn­ ed at 5:20 until tomorrow Monday, March 19 at 3:00 of the clock. MONDAY, March 19, 1956. The House mel at three of the clock in the afternoon, pursuant to adjournment. HON. L. R. CURTIS (Attorney Gen­ eral) : Mr. Speaker, since our last ses­ sion this Legislature has lost the ser-

28 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS vices of the late clerk, the late Mr. William Proudfoot. I think it only proper we might make a note of his loss in our midst and send the appro­ priate resolutions to his widow and children. Mr. Proudfoot has been law clerk since the beginning of the pres­ ent assembly. He has come here faith­ fully and was always most obliging. And I am sure that the House would like to place on record a resolution of sympathy on his passing . In recent years he has suffered great­ ly. He has been ill for quite a long period. During the last session in par­ ticular he was suffering a great deal.

I am sure this motion has the full con­ currence of the whole House . I thank you, Mr. Speaker. MR. HIGGINS: Mr. Speaker, I would like to second the motion proposed by the Honourable the Attorney General. I would endorse everything he said . I knew Mr. Proudfoot perhaps a little better than many members of the House. I came in contact with him a great deal in our mutual profession, and, from a purely personal standpoint, he happened to be the returning offic­ er in the district of St. John's East in the last provincial election. He was a man of a rather quiet disposition but of great abilities.

It is a matter of re­ gret that he died at such an early age. I would like to second the motion of an expression of sympathy to his family, Mr. Speaker. On motion it was ordered that a copy of the motion be entered in the Journal and a copy sent to Mrs. Proudfoot. HON. J. R. SMALLWOOD (Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, I should like to table for the benefit of the members of the House a photographic repro­ duction of the artists conception of the new fountain now in course of con­ struction in front of this building, and the whole of the improvement plan­ ned for the grounds in front and be­ side this building.

There is a copy for every member of the House, if honourable members would pick up their copies from the office of the Clerk of the House as they go out, they will find enough there for that purpose. There are enough copies also for distribution to mem­ bers of the press and radio. I should like also to table some maps. In the last regular session of the House the members of the Oppositon asked me if they could have maps showing in some detail the division of the new constituencies, i.e. those con­ stituencies whose boundaries are now to be different from those that existed.

That will require a total of eight maps, three of which are prepared and are tabled herewith for the benefit of the members of the Opposition. The other three maps will be tabled to­ morrow. Then I think the whole posi­ tion will be covered . These six maps will show all the constituencies of this Province wherein changes of boundar­ ies have taken place . In those districts where the boundaries are unchanged there is no point in tabling maps. But the maps will show any changes what­ soever in the statute we passed last session. MR. M. HOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition): Mr.

Speaker, may I ask the Honourable the Premier if he said there were three maps for the Opposition? There are four of us here. I don't know why he should leave me out. MR. SMALLWOOD: They are for the Opposition. These three maps are each different, and there will be three others, making a complete set of six

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 29 for the Opposition. I would assume they would go immediately into the custody and possession of the Honour­ able Leader of the Opposition. At all events they are for the Opposition as such and not separate. MR. HOLLETT: I thought they were meant individually. MR. SMALLWOOD: No. They are for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. HON. G. POWER (Minister of Fi­ nance): Mr. Speaker, I have here the printed book of Public Accounts for the year 1955 and also the Auditor General's Report. I ask leave to have these tabled and ordered to be print­ ed. On motion leave was given by the House.

Presenting Petitions HON. M. MURRAY: (Minister of Provincial Affairs) : Mr. Speaker, I have here a petition signed by over five hundred electors of Trepassey, Biscay Bay and Portugal Cove, which are settlements adjoining Trepassey. The prayer of the petition is for the provision of electrical energy in that area. Trepassey, as you know, sir, is one of the more heavily settled parts of that region of our country extending from Cape Race to Cape Ray. I think in all that great stretch of coast there are only two other settlements, Grand Bank and St. Lawrence which have a greater population.

Presently there is in operation a fish plant there which went into operation last year, and the fishing industry is expected to expand a great deal in the coming years. So that Trepassey is on the verge of a great era of prosperity, we hope, and it is possible that its population will take a great up-trend in the very near future. The prayer of the petition is, sir, that the electrical energy be supplied either through the extnsion of the existing line which now goes as far as Renews or that an electrical deve­ lopment be set up on the Northwest River.

