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i & sesiniinummemigtatneare on nef uocms oge maty m it woite mintne herag n ree Supaeiniiniin ie vmner ONTARIO LecistaTuRE | sommcnr mmmnalipremmecmmmemam # * * ® Third Parliament--Third Session. Ssmm ammeneeifiprmmmemenc c Lzeeisuattyve Assextouy, R Friday, Feb. 22, The Spceaker took the chair at three ©'clock. * Prayers were offered by the Rev. Dr. Castle (Baptist). MEDICAL ACT. Mr. CLARKE (Norfolk) introdnced a Bill to ecxplain and amend the Ontario Medical Act. PRIVILEGE. Mr. MACDOUGALL (Simeoc) desired,be-- fore the orders ofthe day were entered upon, to call the attention of the House to a per-- sonal matter affecting himself, He found that a newspaper called the _ Evening Times, published in the city of Hamilton, copies of which had been sent to son «afthe members of the House, contain©4 sore cor. respondence from 'FToronto with respect to a suit laid before the Court of Chancery in which he was a party, That correspondence professed to give a fair account of that suit, its origin, progress, and the judgment of the Court upon it, and the cor. respondence was made the basis of a very slanderous and libellous editorial arlicle in the same paper« _ Most persons, | he believed, would so regard is, even if the | statements upon which it was besed woere irue, Of course every man who had occa-- sion, cither in defence of his riglhts o< in order to secure his rights, to go iz»0 a court of law, thereby exposed himself in »r1e censure and the comments of his neighbours and the world as to his conduct. In this particular case, he was not conscious of having done anything, in defending himself against the action brought against him by a gentleman with whom ho had transactions in England, which he had not a perfect right to do as a matter of morals or of law. It was an entirely private matter; he was notin any public position at the time these ' transactions occurred ; he was living in | London, England, simply as a private per--| son, ind he had engaged in these transac.| tions because he bclieved he had a perfect right to do so, and that the resul's vyould be amvautageous to himse!'f _ indtvidually. _ 'The _ gravamen of the charge made in the paper referred to was contained in the following passage :---- Mr. Macdougall's final defence against the action brought against him by his agent for money paid out on his behalf was one of the most atrocious ever presented in a Canadian Court by any man protessing to have any honour or any claim to the respect of the community, After his agent had paid out the money named for him ; after Mr. Macdougall had acknow-- ledged the amount egainst him to be really due; after he had given a mortgage properly framed and executed; and ;'tor the mortgage had been pro-- eccoded upon in an action against him in Chancery-- Mr. Macdougall, seeing no other way of escape from the payment of a dobt honestly due the man who had befricuded him, entered the plea that the transaction between him and Mr. Grant was one of " wagering," that is, an immoral one, and could not be recoguized by law. That was probably the most severe part of the editorial, which, he thougcht, not merely reflecied on his own personal honour, but was a stigma on the Legislature of which he | was a member. He, therefore, thought it | his duty, at the first opportunity, to rise in his place and state briefly the position which he occupied in the matter, In November, 1874, he was living in London, England. At that time there was was a good deal of -- discussion -- with respect to the position and 'value of the shares of the Hudson Bay Company. As he had some years previously,in an official capacity, a good deal to do with the aflairs of that| Company, it became his duty to make him-- ' selt acquainted with all matters connected | with them, and many gentlemen occupying | high positions in the money market fre-- quently ashed his opinion as to the ultimate effect upon that Company of the opening up of the North--west, the competition of the fur traders with them, and the settlement of their land., HMe had a pretty strong convic-- ti0on, which had since beer vindicated by the resuit, that the value of the Hudson Bay Company's property and shares would be reduced by the influences at work, When they asked his advice, theretore, he advised