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LATTER LEAVES CHAMBER _ Liberal Leader Sinclair and Hon. W11- a case or "the patronage game carried nun Finlayson. Minister of Lands and to the limit," Liberal Leader W. E. N. Forests. went to the "mat" in the Legis- Sinclair charged that, in direct viola- hturc last night. The warmest row of the tion of the Solicitors Act, J. Earle Law- present session resulted. It was a short son. prominent Toronto barrister, and one, and, contrary to popular theory, President ot Coal Importers, Limited, not a sweet one. When it was over "had engaged in business" to the ex- Mr. Sinclair, white-faced. quit his seat tent of selling public buildings in On- tind left the Chamber. Mr. Finlayson. tario $175,165.79 worth ot coal' 0V6": a smilingly conthtent. bowed to W. J. three-year period. 2i'lf..r'li,t'srtr1rpi?d't2n,i8,erdiue,aaai, "A solicitor," said the Liberal Leader. had to leave. but perhaps I can speak quoting from the statute, "shall not to his deputy." Mr. Bragg accepted I practice in any court in Ontario while the compliment gracefully. he is engaged in the business of a mer- Mow u Started. chant, or connected by partnership in The spat between the Opposition Leader and the Government spokesman developed when Mr. Finlayson charged that during the 30 years Liberal Gov- ernments had conducted the affairs of the Province. and the four years the "Partners" had been in power. there. had been no effort made to reduce the Provincial debt. Jens Liberal Leader Ross Government Went Out for "Common Dishonesty" Mr. Sinclair was immediately on his feet. "What," he asked. "was the debt when the. Liberals went out of office tn 1905?" " don't know," said Mr. Finlayson, "but I do know that you went out for good and sufficient reasons." Conserva- tive benches were banged lustily, and a faint cheer went up from UcOl'ge Shields (Conservative, Toronto-Wood- ine). Mr. Finlayson essayed to speak, Mr. Sinclair claimed the floor. WARM " RESULTS BIG BUSINESS IN'COAL GRAVES REITERATES WHEN "WSW DONE BY J, Ill, LAWSON TEMPERANCE STAND e ANSWERS 'iiiii'iun WWW St. w Re., "Burely." said Mr Sinclair, "visibly moved, "an honorable Minister of the Grown cannot speak thus of dead Min- lsters at the Crown. contrary to the absolute facts of history?" "There were hundreds of frauds," re- torted Mr. Finlayson, voice raised, and the Government benches in a sort of "Sic em" attitude. _ .. "That's not an answer to my ques- tion." the latter said. A Stinging Retort. "The Ross Government went out, I say," declared Mr. Finlayson, "tor com- mon dishonesty. It went out for steal- ing money, stealing ridings' ballot boxes." " think this House," said the Lib- eral Leader. 'should .protest in no un- certain sound, it there is any honor loft among public men. against a Minister ot the Crown speaking against those who can no longer defend_ themselves." "'Well," said Mr. Finlayson, "you went out in 1905 for common dishonesty." "What charge of any kind," said Mr. Sinclair. .heatedly. "was laid against the Ross Government regarding the administration of any department or the conduct of any Minister?" - "Is. "The Honorable Leader of the Op- position." and Mr. Speaker, "asked a question. and the other honorable member. on his responsibility as a member, and as a Minister of me Crown. has answered it. That con- cludes the matter." It at least concluded the matter for Mr. Sinclair. He immediately left tht House, the Government benches titter. ing at his abrunt exit. "TieGGaeriGrard the Bpeaker's chair. as if courting a ruling on the matter. Speaker Settles It. The ruling tng. - - was not long toxithcom- but, "Tri-i Amy tq-av-ek up T ALSO SERVED AS LAWYER Cites Public Accounts to Show Various Public In- stitutions Supplied In citing to the Legislature yesterday a case of "the patronage game carried to the limit," Liberal Leader W. E. N. Sinclair charged that, in direct viola- tion of the Solicitors Act, J. Earle Law- son. prominent Toronto barrister, and President of Coal Importers, Limited, "had engaged in business" to the ex- tent of selling public buildings in On- tario $1'i5,165.79 worth of coal' over a three-year period. chant, or connected by partnership in purchasing or vending merchandise in the way of trade as a merchant, nor until twelve months after he has ceased to be such merchant or to be so en- gaged or so connected." "A Valuable Citizen." "Mr. Lawson is a valuable citizen," gibod Mr. Sinclair. "He can handle Tory ward meetings. He can handle legal affairs. And he can handle coal for public buildings." In 1926, similar coal sales were: To- ronto Normal School. $4,777.16; Stur- geon Falls School. $339.74; Sandwich School. $486.19: Government House, $275.75: Parliament Buildings. $20,397.