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"I hope that that will convince our friend The Globe that no bullying tactics were indulged in," said Hon. 1Mr. Martin. He stated that the in-- ispectors were under instructions to show the utmost courtesy to pension-- ers, and not to act in any way sus-- piciously. "Was Not in the Room." "In accordance with your request that I investigate the case at Lloyd-- town, re the report published in The Globe of Feb. 20, given by Hiram Gray, brother of the deceased pen-- sioner, Miss Gray, of whom it was reported that a Provincial Inspector, while making his inspection. had be-- haved in an ungentlemanly manner, I called on the niece of Miss Gray, a Mrs. Greenless of Schomberg. and she was very indignant about the pub-- licity given the case, and did not want to grant me an interview, but she finally consented. She reaffirmed the previous interview, and also stated that she owned the house in which Miss Gray lived, and that she visited her aunt regularly during her late ill-- ness. Hiram Gray, brother of the de-- ceased pensioner, who was reported by The Globe as saying that Mrs. Grecn-- less did not stay at the Gray's place, informed me that he had not dis-- cussed the report with any person since my last visit on Feb. 10; that no Globe reporter had interviewed him up until 3.30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 30, and that he was not in the room when the Inspector called. and did not hear anything the Inspector had said to his sister. C. H. Green and an affidavit signed by Hiram Gray, the 86--year--old brother of the late Miss Gray. The Chief Inspector's report, which was addressed to Mr. Martin and dated yesterday, reads, in full: The case of Miss Carrie Gray, late old--age pensioner of Lloydtown, was once again referred to in the Legis-- lature yesterday by Hon. W. G. Martin, Minister of Public Welfare. Commenting on the report which appeared in The Globe of Saturday of the discussion in the House the d})re- vious day on this matter. Mr. M#rtin E_eag a statement from Chief Inspector "He stated that Mrs. Greonless was present all the time the Inspector was there. and that he had expected his sister to pass away weeks before she did. He signed a statement to this effect, and it was witnessed by Mr. Finlay, the Inspector, in the presence of Mrs. Greenless." "I have not been interviewed by a Globe reporter and I was not prescnt in the sickroom of my sister when the inspector was present, and, therefore, did not hear anything that was said. **Mrs. Greenless was present when the inspector called and visited my sister quite frequently during her ill-- ness. (Signed) H. Gray." AFEIDAVIT IS READ DENYING INTERVIEW IN PENSION GASE Hiram Gray's affidavit, which was witnessed by Inspector J. R. Finlay. reads: "It is not the province of the in-- spectors to be dictatorial, arbitrary or disrespectful," Mr. Martin emphasized, stating that the prosont sound basis of the Old Age Pensions Act's ad-- ministration rests largely on the in-- tegrity of the inspsctors. INSPECTOR'S STATEMENT But Niece Says Hiram Gray Stated Globe Report Accurate SUPPORT IS ASSURED FOR TOWNSHIP ROAD Following the referencs to the pen-- sion case in the House on Friday last, The Globs telenpnhoned the Gray home and asked to speak to Mr. Gray. Mrs. Bond called her uncle, Mr. Gray, to the phone. Because of his age and defective hearing she repeated to him certain questions asked by The Globs. He answered the questions, and when they were not quite audible over the phone Mrs. Bond -- rspeated his an-- swers. < These replies constituted the statement appearing in The Glob~ from Mr. Gray. »spoken to¥by The Globe last night, | Mrs. Elizabeth Bond of Schomberg related that earliere in the day (yes-- 'terday) she was present whoeon her 'uncle, Hiram Gray, was discussing the pensicn incident with Warden E. M. Legge of York County. ' During the conversation, she declared, her uncle vouched for the accuracy of the re-- port of his statement as appearing in The Globe of Saturday, Fob. 20. Ac-- cordingly, she was at a loss to Imow what the affidavit could be. Under the chairmanship of Robert C. Muir, Chief Engineer, Municipal Roads Branch, Department of High-- ways, various technical papers were read and discussed by the delegates. _ The conference is proceeding today. Government Prepared Maintain -- Standard, Says Macaulay "We have always felt that the ques-- tion of building roads was outside and beyond politics," declared Hon. Leopold Macaulay, in the course of a brief address yesterday afternoon, welcom-- ing 175 delegates to the eighteenth annual Conference on Road Construc-- tion, for County and Township Road Superintendents and Engineers, and the Minister continued: '"So far as my department is