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M TY\ a tC mes * +6y . -- | _ 'SATURDAY, APRIL* 12, 1919. . * *~~"XwXard lH 1 f! . | 'ard. e also referred to the few ; Resolution and Amendment! ---- --for pupils attending rural -- schools. | & ° In 1881 in Prince Edward county | J Of Nelson Parllament country schools there were 4,331 | «& , puvils in attendance; in 1918 the| Voted DOWl'l and MOthl'l number has decreased to 1.996. He! @ + believed that the principal reason | Pralsmg the Government for the fewer people being in the' C vountry was that the young men and 1§ Passed women were migrating to the urban centres and not that the families e es m were smaller, He believed thore Representatives of rural constitu-- should be one agricuitural school encies : TA in each county which would be a h hnd CC .few others, of _ all | demonstration _ farm. Instead of shades of political color--Conserva-- | having one -- well--qualified . district tives, Liberals and United Farmers | representative, there would then be * I & y *er a r --HaAd a f ay j tsa. | 200 or 300 young persons well qual-- 2 leid «ay in the | Legisla | ifled in farm matters. In Ontario ture yesterday. Mr. Nelson Parlia-- | there are 50,000.000 acres of arable ment, the Iiberal member for Prince | land , 23,000,000 _ acres occupied Cdward. started the ball rolling Tfili'r-*dd on!y,. ©£4,000,000 ~acres unoceu« when he moved a resolution ex-- Mr. H Rreplics j o aa's \ Mr. nry plies. pressing the opinion of the House ; enrs P Ahat " a ;/ non--partis RER Hon. George S. Henry, Minister % partsan committes of Agriculture, replied to the Prince should be appointed by the Govern-- Edward member. A number of ment to inquire into the conditions years ago a South Oxford Opposi-- which account for the continuous tion member had asked for a Com-- M¥ 3 s i 4 mission. . His constituents did not diminution of rural population in agree with him and he had not re-- the Province. The debate com-- turned to the House. The Minister menced about t o'c y § wondered if a similar fate was wait-- ), j rOf" n(loclt in the ing Mr. Parliament. All but one of alfternoon: it continued until almost the Ontario counties had district midnight. lJon. George 8. Henry, sepresentatives. it had been said Minister £f Agricul 8, s that therg should l_)e a .( ommission 'T gricuiture 'rephed to to investigate immigration matters. \Mr. -- Parliament. and introduced That was not necessary.. There was an amendment congratulating the a well--defined policy that the Domin-- farmers upon their s t Ser-- ion Government had evolved, with ; 'po eir splendid se which the Provincial Department vices during the last few years. and was in accord. As soon as the sol-- expressing the opinion that --a Com-- diers were repatriated from -- over-- A aekal P seas it would be rarried out. missi cing z i '_'b 0n during . _ there abnorma'l The previous speaker would have times was not necessary. "tr.. 'F. the House believe the country was H. Regan of South Wentworth in -- in the decline. Figures prepared hy . an official of his department showed t it $ 3 $ oduced an amendment 'to the this was not the case. During four amendment, congratulating the Gov-- vears of the war 560,000 acres had ernment on its record and encour-- been t_akehb ux;{der dCI'OD- '"We are io mt is ""thn . i; i not going backward; we are going fging. it in its efforts to. deal Wlth' forward," declared the Minister of | the rural community. I Agriculture. * I About midnight Mr. A. E. Dono--| Mr-h Parl;"alrf%nt itntdel'-l'%cteg to | F » Eu %, M h #ay that he had quote e figures : van 'of . Brockville concluded the of population from the official Gov-l debate from the Government ernment reports. benches. During the course of the: During the last year there h%d' c meg Jrer 4 i9 a Handfu" hbeen a record yield in the gramg eveninsg there were oniy a handfu. crops. '"There has not at any time | of nmembers in attendante. At one in the history of the Province been j time the House almost «dicurned a more progressive and mtellxgent} s 4 cultivation of the soil than we have | sautomatically. At the conclusion of | at the present time," declared the | im address by Mr. G. Evanturel Mr.|] Minister © i Allan Studholme drew attention to The country was still on a war| basis so far as conditions were con-- the fact that there was no quorum.| cerned. "Our prices are going !o lTon. G. Howard Ferguson replied stay up and the price of labor will that there were the necessary twen-- stay up. The cost of production is t+tvy members nresent. Mr. Studholme | going to stay up. It can't--come down | 'loubted it, but just then two mem-- immediately." | bers sauntered in and the debate s Ab | -- 5 j Abnormal. proceeded. Conditions a | On division the amendment to the Hon. Mr. Henry saiq. he was g]ad' amendment was carried by the Gov-- the farmers were doing petter. as ernment -- supporters,. . likewise the previously one of the haancaps hadl amendment. | been the shortage of capital. If a | + | report were made by a Commission linral Depopulation. \| at present it should show that con-- Mr. Parliament, in speaking to his | f . ditions are abnormal, \Vhlf:h will 1_10t' resolution, quoted extensively from be permanent. If a (,onn.nissmn'l the Government blue book of the were of any use it would be in nor-- tbureauy, of lIndustries and the Do fna! times. § $ minion Royal Commission report of , | The speaker. in conclusm)}. mov-- onte@ time ago to substantiate hisi sd, an amendment _ expressing the vlaim that there had been depopu--. C satisfaction of the House that over lation in cthe rural districts, He ex-- p6wv,000 more acres were cropped by plained that he did not intend to the farmers during the war period | criticize the Department of _ Agri--| ~ _ than in a like period before the war:| culture for the exper}(lnures it had gat cigo expressing thanks to the fm._T made. The decline in rural popu-- m;rs for their splendid work, and lation in recent years was most se e th inion that an °*x-- i 9 h A expressing the op 1 alarming. From 1901 !,o. 1911 the amination in the present abnorma rural population in Ontario had gle- 3times by a Commission would not ; creased by about F52,000. . During prove of any great value. | the same period urban _ population | P Mr. T. H. legan, Conservative increased by about 92,000. The pop-- \ member for South Wentworth, fol-l ulation of rural Ontario is }o-day i)}\lelxzd Ne Abimetsi He belie\'edl more than 110,000 less than it was (I)WE onditions would _ readjust | 140 years ago. These were some of thalt .. COn n the high wages | f s 1 that Com-- 'themselves when the V | the reasons he argued that a Com Loald du. the :clity. became 'a thing of | mission should be appointed to make . ]p_dld n e Y un investigation. \ _ | Great care should be taken in :,hel -- matter of immigration into the | ° Province. Efforts should be made; 3 to secure the very best class of f neople. The depopulation is more serious than is generally thought, declared the member for Prince Ed-- ': s i