I have been in consultation with some professional authorities on the subject, and they say a hydro-electric scheme on the North-West River would be entirely a practical proposi­ tion. I have been in touch with the op­ erators of the plant. They say they would immediately be in a position to take about five hundred horse power of electricity if available. The over­ head has been very heavy with regard to diesel energy. That is a customer able to take five hundred horse power immediately. There are a number of houses in the vicinity which would im­ mediately take over electrical energy if supplied.

I am quite convinced that such a proposition would be thoroughly prac­ tical and self-financing. That is to say the initial cost of such hydro develop­ ment could be amortized over a num­ ber of years. I think it is entirely sound and satisfactory from a financial point of view. I have great pleasure, sir, in sup­ porting the petition, and ask that it be laid on the Table of the House and refrrrerl to the rlepartment concerned. MR. W. J. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, as one having represented the constit­ uency of St.

John's West in which the places referred to are located, I have considerable knowledge of the area to which my honourable friend referred. I appreciate the desire of the people and of the operators of the fish plant

30 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS there for some sort of supply of elec­ tricity, whether by a development near the site of the fish plant or by a hydro-electric development. But, sir, we have a power commission set up last year. And it seems to me that this is a matter that should be sent to them to consider and how it could be done in the best possible manner, I am not sure that the scheme that my honour­ able and learned friend referred to of developing the water powers of the North-West River is feasible, as he seems satisfied.

Certainly there is plenty of wate1· there. f have seen that river in flood, and it is like Niagara sometimes . But it is a gradually rising river, and there is not a great deal of fall. However a survey may demon - strate that. It gives me much pleasure, sir, to suppnrt the petition of those peopk I would like to see (as I said last year) every place where it is possible to get electric power get it, because it brings so many good things to the peo­ ple who have it. On motion petition received for ref­ erence to the department concerned. MR. CURTIS: Mr.

Speaker, I have the honour to present a petiton from some two hundred and forty residents of Whale's Gulch. Whale's Gulch is a small fishing community about three miles from Moreton's Harbour. It is a community which depends entirely on fishing. And its sole contact with the outside world is Moreton's Harbour, which, as I said , is some three miles away. There is at the moment a very, very rough road connecting the two settle­ ments. But the road is not satisfactory.

Ami the prayer of this petition is that the road from Whale's Gulch to More­ ton's Harbour be a proper road that the people can use for the purpose of bringing their fish from Whale's Gulch lo Moreton's Harbour. I would ask leave to table the peti­ tion and ask that it be referred to the department to which it relates. On motion petition received for ref­ erence to the department concerned. MR. BROWN; Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Rocky Harbour in the District of St. Barbe.

The petition requests that the sec­ tion of road, which they have indicated on a special map, become part of the Government kept secondary roads. At the present time and for the past ten years this road has been only partial­ ly seen to on a fifty-fifty basis. A..:c.:ord­ ing to the petition the increased traffic conditions leads them to duuul whe­ ther this road can stand up for anoth­ er year. The road is used by buses and by trucks carrying fish and supplies. Also the Church of England Ceme­ tery is situated at the end of this road.

And living along the road are forty­ nine families, most with children at­ tending school on the other side of the harbour. Mr. Speaker, I support this petition, and ask leave that it be laid on the Table of the House and forwarded to the department concerned . On motion petition received for ref­ erence to the department concerned . MR. BROWN: I have another peti­ tion here, Mr. Speaker, which I have the honour to present. It is signed by practically all the voters of Sally's Cove, St. Paul's Inlet, Cow Head, Par­ sons Pond, Daniels Harbour, Portland Creek and other scttlcmrnts in the electoral district of St.

Barbe. The petition states that the cottage

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 31 hospital at Norris Point serves thous­ ands of people who must cross the narrows at St. Paul's Inlet at the nar­ rowest point. It is frequently impossi­ ble to pass over because of ice or rough water and as a result there is consid­ er,ible discomfort to the sick to the point of endangering life. Apparently the highroad now being built will be useful to the people of this shore and commerce and industry will therefore also be much served if this connection were made .

