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! » C . l.vv 4 i ¥ T OBSERVERz>AR | C F :|figh l " ,;,': '; IN QuUEENS PARK _#szs}wep | Pm .' Hee 'a-%"»,.',\ :'-'"" k#. In his financial review in the atI 361.5%9£g?°'t:h9 Tx;:asm;er "ig35 House yesterday Hon. Peter Smith, Midnearingireaahi t oagh on TcR i 9 . provision to retire the debt of the Provincial Treasurer, completely ' Province of Ontario. Every Gov-- upse;; :hatt htas da'ltrinost coo:ne t%el:: ernment and every municipality & udge radition. re should do something along that years Budget z;{):laeches h:,ve bee:)l; line. Ontario is in a good financial synonymous w new forms osition, and is safe for the n t}z{uaticht ung :nhcreafgdh tahxaélo% . ?our years.'""' He proposed tg t:l:; on. Peter Smith sa e bad n a half of one per cent. out of the new taxation to propose. . '"I have ordinary revenue each year for this f]ul]lg dtecidedinot to rgo t:'nto"tll:: purpose. Next April he would go e of taxation any farther, into the money market and bu announced, quite casually. More-- nothing but Victory bonds or Ony-'- over, he added that so long as he tario bonds with the money, and :'as Treasurer there would never by this procedure, at the end of e a Provincial income tax or any 40 years, on a 4 per cent. basis, direct tax. "We have plenty of thetotal indebtedness would be re-- revenue to take care of our expen--| tired. If a larger interest rate were ditlt;res, and take care of them| secured some years might be taken well." * \ off that term. This method would . This announcement, made in his \ be applied to all loans for which | |usual bliuff, off--hand manner was * \no sinking fund is provided. The| h ea rtily applauded -- applause | per capita debt of Ontario was now | which will echo throughout all 0!1°i | *22, as compared with $21.30 tor'i tario. It was something of a re--| Quebec, $27.53 for Nova Scotia, ana -- |minder of the pre--war days--the | |\$71.60 for British Columbia. i |'t'gl<:{od olfd day;sl" topw?;ghcgzlén%l;{ In 1920, 1921, and 1922 the| olks refer. on. Pe 'go any greater distance. Not the amount advanc:?d to tt'xe Hydro was | $71,448,405, '"and yet we have \ slightest gesture did he make toward been accused of being opposed to | any drastic relief in the' the Hydro." During the darkest present burden of taxation, but | U en ro'. € A firancial days the Government had possibly the abandonment of new % [paid: out illion a week for the schemes to get moncy is about all "%a a out & m the country can stand in one after-- [ BYIro: rlx'oon. Incidentally, the Provincial lBellet in Criticism. reasurer said he had a "very sub-- After Mr. Ferguson had pressed ;'f'(')?:lazg"wl"s'" amounting to |some points rather vigorously, I-!oni ; * M o t | Peter -- remarked: "Candidly, Like a Cross--examination. ihoxtlestli; bkellevl:: tltlg mgre he 800t8 out an nocks e Government, Mn $ e h the petter for the Government," ** 'l1 hbhelp you all I can," dramatic speech, though, from the Then I ive Lead Government's point of view, he had came from the Conservative ed elr. plenty of material. He read con-- hThe dg;'eas;n'er oftten e;toppet tn' siderable portions of his two--and--a-- ;t e middle of a mos Be{ ol\:s * a:- half--hour address and made fre-- ment to add a little m rF to the 'quent pauses, as though inviting proceedings. He was making tax-- questions. These apparent invita-- fit}on comparisons with years back. |tions were eagerly seized upon by In 1904, for instance, they had no lthe Conservatives, who had so motor _t'ax. because they had no \ many things to inquire about that | ' mq?ors, he began. is |at times it looked as though Hon. And no amusements," inter-- | Peter were under cross--examina-- ,rugted Mr. Brackin, Kent. 'tion, instead of delivering a Bud-- My honorable friend from"l{ent | get speech. Ferguson, Nickle, Hill, was not in the House then," was ;Lennox. 'Henry and Currie seemed Hon. Peter's retort, as he went on 'to have questions at the tip of with the motor tax. |their tongues all the time, but the However, the Budget debate be-- |\ Treasurer faced this battery oti ging nest week. Plenty of fire-- |brains and came out more than works are promised, and it may even. Then, when he thought the last a month. | questions should end, he turned to e | copies of Conservative campaign » 'literature, with which he was ; iplentifulls' supplied, and read long extracts dealing with the late Gov-- [ ernment's financing. This method | was quite effectual in silencing the inquisitors for considerable periods. | Whenever Hon. Peter talked poli-- 'tics, and the occasions were fre--| ®quent, because he is a politician, it | was to the Conservatives all his re--| marks were directed. He either ig-' nored the Liberal party, or thought | the Liberals were nearly of the| same mind as the U.F.O. Few in-- terruptions, hbowever, came from the Liberal benches, though Leader Hay obtained several needful ex-- planations. At the same time, the' * debate was adjourned by W. E. N. Sinclair, Liberal, South Ontario who in a few sentences claimed thc; ( House was entitled to more en-- | lightenment on the public ac-- counts, and who also claimed Hon Peter had been thinking too much - % of making campaign literature. And so it looks as though the Budget * speech is in for some severe criti-- cism at the hands of Mr. Sinclair. The Debt and the Hydro. Outside the announcement of no ¢ a new taxation, two things stand out 3 above others in the Budget speech: f _ _ (1) The plan to pay off the Provln'- & s \clal debt, and (2) Mr. Smith's 'references to the Hydro. Regard-- F Apg the net debt, which he figured 2% « *