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While the Premier has remained silent on his plans respecting the election, the statement was regard-- ed yesterday by Liberal Legislature members as conclusive evidence | that Mr. Hepburn meant it when he HEPBURN DENIES CABINET PURGE advised them thoy were free to act as they wished in the campaign. & Premier Hopburn laid down a policy of freedom of action for his members when he spoke in a 1939 caucus session and again in debate on the Dominion war effort issue, Wwhich led to the passage of the resolution sponsored by himself and by Hon. T. B. McQuesten, Minister bf Highways, censuring the King \Covernmcm's war program. But members have been admittedly Festive, particularly after six Cabi-- net Ministers, all of whom were supporters of the resolution, de-- €clared support for King candidates The denial was made in a pre--. pared statement addressed to lhei Oshawa Daily Times, which on . Wednesday, Feb. 21, carried a report | hinting at a Cabinet shake--up under | the headline, "Rumor Conant to Lose Cabinet Post." The Premier's| statement at the same time paid tribute to Mr. Conant, member for Ontario and a resident of Oshawa, "as one of the most valuable Ministers with whom I have ever been associated." * Their defection from the spirit Of the resolution and from the anti--| King policies which the Premier has z:en at no pains to hide, even dur-' g the past woek, is believed to have been particularly irksome to| their Provincial Leader. | rersistent -- rumors at Queen's Park of an impending purge of Cabinet members who have given public backing to Federal candi-- dates in their home ridings were bluntly denied yesterday by Premier Hepburn as having not the "slight-- est foundation" of truth. " Rumors of a shake--up were in--| tensified particularly after Mr. Co--| nant, last Friday at Whitby, not : Oonly supported the candidature of | W. H. Moore, but advised his and | Mr. Moore's supporters, in effect,| not to "swap horses while crossing | & very dangerous stream." l . Mr. Conant on that occasion des--| eribed Dr. Manion's National Gov-} ernment appeal as a "thinly dis'i iuished Tory deception," and of the ing Administration said: "It un-l doubtedly has a course well chart--| ed and plans developed for the pres-- | '!nt and the future roqt.niremcnls.I t has knowledge of the inlcrna-' tional situation, and of the views And plans of the Imperial Govern-' ment, obtained . through many | months of continuous contact. That | in brief is the Government which | @sks the people of Canada for an extension of its term of office, On the other hand, and to deal only ith the major party, we have the zlroup which styles itself the 'Na-- tional Party.'" Persistent -- rumors Says Rumors Have Not 'Slightest -- Foundation' £% Calls Headline Unjustified. + Consequently, it was a: ;nembers yesterday, Attorney--General Conant's :\ttorne,\'-Gcneral Conant's position is firm, after not only supporting the candidate, but giving some measure of support to the King Government as well, then the Premier is not planning retaliation Tor the apparent "turn--about" moves of his colleagues, no matter how hard they may have hurt at the time. * The Premier's statement to the Oshkawa paper is as follows: "Re-- garding article in your _i_ssuc Fob. 21, under entirely unjustified headline, ?umor Conant to Lose Cabinet: ost,' greatly regret that your paper should so reflect on a splen-- did citizen of the county and of the Province of Ontario. There is not the slightest foundation for or truth in the article. I regard Gordon Conant as one of the most valuable Ministers with whom I have ever been associated, a tireless worker, capable, conscientious in the pub-- lic interest, and one of Ontario's greatest Attorneys--General. I hope it may be my privilege and pleasure to long have him associated with FERRuARY Twenty--four defaulting munici-- palities in Ontario have been com-- pletely refunded since the Depart-- ment of Municipal Affairs began its practice of supervising municipali-- ties in default, Hon, Eric Cross re-- ported to the Ontario Legislature yesterday. i Reviewing the work of his de-- partment during the past year, Mr. Cross emphasized thegact that many municipalities ftormery in default have chosen to remain under a form 24 Provincial Centres Removed From Default I was argued by erday, that if serious obstacle to the department in compiling data, he said, but this was being met by the publication oi a manual of accouting, designeq for municipalities of less than 10,000 population. The standard SYstem | described is now in operation in thirty municipalities. | The report stated that municipa} | tax levies in 1938 showed a decreage | from $34.52 per capita in 1937 to | $34,.29. School levies |renraseni--al 35.7 per cent of the total tax levy, Tax arrears were reduced from $41,. 932,203 to $38,727,738 in the same period and debenture indebtedness from $425,744,206 to $404,290,461 .. a decrease of $6.93 per capita