J have pleasure, sir, in supporting this petition and ask leave that it be placed on the Table of the House and forwarded to the depa1·tment concern­ ed. On motion petition received for ref­ erence to the department concerned. Presenting Reports of Standing and Select Committees MR. COURAGE: Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to present to the House the re­ port of the Select Committee appoint­ ed to draft a reply to the Speech of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, as follows: His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Leonard Cecil Outerbridge, Knight Bachelor, C.B.E., D.S.O. May it please Your Honour.

We, the Commons of Newfound­ land, in Legislative Session assembled. beg to thank your Honour for the Gracious Speech which Your Honour has addressed to this House. Sgd: John R. Courag·e. G. M. Norman. Asseml>ly Room, March 19, 1956. MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that this report be adopted. On motion the debate on the Ad- dress in Reply was adjourned until a later hour this day: Giving Notice of Questions None. Giving Notice of Questions Mr. Browne gave notice of quest.ions: Mr. Hollett gave notice of questions: Question No. v: MR.

BROWNE: To ask the Honour­ able the Minister of Economic Devel­ opment to lay on the table of the House <the folowing information: What was the total cost of the Spe­ cial Session of the House of Assembly held in September 1955? To table all copies of correspondence between the minister and/or the New­ foundland Labrador Corporation and the Javelin Company and lor the Lake Wabush Railway Company relative to the development of the iron ore con­ cession at Lake \Vabush. Answers to Questions MR. SMALLWOOD: Mr. Speaker, the first part of the question is wrong­ ly addressed.

The reply to the second part of the question is that no corres­ pondence has taken place between the Javelin Company or the Lake \Vabush Company and me. And as for any cor­ respondence that took place between them and the Newfoundland and Lab­ rador Corporation I can say only it is not the practice to table in this House correspondence that NALCO has with its clients, with its customers. It was never done, aqd we don't propose to begin. MR. BROWNE: Mt.

Speaker, would ask the honourable minister of Economic Development if it is not in order to ask him in his position, ilS I presume he is the one who controls the policy of the Newfoundland and Labrador Corporation, for the corres­ pondence between that subsidiary of his department and himself?

32 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS MR. SMALLWOOD: I don 't agree that it is a subsidiary of my depart­ ment. And I can only repeat what I said. It has not been the practice and we don't propose it should become the practice to table in this House the business correspondence between NAL­ CO and the various interests with whom it does business. MR. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, just one supplementary question: Not the firms with which NALCO does busi­ ness, but the minister, the Representa­ tive of the Department in this House -surely the correspondence between him. MR. SMALLWOOD: I have said there was none.

I gave that answer a moment ago. MR. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, may I direct then the first question to the minister of Finance. I presume he is the one to whom it should have been directed . If the honourable minister would take that as notice . MR. POWER: Nods. Question No. 2: In coune of pre­ paration. Question No. 3: In course of prepar­ ation. MR. POWER: Mr. Speaker, earlier in the sitting I asked permission to have the Public Acounts printed . I as­ sume you gave that permi ssion? MR. SPEAKER: Yes. I asked th;,t the House give leave. MR. POWER: Mr. Speaker, I now ask leave to have them tabled. MR.

BROWNE: That is fast work. MR. HOLLETT: Mr. Speaker, may I ask if there is any Public Accounts committee in the House? MR. SPEAKER: I have no reply to make to the honourable member . suggest information on the printing of material or material printed might be directed to the honourable Minister of Supply. Orders of the Day Second Reading of Bill, "An Act Fur­ ther to Amend the Registration of Deeds Act." MR. CURTIS: Mr.

Speaker, it is our custom at the opening of the House before we enter upon the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, as you will know and as the House will be aware for us to move the first read­ ing of a Bill showing the intent of the Throne. And instead of having a dummy Bill we usually proceed at such time with a non - c:ont.roversial Bill. In this connection we picked out the Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Regi.stration of Deeds Act," be• cause the Bill is largely formal and will not, I am sure, receive objection from any member of the House. This is a Bill really to cure a mis­ understanding.

It will be remembered that a year or so ago we passed a Bill to create commissioners of oaths. And the Registrar of, Deeds has been ac• cepting affidavits of certain oE these commissioners for the proving of Deeds. It was the intention that these commissioners should be able to take affidavits in proof of deeds , but ap• parently we omitted Lo amend the Registrar of Deeds Act. This amend• ment therefore provid es that commis­ sioners for oaths both inside and out­ side of Newfoundland may take affi­ davits for the proving of deeds-and the sections are made retroactive.

