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portunity 0 and it they they should "That this House desires to express Its regret that the Government has taken no steps to discover and bring to trial the person or persons who de-- stroyed or removed from the vault of the Pariiament buildings the box con-- tairing the ballots and other ';{npers re-- lating to the election in the West Rid-- ing of the County of Elgin, held in January, 1899 ; and also regrets the de-- claration of the Government that no steps will be taken to discover and bring to trial such person or persons." % Temiscaming -- Railway. Mr. Pettypiece (East Lambton), who replied, was loudly cheered by the Min-- isterlalists. He salid that if the Op-- position would submit a definite state-- ment, showing we had more liabilities than assets, or larger expenditures than receipts, it would be easier to believe we had no surplus. The clear fact could not be gainsaid, however, that a . million dollars in cash stood to the cre-- dit of Ontario. He spoke of and com-- batted the claims that the Government had taken rights away from the muni-- cipalities. The hon. gentleman had re-- ferred to the question of rallway sub-- sidies without saying whether or not he was in favor of the system.> He (Mr. Pettyplece) had noticed, however, that in all cases of subsidies affecting districts represented by themselves members of the Opposition had heartily approved of passing them. It was also noticeable that the hon. gentleman who had preceded him in the discussion, to-- gether with other members on the Op-- position side, had no suggestions to make as to the continued granting or otherwise of aid to the railways. It had also been stated that the drainage law was practically a failure, and against this he wished to gmteat. Any-- one who was acquainte with the grand results which had attended the drainage system in Essex, Kent and Lambton Counties, forming them into the garden of Ontario, would not be so ready to condemn the law by which mnlclp;l!tie: had been enabled to bor-- money to carry on the drainage works. (Applause.) *>% & Mr. Hoyle, continuing, referred to the beet sugar bill, and said the Opposition did not regard the bounty system aAs the best way of introducing the indus-- try --into this country. Co--operation was the best system by which the sugar beets should be grown and manufactur-- ed in Ontario. He protested against the centralization tendencies of the Govern-- ment, which took away more and more of the power of the municipalities. In conclusion, Mr. Hoyle said the Opposi-- tion were as much in favor of the de-- velopment of new Ontario as were the Ciovernment, but they wanted to keep the rushing waters of new Ontario in their own hands and not give them to corporations. Mr. Hoyle moved the following amendment :-- Dortunity owing to Quebec's activity, and if they intended_ to do anything they should be up and dolng. He crav-- ed the Premier to unfold the policy by which he proposed to fill the Province with a population of nine millions, as announced in his speech at Whitby in November, 1809. Opposition's Amendments. powa l Sn id e y t ce of Legislative and municipal subsidies to the railways,were handicapped by the lines so aided. T,her'_ had been told that the farmers, the shippers of grain, fAour, 'beef, pork . and other products were handicapped gimply because the railways subsidized had made it impos-- gible for them to compete . on equal terms . with the farmers of Ohlo and other States a .thousand miles away. If this were true, and he believed there was a certain amount of truth in it, the Legislature should be able to do This Province should, I belteve, own and absolutely control that line of rail-- way from this city to North Bay, and then build-- an extension, or more than one extension, from North Bay into new Ontario, and in that way we ought to be able to do more to develop the Pro-- vince and relieve the hardships of the people than by any other method. That road could be acquired by purchase, and if not by purchase, then by expro-- priation. I have the advice of very good authority thar that can be done, especially where we have subsidized roads. (Applause.) Advantages to the Province. | Proceeding, Mr. Pettypiece contended that Government control of the line to North Bay, thence to. a point _ or points in the Lake Temiscaming dis-- trict, would result in great benefit to the farming and commercial interests. of older Ontario. The press of the country had contained columns of fig-- ures during the past few months, stat--. h}g'tha't the people of Ontario, in spite. the present Parliament. (Applause.) Speaking solely for myself, I can say that I most heartily approve of the proposal to build from the funds of this Province and own and absolutely con-- trol the new line. (Government ap-- plause.) I think it is a move in the right direction, and I think indeed that this Province would be justified in going further, if we can. -- I would not advecate a proposal for the Province going into a gigantic railway under-- tuking like that of the Roblin Govern-- ment in Manitoba, neither would I advocate the buying up of the two great trunk lines, as Mr. Maclean does. That would; be going to the extreme. But there is a happy medium to which this House can go in order to relieve the people from the hardships of unfair and discriminating rates. (Applause.) It has been wisely said that probably the time has come when the Govern-- ment should stop giving subsidies to railways without having any control over the rates ; that after expending, as we have done, nearly $10.00&000 to ajd railways, we have done enough, and that we should now do something by which the people should get the benefit that it was intended they should get by the giving of subsidies. (Government applause.) _ Continuing, Mr. Pettypiece said he wished to refer to the proposed Gov-- ernment rallway, or rather to the hint, as Mr. Hoyle had said, which had been given in regard to the advisability of such a line from North Bay to Lake Temiscaming. "I think," he said, "that that is the most important announce-- ment which has been made in this House during this session or during the present Parliament, (Applause. Continuing, 1 A Gover 67