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NXON ASKS HENRY T0 CLARIFY ORDER Again Urges Inclusion of Beauharnois and Aird ' Payment SAYS ACTION JUSTIFIED Claiming that Hon. Mr. Justice Mid@dleton was "quite in error" in placing the interpretation he did upon the visit to his oflice of Mitchell F. Hepkurn, Provincial Liberal Leader. and himself. and on any remarks they may have made there, Hon. Harry C. Nixon, Progressive Reader, assured the Legislature yesterday that "in all this master" he had no apologies to make, no regrets to offer, not one ac-- tion but that he would repeat, and that he was prepared to stand or fall "be-- fore the great court of public opinion" when the Hydro inquiry was all over as to whether hs and Mr. Hepbutrr Inis action 0ofi ours was at least successful," he said, "and our coun-- sel has alrcady more than justified his presence there." Directing Premier HMHenry's atten-- tion to the interpretation placed upon the Order--in--Council setting out the scope of the Middleton Commission, Mr. Nixon said: the "It appears that the Madawaska deal is not under inquiry at all, so is not 'sub judice' in this House and the Promier was quits in error when he called my friend from Glengarry to order the other evening. It is merely to inquire the propricty of the pay-- ment, and I wonder if the intent of the Premier and the Government is being carried out. If it is, it puts them in a very ridiculous light aftor all the protestations that the Premier has made in the MHouse, as to the policy that actuated the Government in giving a Commission on these two purchases of power assets. I suggest to the Preinier that the Government should forthwith amend the Order--in-- Council, making it very clear that the Madawaska deal is to be inquired inte. and T again repeat my saying that the third matter be added: name-- were Ivy the Beaubharnois contract and the payment of $125,000 to John Aird Jr. These two matters are so closely co-- relatsd that during my short visit to the inguiry the other morning, my friecnd Tilley was talking Beauharnois almost as often as Madawaska." n ON HYDRO PROBE ified Cu} and Mr. Hepburr taking the action counsel before the | _ "I have always held the view," he | declared, "as did, I think, Mr. Fergu-- ' son, that Ministers of the Crown, and particularly the Promier. should not hold positions on the directorate of these great corporations, coming. as they do. almost daily under Govern-- . ment regulations and supervision, | with frequent sharp conflicts between | the corporation's interests and the 'public's interest, and, I believe, Mr. Bennett resigned all his directorates. I say, Mr. Speaker, that this Legis-- lature, with this example before us, would be justified in placing itself on rerord in this matter by resolution. It is not fair to the Gopartmentsl of-- ficials who have to administer the acts that are sunpposed to control | these corporations and protect the public to have their boss sitting as President or director on the board of the company." Company's Financing Reviewed. Progressive Leader Flays Premier's -- Conmnection ' With Insurance Firm and Dairy Company -- Mr. Henry Protests Innocence Henry, as Director Of T wo Companies, Severely Criticized Mar 4 . PRICES OF MILK CAST INTO DEBATE Severe criticism of Promior Henry for occupying a place on the direc-- torate of the North Amsrican Life Assurance Company and the Farmer's Dairy Company was evpressed in the speech of Progressive Leader Hon. Harry C. Nixon on the debate in the Legislature yesterday. Mr. Nixon declared that he had never heard that the Prime Minister was a director of the North American Life until Premier Henry himself had "protested his innocence of the charge of being a 'scalawag' and making $50,000 out of the raid on the trea-- sury of this company." This re-- minded him of the quotation, "The lady doth protest too much, me-- thinks." He declared that the Pre-- mier should tell the House the date on which he became a shareholder and the date he accepted a position on the directorate. He also asked if any consent had been required by the Department of Insurance for the mutualization of the company. He quoted from the Journal of Commerce an article relating to the mutualiz-- ation of the company, and cox;gluc}gd this phase of his obJjJection WIll UHC | statement. "I note that we have on the order | paper at Ottawa a resolution asking | for an investigation of this whole | thing, and I have no doubt but that Premier Bennett will grant this re-- quest and that our Premicr will have an opportunity to tell his little story under oath, before the committee of the House at Ottawa." Mr. Henry's Explanation. In opening his speech on the de-- bate, Premier Henry referred to his own statement on the matter in the House last week. '"To my surprise," . he sad, "my hnoncrable friend brought the question up again today. Apparently he does not take my for-- mer statement seriously. I said that I had two shares which I held for about a year and sold in a retirement of the guarantees. I was not one of the original guarantors of the com-- pany." ] The Premier said the siock held by him was not in the saime class as tr>t mentioned by Mr. Nixon. Some stock transferred to him in trust later qualified him for a position on the board of directors. Then, when the control of the company passed, and it became mutual, the qualifying shares of his objection with the were returned to the original owners and he (the Premier) bought some shares. Regarding the Farmers' Dairy, Mr. Nixon gave what, he said, were de-- tails of its financing, asking the Prime Minister to correct him if he was wrong in any particulars. t Premier Henry also dissussed the financing of the Farmers' Dairy, Ge-- claring that in recent years it had been paying only a smail dividend, the rest of its earnings going into plant. Prices of Milk Questioned. ; He said that common stock was given as a bonus with preferred shares carrying a 7 per cent. guarantee. A stock--split in 1927, of ten shares for one, and a payment of $64 a share to obtain control in the 1929 merger with the Eastern Dairies, resulted in each share, for which nothing was paid into the treasury of the company, now bringing a return of $640. "And it is the attempt to pay divi-- dends on this huge volume of watered stock which enables the dairy com-- panies to say that they are only get-- ting a moderate return on the mar-- ket value of their holdings," declared Mr. Nixon. Mr. Nixon illustrated this point by a suppositious case of two farmers, one of whom sold a $10,000 farm 20. years ago, came to the city, and in-- vested it in dairy stock. He would now have $64,000 for common stock," as well as 100 shares of preferred stock. i "It is because of this watered stock." he said, "that it costs the Toronto dairies twice as much to dis« tribute milk as it does in some of the largest cities in the United States, where they can show a nice profit on a net spread of 4' cents. Contrast this with the spread that our dis-- tributors require here of 8 or 8!4: cents."