The other clause in the Bill is a clause providing for the non-registry of leases from the Newfoundland Hous­ ing Corporation . These are leases which we feel should be on the same

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 33 basis as other leases. As my honour­ able friends in the House who are lawyers know, it is not the practise to register leases. It is not the prac­ tise to make compulsory that leases be registered. That is the purpose of the Act. The details, Mr. Speaker, can be discussed in committee. I move the second reading of the Bill, Mr. Speaker. MR. HO~LETT: Mr. Speaker, I wonder if we could have second read­ ing postponed. Nobody has had a chance to look at these sections. On motion debate on second reading adjourned until tomorrow.

First Reading: Honourable the Attorney General asks leave to introduce a bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Memorial Uni­ versity Act." On motion Bill read a first time, or­ dered read a second time on tomorrow. Honourable the Minister of Labour asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Workmen's Compensation Act." On motion Bill read a first time. Ordered read a second time on tomor­ row. Honourable the Minister of Mines and Resources asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act To Amend the Agricul­ tural Societies Act." On motion Bill read a first time. Ordered read a second time on tomor­ row.

Honourable the Attorney General asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Memorial Uni­ versity (Pensions) Act." On motion Bill read a first time. Or­ dered read a second time on tomorrow. Honourable the Minister of Mines and Resources ask leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Respecting the Disposal of Waste Material and the Protection of Non-tidal Waters." On motion Bill read a first time. Or­ dered read a second time on tomorrow.

Honourable the Minister of Mines and Resources asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act to Amend the Frobish­ er Limited (Confirmation of Agree­ ment) Act, 1955." On motion Bill read a first time. Or­ dered read a second time on tomorrow. Honourable the Minister ,of Mines and Resources asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act to Amend the Saw Mills Act." On motion Bill read a first time. Or­ dered read a second time on tomor­ row. Honourable the Minister of Mines and Resources asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Crown Lands (Mines and Quarries) Act." On motion Bill read a first time.

Or­ dered read a second time on tomor­ row. Honourable the Minister of Mines and Resources asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act to Approve and Give Statutory Effect to An Agreement Be­ tween the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland Re­ lating to Assistance to Unemployed Persons and the sharing of the cost thereof." On motion Bill read a first time. Or­ dered read a second time on tomorrow. Honourable the Minister of Finance asks leave to introduce a Bill, "An Act Further to Amend the Cancer Control Tax Act, 1953."

34 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS On motion Bill read a first time. Ordered read a second time on tomor­ row. MR. BROWNE : I wonder, Mr. Speaker, if the minister could give a brief explanation as to what that is about. MR. SMALLWOOD: At first read­ ing? MR. BROWNE: Yes, I believe it is customary. It certainly is in Ottawa - Just a brief explanation. MR. SMALLWOOD: Not in this Ht:,use. It is never done. Add,·ess in Reply to the Speech From the Throne: MR. BROvVNE: Mr. Speaker, once again I have been honoured with the responsibility of beginning this debat e on the motion on the Add1·ess in 'Re­ ply.

I think this year, Mr. Speaker, in ad ­ dition to congratulating the honour­ able mover and seconder of the Ad· dress they ought to be congratulated on being here at all because so many members have gone out now. If we look around the Chamber we can see that the Government controls a ma­ jority in themselves. Looking across at the peopl e on the other side, there are ten members of the Government and three private members. And I think it would be appreciated, if I try to con­ vince honourable members of this House I have a very great difficulty ahead of me.

In the Speech from the Throne ref­ erence is made to the long list of Bills which have been introduced by this Government. I believe it was during the last six years. And I believe some uf them are measures to which the Gov ­ ernment can point with prid e. I don't intend to pay much attention to those this afternoon. But there are other things, which, h ad the Government their time over again , they would never have introduced, and of which they can now be ashamed. 1 intend lat­ er on, Mr. Speaker, to go into this a little more fully.

At the present time J cannot help remarking the absence from the other side of the House of the three members who have resigned. They h ave exchanged letters with the Premier. And for greater accuracy I have procured a copy of these letters. There is one sentence in th e letter from the three honourable members and three in the letter from the Pre­ mier to which I would like to refer, and with which 1 can hardly agree.