- 67: Osgoode Hail, $173.99; New East Block. $3,635.36: Bowmanville School. $1,162.65; Orillia Hospital, $3,372.25: Toronto Hospital Insane, $4,257.43; Whitby Hospital, $32,990.21; Mercer Re- formatory. $2,630.16: Reception Hospi- tal, $2,961.73. Total, $77,460.29. . With public accounts to back his argument, Mr. Sinclair reporhed some of the coal business done by Mr. Lawson in 1925 as follows: Toronto Normal School, $1,599.40: Parliament Buildings, $2,594.63; Toron- to Hospital.for the Insane, $25,599.96; Whitby Hospital, $26,486.79, and Mercer Reformatory, $42.71. Total, $55,702.49. "Mr. Lawson did pretty well in 1926," smiled Mr. Sinclair, "and I expected he would get well over the $100,000 mark in 1927. But, I understand, he wouldn't sign some papers for the hon- orable member for West York, and he now is being let down. Apparently he got what was coming to him-mot standing up like a. good Tory and do- ing what he was told to tfo.". - _ - .. Not So Good Last Year. Public accounts showed, said the Lib- eral Leader, that Mr. Lawson's "coal business" had dropped down to $42,- 003.01 in 1927. "Mr. Lawson seems to have the crest," said Mr. Sinclair. one must have crowded him, or lost favor." -- lCllluALunuv.v-.. In 1925, said the Liberal Leader, Mr. Lawson got $822 as "Grown Prosecu- tor, York." In 1926, he got $539.53 for "Police Magistrate, Red Lake," and ex- penses in ttreg with that appoint- ment. In 1927, e got $5,605.88 tor act- ing as "an authority" on Alberta Aral, with an additional legal fee of $15. But, according to Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Lawson did not sell coal all the time. He still found time to practice law-the profession to which he was brought up. Over the same two-year period he had "worked for the Attdrttev-oeneral" long enough to collect $7,116.23 by way ot remuneration: - .. -" , _ " , "Boliifh. Currie (Conservative, To- ronto-St. Patrick) inferred that such had been the case. A -- ... .. -iiitTasitrfdu've spoken," said the Liberal Leader. "You rarely ever speak but that you let something out of the bag." Some Legal Work. passed _ "Some ' he has "As far as the remarks credited to me are concerned, they are correct as far as they go. But, coupled with those remarks was my reference to the difference ot intoxication by beer and strong alcoholic liquors, canned heat and alcoholic poison of different kinds, which made the intoxicant crazy, ir- responsible and a danger to the com- munity. I am sure that the members of this House did not, for a moment, understand from my remarks that l, at any time, believed in, or desired drunkenness of any kind, not even by the drinking of beer. ' "But, rather, have I at all times in this House stated that, as we have the liquor traffic with us, it was better to use more of the milder and less harm- Iui, and reduce, if possible, the con- sumption of the stronger and more dangerous kinds. I feel sure that the Editor of The Globe does not desire to place any member of this House in a false position, even it a statement made by him was not exactly as intended, or as plain as it possibly should have been. And I am sure that my actions and position taken in this House at all times have been in the interest of the legislation to do away with the abuses of the liquor habit. His remarks were in the form of a reply to editorial comment in The Globe which followed his recent state- ments about liquor and beer-drinking. " wish," said Mr. Graves, "to refer for a moment to an article in the edi- torial column of this morning's Globe, which refers to some statements made by me on the floor ot this House a day or so ago. The statements referred to, and made with others, were, that even if a man does get drunk on beer he is a happy intoxicant, and you never heard of such a man killing any one. The Globe cites a case where a Polish farmer. alter the purchasing of a keg of beer and following the drinking of the same by himself, his hired man and the alleged slayer, a murder was committed. . Referred to Difference. St. Catharines Member Re.. fers to Editorial Comment E. C. Graves, Conservative M.P.P. from st. Catharines, told the Legis- lature yesterday that he didn't want any misunderstanding as to how he stood on the liquor question. He thought that it should be clearly under- stood that he was a temperance man. Reply to Comment.