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:TIMBER oljlil iii, PROMISED BY HEPBURN Assured by Premier Hepburn of the government's willingness to set up a House Committee to inves- tigate all angles of timber ad- ministration by the Lands and Forests Department. Opposition Leader George A. Drew served notice in the Legislature yesterday that in cutting clean to the ohletr tive he has planned he will not be deterred by whispers or sugges. tions or rumors of alleged mal- administration by former Conser- vative governments. At Madoc, in the East Hastings brelection of 1936. the Premier had threatened. he said. to investi- gate Conservative "dealings" and had told his audience that once the people of Ontario had got an ink- ling of what had gone on under "Tory rule" they would never elect another Tory government in twenty years. __ WANTS ONLY FACTS "Well." said Colonel Drew, "I accept the challenge implied in those remarks. And I say let the chips fall where they may. The thing the people want to know. and what this House should know. are the facts relating to the adminis- tration ot the Lands and Forests Department. st. that we may dis- pose of all this suspicion that has been dragged up as a political firecracker in election after elec- tion." Helium's Move Surprise. Drew Demand Accepted in Surprise Move; Not Cowering fo Whispers of Past, Says Leader The Drew demand tor an inquiry , was embodied in a resolution. notice of which he gave to the House two' days ago. In promptly accepting the resolution yesterday, without a word of objection or observation, Mr. Hepburn took a surprise atti- tude. With the Department of Lands and Forests under Hon. Peter Heenan now operating at an annual surplus rate of nearly $2.- ti00,000 instead of "in the rod" as was the case when the Liberals assumed alike in 1034, he wel- armed, he said, any action that might tend to improve that favor- able position. Colonel Drew argued that his speech might serve to indicate some of the lines along which the probe should be conducted, and then embarked on a lengthy and critical analysis of various timber setups which he began with the Abltlbl reorganization. and which before he concludes the debate next Monday or Tuesday will take him through the ramifications of the Lake Sulphlte collapse and the Pulpwood Supply Company con- tract. "H my honorable friends." saill he," "can accomplish anything of this sort. then I shall he only too pleased te.tacilitate their inquiry in_e1rertptssittle way." To Produce Ripley Plan. Although he had dealt but briefly with the Abitibi question when the House rose by prior arrangement at 5 o'clock. he managed to draw both Premier Hepburn and Mr. Heenan into lengthy argument as to why the Ripley plan for this company reorganization had not been included in the file of papers turned over to the Opposition hy the government. The issue termin- ated with Mr. Hepburn after re- peated protests that tho plan had in no way influenced the govern- ment's official attitude toward the reorganization to date promised the Opposition Leader he would pro- dure it the first. of next week. In tho comparatively brief time at his disposal yesterday Colonel Drew announced his inquiry goal as aimed to eliminate. if possible, all exploitation from the timher wealth of the north, to rip aside the veil of "secrecy" with which government dealings in the past had been clouded. and, generally speak- ing. to provide "a long overdue scheme of constructive conserva- tion." Blames "Timber Pirates." Over the years. he said, there had been a string of failures in timber operations, running through one government after another, due, he said. to what might he mildly term- ed "timber pirates." In what he had to say. he said, he would not he unduly critical of the present de. partmental administration. What was needed, however, was greater protection of the timber resources than now obtained. Under the For- est Resources Protection Act of 1936. the present government, he said, had made of Mr. Heenan a virtual "czar of the north," and as many as 2,000,000 acres of timber had been "given away" hy a single Order-in-Council. Sale by tender no longer applied under the govern- ment's policy. and many of the con- tracts made for the erection of mills hadn't the slightest chance of ever being fulfilled. "The hit-and-miss method of dis- posing of timber," said he, "is a great encouragement to stock rack- eieering and it arouses suspicion in the public mind because of the secrecy with which it has been cloaked." As many as 350,000 cords of pulp- wood had been exporteed to the United States in a single year under the Heenan administration without the Legislature knowing anything about it. he said. Nor did the House know anything of the manner in which the minister took limits from one company and handed them to others. "Of course they agreed." smiled Colonel Drew. "They agreed like little Albania agreed the other day when they threw flowers on the armed invaders and acknowledged the King of Italy as their ruler. "They agreed to it," said Mr. Heenan. He suggested the Premier ex. plained the plan was fair on the ground it provided the security hold- ers an opportunity of purchasing the interest of the bondholders in the new company for a period of three years. The Premier, when he made the statement. read an order. in-councit which was passed on March 9, extending until April 1, Colonel Drew, in opening the Abi. tibl phase of the debate, quoted from an article in The Globe and Mail ot March 11 which represented the Premier as having said in a statement to the House that the Ripley plan for reorganization was "eminently fair." They agreed because there was nothing else they could do." APRIL l5 ("tioes not contain a solitary state- lment of the bondholders' commit- tee." Quoting from William Shake- lspeare. "There is something rotten in Denmark." he demanded where the Premier got his information that the assets of Abitibi were not 'worth the bonded debt. l The Premier, in reply, said he had igot the information from treasury iofficials of the assets' worth on the 'open market. He recalled he had told the House at the time he made Ithe statement he had made but a Icasual perusal of the plan before [he entered the Chamber. give the plan to Colonel Drew on Monday and Mr. Heenan, referring to the documents furnished to the Conservative Leader. declared it was probably the first time 111 the history of any parliament in Can- ads that confidential documents of that character had been released from government files. "And the whole thing is there," he added. Mr. Heenan said there was "no special plan filed with the depart- ment and I think I could speak for the whole government." He said he had met representatives of the bondholders, common shareholders and preferred shareholders. All had some plan. But, he emphasized, "the Order-in-Council does not en- dorse any particular plan." "The plan is in my office," replied Mr. Hepburn. "It has no bearing on the passing of the Order-in.. Council. If my friend wants it, I will have my secretary get it. The Order-in-Council was passed before I had the plan." Colonel Drew charged that when Mr. Heenan was questioned he gave a vague and general explanation as to what had occurred before this order-in-council was passed. and ac a result the Opposition had asked for tho Abitibi records. Nowhere in the records, he said, could he found a recommendation from either the minister or his deputy prior to the passing of the ordor-in-council. Colonel Drew insisted that the Premier had been quoting from the Ripley plan, "and the Ripley plan is not in this file. He is reported as having read a statement from the bondholders' committee which says in part: :It is evident that Abitibi assets are not worth the amount of bonded debt.' That is all very well. But I say, where is that plan? It is not in the rec. ords." 1940, the timber and water power concessions given to Ahitibi under the agreement of June 24, 1937. "When an order-in-council is passed which affects the security holders who have invested approxi- mately $150,000,000 in a project, when an order-in-council is passed with the intention of giving it to the public, your cabinet should have had before it material on which to make a decision," he charged. "I still believe the Premier was mia. led in what lay behind it." The Premier, he recalled, had just returned from Australia before he made the statement in the House In his statement he quoted, "It is evident that Abitibi assets are not worth the amount of the bonded debt." The Premier promised he would "This file," said Colonel Drew