Th e three members state, we have come 1·eluctantly to th e couclusion that politics has to be a full-time occupa­ tion or nothing, and that it is impossi­ ble for a private member to make a living at it. Well , Sir, I cannot agree with that, and I don't think anybody else can agree with it although the Pre­ mier in his reply, repc,ated this by say­ ing, I fully understand the difficulty you have had in making a living. It takes most of a man's time to be a member of the House, and the session­ al indemnity is not enough to support a family . Now, sir, what about lhe other mem­ bers of the House?

How are they man­ aging to get along? How have all the members of this House of Assembly managed to get along all through the hundred years or more that. the Hous e is in existence? How do members in other Legislatures in Canada get along? Certainly it cannot be expected that the sessional indemnity, which last year was for three thousand dollars to cover less than a month of a session; c:an he expected to get along for the re-

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 35 mammg eleven months on that three thousand dollars. After all there are eleven months in which to make the rest of the money necessary to keep them going. I don't think, sir, that anybody read­ ing those letters will believe for a mo­ ment that that was the reason as given here as the reason why these gentlemen resigned. There must be some other explanation for which they resigned. Looking at my honourable friend, the honourable member for Burgeo 8c LaPoile, I know there is nothing on his mind. He is not worried about making a living.

As far as the honourable member for Hermitage is concerned he always looks worried. MR. SMALLWOOD: Mr. Speaker, is this in order? MR. SPEAKER. Hardly. MR. BROWNE: Surely, Your Hon­ our, this is in order, when we have here three members of the House of Assembly resigning and giving as the reason that politics must be a full-time job. Surely on the Address in Reply I can deal with this matter. Your Hon­ our, it appears to be a matter on which the Premier is sort of sensitive. MR. SMALLWOOD: No, Mr. Speak­ er, my objection is not to that at all.

I have no objection to my honourable and learned friend spending all his time discussing that. What is, in my view out of order ,is an attack on par­ ticular members of the House. Refer to ex-members, that is alright. Don't pick out members who are here. MR. BROWNE: Surely, Mr. Speak­ er, the Premier is not going to tell me what I should say. MR. SMAL'LWOOD: Mr.

Speaker, to a point of order-May I early in the session get this clear-If I object, if I rise to a point of order on what an honourable member is saying, am I then thereby to be accused always; as any member rising to a point of order; to be accused of trying to dictate to the member and tell him what he may or may not say? That, Mr. Speaker, is your prerogative. But surely it is the right of anv member of the House to rise on a point of order and object to what an honourable member is saying and contend it is out of order. Your Honour will decide.

Surely it is the right of one honourable member to claim another honourable member is out of order. Is he then to be accus­ ed always of trying to dominate the member against whose statement he takes objection? Is he always to be accused of trying to dominate the members because he states, apparently an honourable member is out of order - It so happened that Your Honour agreed with me. MR. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear the honourable member for Green Bay has resigned because his in­ terests are more valuable outside this House to himself than they are in this House.

He is manager of Koch Shoes, a million dollar concern, and I pre­ sume his salary for that (we are not allowed to know it) must be very much greater than what he got here as a sessional indemnity. Besides that, he and his colleague, the honourable member for Fogo, are both reputed to be large shareholders in the "Olde Mill." which I believe is also a pro­ fitable concern. So l think they can manage very well to make a living without coming here. Whether it was their own decision or not only the Premier knows.

Now, Sir, I made a reference a mo­ ment ago to some of the measures of which the Government might be proud. It may be proud to have done

36 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS its best to catch up with the other provinces in regard to social security measures; the allowances for mothers, the dependent allowances, the old age assistance act and incapacitated per­ sons assistance acts and blind allow­ ances; which are made possible by grant,; from the Federal Government. All over the world during the last eighty years there has been greater at­ tention given to the interests of the individual than there was for a long time previous. So these social security measures have developed. They deve­ veloped faster in Europe.

They came about there, earlier than they did on this side of the water. And surprising enough they came first in Germany, under the Conservative Government of Bismarck; in an almost semi-feudal state, the first measures of social secur­ ity were introduced into the world; old age assistance and old age pensions, un­ employment insurance and workmen's compensation for accident and sick­ ness, mothers' allowances and all these things . They were introduced eighty years ago in Germany by Bismarck.

