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

ROEBUCK SAYS OFFICERS M) CRIME FOR PAY Seek fo Purge Municipal Forces of Corruption by Constables Act Changes, Conant Admits fo House PROVIDES FOR P R O B E S The blunt assertion of A. W. Roe- buck tLib.. Toronto-Bellwood.'" that unsavory police conditions existed In some Ontario municipalities. amounting almost to malfeasance. drew from Attorney-General Gor- don Conant last night the admis- sion that proposed amendments to the Constables Act were aimed at, stamping out corruption among', municipal police forces. l The bill. sponsored by the Attor- ney-General. passed through com-. mittee stage in the Ontario Legis- lature with only minor amend. merits. It gives municipal police officers power to make arrests out- sidetheir own jurisdiction. and pro- vides the attorney-general may order inquiries into "the conduct of any constable. the administra- tion of any police force and the system of policing any munici- pallty." with or without the request of the municipal council concerned. Colonel Drew questioned the ad- visability of permitting investiga- tion of the conduct of individual police officers, hut Mr. Roebuck countered his argument with a single terse sentence. "There are occasions," he said, "when police forces artuaily wink at criminal conditions within their Jurisdiction." -' "They actually take part in them some times." interjected Provincial Secretary Harry Nixon. "Take part in and draw revenue from them." supplemented Mr. Roe- buck. former Attorney-General. "The honorable member has stat- ed what I would have stated it I were not Attorney-General." Mr. Conant replied. "I would not have wished to have those remarks at- tributed to me in my capacity be. cause they would be so subject to misinterpretation. In the main, our police are honest, aggressive and " ticlent. but such occasions do exist from time to time. This is aimed exactly at the purpose at meeting "tttttt situations." The power of constables to make arrests outside their own munici- palities was limited by an amend- ment which provided that such or- rests could be made only in cases where the person concerned had committed. or was believed to have committed, a crime in territory within the Jurisdiction of the ar- resting officer. GORDON [IKELY Ti) RETAIN SEAT Amending Liquor Control Act fo Allow Hepburn Minisier fo Head Board and Continue in House DREW GIVES WARNING Appointment of Hon. St. Clair Gordon (Liberal, Kent West) to the post of Commissioner of the Liquor Control Board, with authority to retain his seat in the House, was virtually assured yesterday in the Legislature when Premier Hep- burn defended the government's proposal to place the dual respon- sibility upon the member. St. Clair Gordon, minister with- out norttolio. was not named in the brief debate between the two party leaders which followed the Introduction hy the Premier of an amendment' to the Liquor Control Act, which, in brief, had the effect of making it unnecessary for an appointee among the members to vacate his seat. Colonel George Drew prefaced his criticism with the statement that the man who was to be ap- pointed was a close personal friend. "I only want to make this com- ment," he said. "I would urge the Premier not to press this bill fur- ther. I would warn the government it is on extremely dangerous ground in bringing the Liquor Con- trol Board into this House." Premier Hepburn held there was a precedent, established by the Conservative administration ot 1912, which enacted legislation making it possible for the members ot the Ontario Hydro Commission to sit in the House. . "I think," he said, "it is fit and proper that the man who adminis- ters such an extremely important department should sit in this House and thus be directly respon- sible to this House for his ad. ininistralion." APRIL tty In the booming voice which once echoed through the Peshawar Hills of India, Col. Fred Fraser Hunter, erstwhile Bengal Lancer, yesterday in the Ontario Legislature assailed members in the front ranks who spoke in tones which did not carry to the long-suffering back-benchers. Boom lt Out, Hunter Urges Members on all sides thumped their approval of the rebuke with a drum roll on desk tops as Colonel Hunter (Lib.. St. Patrick; indig- nantly requested Hon. T. B. Me. Questen, Minister of Highways, to speak louder. There were, he said, members on the batttt benches who did not necessarily agree with the matter on which he was speaking. "Do you mean me?" asked the minister in surprise, as his Cabinet colleagues grinned at his discom- fiture. "Yes, I mean you," snapped hack Colonel Hunter. He attributed the increase largely to tubercular work and to the ex- tension ot mental hospital services. There was, also, a small increase in the laboratory section. Depart- l ment officials pointed out later that [the number of specimens sent in for examination had increased from 380.000 in 1934 to 550.000 in 1938. "I haven't had the advantage of military training," put in Mr. Mc- Questen. "All right, speak up, anyway," re- torted the annoyed member. The Premier, answering a ques- tion by Colonel George Drew, Con- servative Leader, reported there were 6,321 permanent and 1,418 tem- porary civil service employees. He emphasized that the staff of the Health Department had been in- creased hy 555 and that, therefore, there had been actually a reduction of 46 in other departments. CIVIL SERVICE LIST UP 509 Extension of services under the Department ot Health accounted for an increase of 509 in the civil service list since the Hepburn Gov- ernment came into power in 1934, Premier Hepburn advised the House yesterday.