The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"That it will be welcomed by the fair--minded employer as well as by labor we have no slightest doubt,." said the Minister. "He is as anxious as we are to assure that competition will no longer involve wage--cutting to starvation levels. To employers as a whole 1 woula give the assurance that if they are paying fair wages today they need have no fear of the effects of this act. is to maintain peace in industry, and, Mr. Speaker, the price of peace is fair wages. It takes no prophet to predict that without Governmen-- tal action 1937 will be a year of in-- dustrial disturbance. . Business is increasing, production rising to normal levels; wages, as usual, are lagging behind. Labor feels, quite rightly, that it should have a stake in the returning prosperity. We fully agree. We feel that the act 1 present today will serve the cause of industrial peace; that it is one answer to the vexing and disturbing economic problems today troubling Ontario and the rest o the world. "If they are not, then they will have time to get their house in or-- der before the provisions of the legislation come into effect." "But, we are convinced that this legislation, affecting as it does workers in all but agriculture and domestic service, will confer con-- crete benefits upon the Province as a whole. To us it seems that during this time of reconstruction, during industry's growing--pairs, the great-- est task of the Department of Labor "The direct and immediate bene-- fit is theirs," said Mr. Croll. '"They are protected from wages,, which, at their best, are frequently anaemic and at their worst mean slow starva-- tion. They are assured of an early rise in the general wage--rate--which for unskilled workers today is no better than what Governments have established as the minimum living wage for women workers. For the first time, they will enjoy protec-- tion from one distressing phase of man's inhumanity to man. Designed For Peace. "Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be able to present to the House this legislation, which for me represents the fulifilment of many years of hope; and to the Government as a whole the fulfilment of a pledge to the people of this Province. To the House it will give the opportun-- ity to confer a greater happiness, a better life, upon 400,000 workers, who today have no shadow of pro-- tection as to wages and hours of work." "The legislation passed by the Do-- minion Government in 1935 has dragged its weary way through the courts and it is only a month since we finally learned that we have authority over wages," said the Minister. We have wasted no time in act-- Ing upon the Privy Council's de-- cision," he said. WIII Aid 100,000. dustry and Labor Board would ad-- minister the act. The legislation would ensure to the worker his fundamental right, a fair return for his daily toil, and it was long over-- due, he asserted. M.L.A. Apologizes for Using The Words "Lord Almighty" William . Newman (Lib.. Vic-- toria) apologized to the Speaker of the Legislature yesterday for having used the words, "the Lord Almighty" in speaking on Tues-- day last about "the very grasping salary grab" with which he cred-- ited Fred A. Gaby, former Chief Engineer of the Ontario Hydro-- Electric Power Commission. "For referring to the Deity as I did, at such a time," declared Mr. Newman, "I offer you my apology, Mr. Sp« r. I regret the words. I was ng to show the grasping nature -- of those increases (Mr. March 5 does mean that these municipalities who are suffering from excessive costs of power at the present time should be the first to be relieved of this excessive cost, and the process of levelling up should be followed until the inequalities of opportun-- ity are removed as far as possible between the larger centres of popu-- lation and the smaller places, and between individual farmers." say "nothing can be done about it." Needs Courage, He Says. "It may take courage to tackle this proposition of putting mere democracy into the distribution of Hydro," he added. "It took cour-- age to cancel the old power con-- tracts, and replace them with new ones at a more equitable cost. It will take no more courage to make the attempt to distribute this power to the consumers on a more« equitable basis. A CGovernment that can accomplish the one can accomplish the other. "This does not mean that the cost of power to any municipality should be increased, in order to make it cheaper to another, but it Mr. Freeborn said he did not be-- lieve in hanging a sort of "halo" around anything connected with Hydro affairs, or assuming a sort of defeated attitude to those who INEQU ALITIES FOUND '"The local municipality is too small," he said. "In deciding these areas there should be an effort made to leave no one unprovided for in the future. Cities in general should be suitably associated with rural districts and small towns." May Take Courage for Change, J. W. Freeborn Tells Legislature North Middlesex Member Would Increase Use of Power In order to remove the inequali-- ties in connection with the dis-- tribution of Hydro power in On-- tario, the Hydro _ Commission should undertake a thorough study of the situation with a view to arranging and defining new dis-- tribution areas or districts of a more suitable size for economical service, J. W. Freeborhn {(Lib., North Middlesex) told the Legisla-- ture yesterdayv. LOWER COST TQ FARMERS HELD NFFD Gaby's salary increases). There-- fore I was very unwise to refer to the Deity, because the Deity is merciful and full of justice and never would have stood for such grasping, personal gain, such as the salary grab of Mr. Gaby. "The Deity did not have any-- thing to do with this. But the people of Ontario elected a bril-- liant young man in 1934 who formed a Government, who form-- ed a HMydro Commission who drove these money grabbers from great Hydro systemm." the seats of the mighty in our Liberals Heap Reproach Upon Acres After Blast Against Roman Catholics Mr. Acres finally wound up his speech, giving way to F. B. Brown-- ridge (Lib., Stormont), who pro-- ceeded to ridicule his predecessor's remarks. "After listening to my honorable friend from Carleton, one would think he was conducting an auc-- tion sale," said Mr. Brownridge. Laughter rang through the House. Mr. Acres is an auctioncer by occu-- pation. '"We have all heard of the slogan used by the Barnum and Bailey Circus," went on Mr. Brown-- ridge. "They talk about the great-- est ~show on earth. Barnum and Bailey missed something when they did not take our honorable friend along with them." "You ought to be ashamed of yourself," said a Liberal back-- bencher. on the separate school legislation, which he appeared to introduce as an afterthought, brought cries of "shame, shame" from ail parts of the Liberal membership. There were numerous cries of "shame," and a murmur of resent-- ment swept over the Liberal ranks. Thinks Barnum Wrong. If Martin Quinn's Letter Represented S incere Views of Members of Church "They Are Not T rue Coanadians,"' De-- clares Conservative "You don't respect as much as I do," Acres. "I have nothing against the Roman Catholic people," said the Carleton member, "but I am for a united people, nat class against class, religion against religion." MHollis Acres, Conservative mem-- ber for Carleton, ran into stormy weather in the Legislature last night. He managed to get through most of his address without too much trouble, but a few remarks The Conservative had already wound up his address and given thanks for a patient hearing, when he suddenly embarked on a tirade against the separate school bill. Brandishing some papers in his hand, he declared that the Martin Quinn Jletter was a disgrace and that if it represented the true views of the Roman Catholic people "they are not true Canadians." Roman Catholic Replies. Immediately, J. A. Habel, Liberal member for Cochrane North, was on his feet with angry protest. Mr. Acres, however, exercised his privi-- lege of refusing to allow a question, but the Northern Ontario member changed it to a point of order and Speaker Hipel ruled that he had the floor. "The hon. member is trying to imply that Roman Catholics are not loyal Canadians," said Mr. Habel. "I am a Roman Catholic and I am proud of it and I am as good a Ca-- nadian as he is." "You don't respect your religion your religion retorted Mr.