And were not favoured by the Social Demo­ crats, or even by the workers themsel­ ves although introduced for their bene­ fit. Then they spread to France and England and much more slowly came to this side of the Atlantic. But on this side of the Atlantic we have during the years caught up a good deal. We have not yet caught up with the social se­ curity measures which are in existence in England, for example the welfare state itself, arising out of the report of Lord Beveridge provided for hospi­ talization and all sorts of sickness bene­ fits for everyone in England whether an Englishman or not.

Now, referring to this measure fore­ cast to provide children's medical bene­ fits and dental and hospital care, one cannot help wondering, if it would not be better to provide for the parents. After all they are the bread winners, and one would think the first ones to be looked after. Because if they were well they would look after their own children. At the present time the Fed­ eral Government is negotiating with the Provincial Governments to provide diagnostic X-ray and hospitalization services for everybody .

And the scheme if it goes into effect, if six prov­ inces approve of it, will cover 71 % of the cost of these services in Newfound­ land. And the Provincial Government would then be left with only 29% of the cost to bear. There are countries that for many years have been carrying on these soc­ ial security measures . . For example New Zealand and Australia - In New Zea­ land there is a taxation of 7½% on a person's income which provides for every kind of benefit, health and acci­ dent benefits, and provides for dental care for young persons up to the age of nineteen.

I notice that this Bill, which is going to be introduced, ap­ pears to be an enabling Act: ''The most important single piece of legisla­ tion which my Ministers will submit is for the purpose of giving them author­ ity, and making it mandatory upon them, to introduce and enforce a sys­ tem of Children 's Health Benefits." Apparently it is not going to be

an Act to declare anything, but an enabling Act. MR. SMADLWOOD: How does the honourable gentleman read that? Read it again. MR. BROWNE: "The most import­ ant single piece of legislation to engage your studies in this present session will be one which my ministers will submit for the purpose of giving them author­ ity, and making it mandatory upon

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 37 them, to introduce and enforce a sys• t~m of Children's Health benefits." MR. SMALLWOOD: What is per• missive about a thing being manda­ tory? MR. BROWNE: Mandatory to intro­ duce. MR. SMALLWOOD: Introduce and enforce. MR. BROWNE: Oh yes! MR. SMALJLWOOD: What is per­ missive about that? MR. BROWNE: Giving them auth­ ority-Well I am glad to take the Pre­ mier's word. MR. SMALLWOOD: No. The words of the Speech from the Throne. MR. BROWNE: We pass

an Act first here enabling the minister to do certain things. MR. SMALLWOOD: The wish must be father to the honourable gentle­ man's thought. MR. BROWNE: Mr. Speaker, in any case I feel, after reading the several parag-raphs dealing with that matter that we can't expect much this year from it. I did not have the privilege of hearing the Premier when he spoke over the radio about this matter some time ago, nor seeing him when he was on television. But I understand that he stated that this was going to be finan­ ced out of the profits of Javelin.

Now sir, there is no mention of Javelin nor the Lake Wabush Railway in the Speech from the Throne. And I am wondering if he has withdrawn that statement. MR. SMALLWOOD: The honour­ able gentleman will see when he sees the budget and estimates. MR. BROWNE: Yes, but I think we might at least here in this House be entitled to as much accurate informa­ tion upon such a major point as that as the Premier possesses. MR. SMA:IJLWOOD: The House will get that at the right moment, not in this debate. MR.

BROWNE: If the Premier goes on radio and TV and says the profits from Lake Wabush are going to pay for this whole thing, I think he ought to at least say so officially here. MR. SMALLWOOD: Maybe the honourable gentleman will allow me. The statement is an extremely simple one.

The cost of this Children's Health programme which is referred to in the Speech from the Throne will run into millions of dollars when it is fully implemented and fully into effect and will be found out of the revenue that the Government will get out of the development of the natural resour­ ces of Labrador including Lake Wa­ bush and the Iron Ore Company of Canada, the uranium of BRINCO, and other developments of BRINCO and Frobisher and all or any other com­ panies developing any other natural re­ sources of Labrador, and I might add Newfoundland as well. MR. BROWNE: Well, Mr.

Speak­ er, they have to do that in any case. Why were the profits from Javelin mentioned? It was understood by all those I have been speaking to that it was the profits of Javelin which were going to do that. We had a special session here last fall and put through the measures necessary to put Javelin in working order. But there has not been one word in the Speech from the Throne about Javelin.