concerned, let me assure you that there is no politics in ENGINEERS' M E E T I N G it. Indeed, some of our engineers have been there since Whitney's time. Continuity is as important in road-- building as anything I know of. You can't deal with it adeguately under haphazard or log--rolling methods. If I can say anything today that will induce the municipalities to molest and change their officials as little as possible, I would desire to do so. I would suggest thaut every effort pbe made to retain the services of efficient, courteous and industrious engineers at all times." Applause greeted the Mirister's assurance that "If it be true that expenditures on the King's highways and the higher type of county roads may be materially cut down in times like these, there is one road that musi be maintained--the township road-- enabling the farmer to get out to his markets and on to the main roads, or else the whole system breaks down. I can assure you that the Government and the department will vote the essential amounts that may be deemed necessary to holid these township roads up to the standards of recont years." Under the chairmanship of Robert Spoken Feb. 2 3 to NIXON ATTACKS COST OF RUNNING APPRENT!CE AOT Asks Legislature to Hait "Expensive Business" of Commissions SINCLAIR ALSO PROTESTS Second reaCing to Hon. Dr. Joseph D. Montsith's bill to amend the On-- tario Apprenticeship Act was given in the Legislature yesterday, but only aiter Hon. HMHarry C. Nixon, Progres-- sive Leader, and William E. N. Sin-- clair, head of the Liberal group, had vigorously protesied ons clause in the bill that would entrust future adm.n-- istration of the act to a Provincial Ap-- prenticeship Committee. "It is time," said Mr. Nixon, "that the Province called a halt on Gov-- ernment action of this sort--this un-- loading of Government responsibility upon Commissions. I notics two long lines of high--salaried Cabinect Minis-- ters across the chamker here. Theore are no less than nine administrative Commissions in operation at the pres-- ent time, and two new Commissions are to be appointsd by legislation which is before the House. $33,000 to Collect $38,000. "Where is this expensive business going to end? It is high time thne législature took a definite stand upon the question. Last year the Province spen. $33,000 in administering this Apprenticeship act to collect $38,000 under its regulations. The cost of running it is out of all proportion to Llae administrative work accomplish-- eqd." "Would you vote to scrap the act altogether?" asked Dr. Monteith.. "Yes, I'd vote for Wiat," Mr. Nixon unthesitatingly replisd. .. | _ _ In the opinion of Mr. Sinclair the whole purport of the bill was "to pass the buck away from the Minister and the Government," and to turn its ad-- ministration over to an independent committee. "Maybe I have," replied Mr. Sin-- clair, "but I'm only interpreting the attitude of what I've seen in the press and the many letters which friends have written ms. This act is your baby. You adopted it without first looking over its pedigree, and now you don't want the responsibility of look-- ing after it. Turning it over to a Com-- mission gives the Government a chance for a little more patronage. A little more expenditure of the public money, when you're preaching econ-- omy and urging every one to live up to It." Asks Reprint of Law. "It just shows, after all," clicked Mr. Sinclair, "that all the laymen in the House aren't getting along as well with it as the Prime Minister stated." Mr. Henry claimed that the House would be '"entirely misled" were it to accept the argument of Mr. Nixon that all authority in connection with the act was being transferred to a Com-- mission. The law to date had proved itself, and was further proving itself, in spite of the difficult times through which the Province was now passing. For the benefit of the ordinary members of the House, Mr. Sinclair urged of the Government that the present apprenticeship law be reprint-- ed so that it could be studied along with the proposed amendments. Mr. Henry said that the Liberal Leader had no cause for worry about the dif-- ficulty of following the suggested amendments. '"Any layman in the House can follow the legislation," said ne, "if he cares to check up on it." A statement that there had been no amendments since 1928, when the law was first enacted, drew a correction from Mr. Sinclair, who indicated that several amendments had been brought down at the 1931 session. D. J. Taylor (Progressive, North Grey), and T. A. Blakelock (Liberal, Halton), joined with their respective leaders, in criticism of various phascs of the bill. "You've got the wrong put in Dr. Monteith. "I went over the old bill hastily," said Mr. Henry. "I may have missed something." idsa of it?