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KHAd been sent to expedite the returning officer's movements. Hon. Mr. Garrowl volunteered the information that the 'official in question had been ill. Mr. Matheson made a filerce attack upon the Government in connection with the | payment of $400 to the publisher of ; a Sault Ste. Marie paper on accountlf of a pamphlet advertising the agricul-- | tural possibilitiee of Algoma, and | charged that the payment was made | for election purposes. It transpired.i however, that the order for the pam--; phiet was given months before the elec-- | tions, and the payment on account was | 'not made until assurances were given that the work was well under way. ' New Judicial District. | Hon. Mr. Ross introduced the bill to | convert Manitoulin into a provisiona.lf judicial district. I To Continue a Councillor. ! Mr. Richardson introduced a bill to§ amend the municipal act. It provides | that if the County Council division ; for which the County Councillor was | elected is separated from the jurisdic-- ! tion of the county, the separationi shall not affect the qualification of ; the County oCuncillor. and he shall ; continue a member of the County Cou_n- j _--The Speaker answered in the nega-- tive. Mr. Whitney then quoted sections 128, 134,, 136 and 138 of the revised sta-- tutes, all of which have references for the guidance of the Judge and return-- ing officer in cases similar to the South Perth election. The las« of these sections Mr. Whitney emphasized. It provides that a returning officer may be sued for neglecting to return any person duly elected. Under the sec-- tions quoted, Mr."Whitney said, the return now looked for shduld have been made by the lith inst. at the latest. He quoted from The Globe of the 15th inst. a paragraph dated from Stratford cil until the exp.ration of the. tern» for ; which he was elected. # To Sue For Statute Labor. Mr. Farwell introduced a bill to am-- end the assessment act. It amends section 127 so as to enable the com-- missioners to sue for the amount of statute labor in a Division Court hav-- ; ing jurisdiction anyone liable to per-- | form statute labor who wilfully ne-! glects or refuses to perform the same. | South Perth Election. i Mr. Whitney inquired whether any return had been received of the South J'erth bye--election. m 5> | on the preceding day, and which was to the effect that the South Perth bye-- election re--count had been concluded, with the result that the Judge had de-- clared Mr. Monteith elected. If, he re-- iterated, the decision had been made on the l5th, then two days later the re-- turns should have been made. He had no positive testimony that the Judge had made out his certificate, but had every reason to believe that his Honor Hon. Mr. Gibson said that the Gov-- ernment had not entered into any agreemeht for granting assistance oth-- er than allowed by law to any smelter. Kepresentations had been made to them in connection with a charcoal industry, and it was expected that certain reso-- lutions on the subject would be intro-- duced for the consideration of the House this session. To consolidate the debt of the Town of Mattawa. Respecting the Town of Smith's Falls ----Mrz. Matheson. To consolidate the debt of the Town of Leamington--Mr. Auld. In reply to Mr. McLaughlin, Hon. Mr. Hardy said the Government had no knowledge as to the capacity in which Mr. W. T. R. Preston was now employed beyond what had been pub-- lished in the newspapers. The gentle man referred to was not employed by this Government, and they were not aware what salary or expenses he re-- ceived. To legalize and confirm by--laws 488 and 489 of the Town of Sarnia--Mr. Pardeeo. Respecting the Town of Niagara Falls --Mr. German. Further to improve the San Jose scaie act--Mr. Dryden. Mr.-- Garrow--I understand that the returning officer has been very ill. Mr. Whitney--I have no doubt, what-- ever the facts in the case are, that that returning officer, whose conduct heretofore is so well known, will have something to offer in the nature of an excuse, * Parliamentary rules alliowed to bring the returning oflicer before the House to explain what he meant by depriving the people of South Perth of their re-- presentation in the Legislature, and he wonld regret if one of the consequences of that proceeding was to delay the seg-- sion of the House. Mr. Hardy--I know nsthing of the matter whatever beyond what 1 have already told my hon. friend. A tele-- gram has been sent to the returning officer. * had done so on Friday last. If that were the case, and he had the strong-- est reasons for believing it to be so, there could not be any possible excuse for delaying the return. He did not de-- sire to be understood as making any charge at present against anyone, nor would he say anything as to what he had heard regarding wagers having been made to the effect that Mr. Mon-- teith would not vote on the Senate mo-- tion. Between now and 3 o'clock to morrow afternoon, however, he would make it his purpose to endeavor to find out positively at what time the Judge's certificate had been made out. Should the facts then turn out as he had grounds to believe they would, he would endeavor to take such steps as Mr. Whitney--And no reply has been received. I am not blaming my hon. friend the Attorney--General. 6 Mr. Proston's Position. Aid to Smelters. Third Readings. 39