38 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS MR. SMALLWOOD: Don't crow for the erection of a Children's Hos- too soon. pita! in St. John's. MR. BROWNE: I am not crow­ ing. It is not a matter over which anyone can crow. MR. SMAIJLWOOD: Be very con­ servative from now. MR. BROWNE: I try always to be, Mr. Speaker. But I think a matter which rated a special session in Sep­ tember deserved an honom·able men ­ tion in the Speech from the Throne at the present time. And the House I presume at some stage in this ses­ sion we will be told of the progress of the Canadian Javelin Company. MR. SMALLWOOD: Quite so. MR.

BROWNE: Now everything that the Premier speaks about is to be the greatest, if not in the world , certainly in North America. And this Children's Health Scheme is the great­ est in North America. And Javelin is the greatest mine, greater than the Mesabi - And this year we are only to have free hospitalization, that is what it says here if I read rightly. MR. SMA:LLWOOD: It does not put quotations around the word "only" as the honourable gentleman's voice did - It will cost half a million dollars. MR. BROWNE: Is it the minister's plan to commence the programme in the present year? MR.

SMALLWOOD: That alone will cost $500,000. MR. BROWNE: Well I am glad to know the P1·emier seems to know what he is talking about as regard the expenses. There is also a pro­ vision here that additional hospital beds will be provided, and it is the intention of the minister to make plans MR. SMAIJLWOOD: Where does the honourable gentleman see the word "erection". MR. BROWNE: For the provision. Well I take it he can't provide hos­ pitals without building one. MR. SMALLWOOD: Yes, we can, suppose it is already built? Suppose we only have to convert a building? MR. BROWNE: Well, Mr.

Speak­ er, I never thought the Speech from the Throne as subtle as it appears to be. MR. SMALLWOOD: You must read what is there carefully, which is what one is supposed to do . MR. BROWNE: I think the peo­ ple ought to read between the lines too, if the Premier can point out in a few minutes so many subtleties in that Speech. I don 't think they are going to get much hospitalization be­ fore the elections at any rate . MR. SMALLWOOD: That might depend upon when the election was. MR.

BROWNE: If it is necessary to have hospitalization, how can you give the services before the hospital is provided, and if you give the ser­ vices without providing the hospital, what is the purpose of providing them? It seems to rue, Mr. Speaker, this scheme has all th e earmarks of sudden improvisation, that the Prem­ ier pulled this out of the air, an elec­ tion promise to fit in with the Federal provisional hospitalization programme which is to cover all Newfoundlanders hoping the thing would go through at Ottawa more quickly than it ap­ pears to be going. Then it would not be such a problem for him to solve .

It certainly appears to have been announced without adequate

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS 39 study. The medical profession does not seem to know anything about it. And high officials in the Department of Health don't seem to know any­ thing about it. Who made the stud­ ies necessary for the introduction of a scheme of this kind? Perhaps the minister can tell us what is being done in this now?

If it is not depend­ ent on Lake Wabush but comes out of general revenue, perhaps when we are considering the scheme he will give us detailed information as to how the $500,000 necessary for the hospit­ al scheme this year is going to be found. ,vhatever ,scheme is intro­ duced I hope, Mr. Speaker, that it will preserve the traditional inde­ pendence of the medical profession and the traditional doctor-patient relationship that has existed.

We are now considering a measure, which as I said a few minutes ago, has already been in effect in many countries and a part of a plan which has been in effect in many countries. But the effect of such a plan is to increase the number of Government officials and I suppose the time will come when it will be necessary to stop the Government from going any fur­ ther. How much liberty will the peo­ ple have to surrender in their search for security?

And here, sir, may I draw the attention of the Government to the Workmen's Compensation Act which by a percentage charge upon employers of the amount spent in wages, provides for accidental injur­ ies and deaths of workmen. Now it is the experience of all health and accident insurance companies that ac­ cidents are much less common than sickness . There are more days lost through sickness than there are through accidents.

And I suggest to the Minister of Labour, if he wants to be smart, he might get his Work- men's Compensation Board to consid­ er what increases would be necessary in order to provide sickness benefits for his workmen. Because it is quite a common occurence ,that causes great need and suffering. A man may not get injured but may get sick. Two brothers, for example, working in