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The member from North Bruce used the occasion to attack the announced surplus of Hydro, which had been placed at $62,500,000, and asserted that in actuality there was less than $40,000,000 which could really be called surplus. & A. H. Acres (Conservative, Carle-- ton), who had just commenced his address when the House adjourned at 6 o'clock, opened his remarks by stat-- ing that members should not take from what he had to say that he was no longer a member of the Conserva-- tive Party. He had certain sugges-- tions to make, he said, but, looking at the Cabinet benches, declared he was still a supporter of the Government. But Mr. Elliott charged that Hydro had made a mistake in presenting the statement to the public. '"They have built up a substantial reserve," he do-- clared, "but why do they try to present a statement to the public that does not truly represent present conditions? By attempting thus to deceive the bublic and by withho!lding information in other lines, the Commission itself has dons more to undermine public confidence than all the critics or op-- ponents of the system ever can do." (Opposition cheers.) Tweed Suggests Commission. 8. C. Tweed (Liberal, Waterioo North) declared that Ontario would more rapidly recover from the present situation if a Commission form of government, consisting of five mon picked by reason of their ability rather than their party affiliations, were adopted. He suggested a ten--year period for this type of administra-- He will resume the debate Thursday. Dpr. H. J. Davis (Conservative, Eigin East), the other speaker, dwelt main-- ly on agricultural topics. At the conclusion of his spsech, Mr. Elliott moved as follows: "This House condemns the Government for its fail-- ure to balance the Budget." tion. He also took the Government to task for abandoning the debt-- retirement plan. Hon. J. R. Cooke, Chairman of the Hydro--Electric Power Commission, aross in his seat in an effort to refute the assertion of Mr. Elliott, and aver-- red that the stated figure was correct :nd':.hat there were securities to show or It. Interest on Gross Debt $60 a Minute, Says F. W. Elliott--A l eg es Hydro Surplus Really $40,000,000, Not $62,-- Charging that the Ontario Govern-- ment had juggied figures and adopted a practice of accounting which it had previously criticized, F. W,. Elliott (Bruce North), Liberal financial critic, told the Ontario Legislature, in open-- ing the Opposition attack upon the Budget yesterday, that the Province had operated at a deficit of $14.000,-- 000 in 1932, instead of the admitted figure of $2,000,000." Further, Mr. Ellioit declared that. had indirect relief bsen classified as an ordinary expenditure as it was in 1923, the deficit would have reached "the almost unbelievable sum of $24,000,000." Motion of Condemnation. TWEED SUGGESTS COMMISSION PLAN Deception in Deficit: Total Charged by Opposition Critic 500,000, as Claimed-- Motion Condemns Fail-- ure to Balance Budget In Attack on Henry Budget Debt Increase Scored. Mr. Elliott scored the Government for its failure to stem the mounting public debt of the Province; for not reducing interest charges on loans, and for the methods used in floating is-- sues; denounced the cost of govern-- ment generally; delved into many . phases of Hydro financing; criticized | highway financing, and blamed it for; not adopting a concrete retrenchment | policy years ago. | 3 At the outset of his remarks Mr. Elliott chided the Government for having '"raided" the Liquor Control Board of $2,600,000 of its surplus in order not to make the public debt in-- crease of $53,751,892 appear any larger. © "The increase in the public debt is equal to the entire revenue of the Province for the fiscal year of 1931-- 32; in other words, the Province spent $2 for every $1 raised by all the high taxation in force," declared the mem-- ber. "This is one record, and ancther is that the public debt increase is the largest in the history of the Province." Net Debt Analyzed. "But some one will say the Province has value for this increase," he con-- tinued. "Well, lst us see how the net debt stands. In the 1922--23 report the net debt is given by the present Attorney--General as $109,000,000. In 1931--32 the debt is given as $277,673.-- $£20, an increase in nine years of $168,000,000, or over 154 per cent. "When the Ferguson Government came into power in 1923 it requirsd less than $30 per minute for interest on the gross C:bt. Now it requires almost $60 per minute, every minute, day and night, 365 days in the yea~. To pay interest on the net debt in 1923 required $10 per minute. Today it requires over $25 every minute for interest on the non--revenue--producing debt of the Province. Burden of Interest. "To pay interest on the increase in gross aebt in the last four years re-- quires, at the rate money cost the Province last year, over $29,000 every day in the year--Sunday and every other day. Not for interest on all the arebt of the Province, but only on whai has been added since the last election; ; and to pay the interest on what has | been added during the past year alons | requires more than $9,500 every day,| according to the estimates placed on | 6ur desks last Thursday--twenty car-- loads of wheat every day to pay in-- tcrest on the addition to the debt in one year." T C34 (ees Mr. Elliott then turned to a review of a speech made by the present At-- torney--General when the latter was Provincial Treasurer in 1924. He quoted Colonel Price as having said that such items as superannuation funds and Northern Ontario fire re-- Hef were "clearly ordinary" expendi-- tures, and should not be charged to €xapital account,. _ -- . 1 "Then he (Colonel Price) quotes a Jarge number of other items which were charged to capital account (by the Drury Government) when they should have been charged to ordinary, but some of which are charged to capital in 1932, the last being $100,-- 000 for relief." Changes in Capital Account,. '--ll"aw PRRITW TTTTT IPEET tal account last year, which, he claimed, under the stated policy of the Provincial Treasurer of 1924, were mnot capital. ;, They were: Public service super-- annuation funds, $502,993; $3,200,000 for direct relief, $10,000,000 for in-- dGirect relief, and losses through bond sales, $307,218. The debt--retirement requirement of $2,700,000 of 1930 had been classed as ordinary expenditure But no provision had been made for it in the last two years; therefore there is actually another $5,400,000 @ddition to the deficit, he said. Th; speaker then outlined some charges that had beex; "rnademu{ ca;ii: March 29 Mr. Elliott continued: "By simply classifying receipts and expenditures of 1932 as they were dealt with in 1923, we have shown to-- day a deficit in ordinary account for 1932 of $14.000,000, instead of the $2,000,000 admitted in the Budget ad-- dress. And in showing this $14,000,-- 800 of a deficit in ordinary account, e have not included indirect relief of $10,000,000, which was treated as ordinary expenditure in 1923. "If we do include this item--and it would hbhave been included in 1923-- the total would again break all rec-- ords, reaching the almost unbelievable sum of $24,000,000." Criticizes Bond Rates. "Speaking last session, I stated that the action of the Government in offer-- ing 6 per cent. for $25,000,000 in Jan-- uary, 1932, would have the effect of making it almost impossible for any one requiring funds to secure them at The speaker contended that the Government issues of $48,000,000 in bonds during the fiscal year had cost too much, and placed the figure at 6.15 per cent., as quoted by the mem-- ber from West York (Harry I. Price, Conservative) when moving the adop-- a rate they could afford to pay. And thousands of people have found them-- selves exactly in that position. There was no need for such rates of interest. The very fact of the immediate over-- subscription of both the bond issues of last year was undisputed proof that 4t was not necessary for the Govern-- ment to raise the price on the market, #s they did in both instances. tion of the Speech from the Throne. Mr. Elliott declared that, while the Ontario Government was raising the rate of interest on bonds, Great Brit-- rin and Australia were substantially reducing the rates. He continued: | "I suggest that it was not necessaty to offer high interest rates to help wealthy corporations and citizens of this Province and of the Republic to the south who were fortunate enough to have money to invest. I wonder if the members realize that the Ameri-- can investors in the last two issues of Province of Ontario bonds will, as soon as the Canadian dollar comes back to par in New York, recaive from 44 to 8 per cent. on their investment. #&uggestion Commendecd. "There was a lot of good common sense in the suggestion of the mem-- ber for &ufl%terloo that the Fed-- eral and «Provincial Governments should work out some plan of reduced interest ratess «> 0 The speaker then set his task in an attempt to show how the high rates of interest paid on these issues had the effect of not bringing the Province a fair return on the sale, and that the actual amounts received were out of proportion with the ulti-- niwlt cost of the loans. | _ _ _ "Tast year," said he, "the Province sold $20,000.000 of fourteen--year 5:4 1