91 



CANADA, PARLIAMENT OF. 



cepted the deposit, and had given a receipt for 

 the same, which receipt, the law expressly de- 

 clares, shall be sufficient evidence of the due 

 payment of the deposit. Baird took the seat 

 for Queen's, N. B., and the question of his right 

 to represent the county having been referred to 

 the Committee on Privileges and Elections, the 

 committee reported : 



That the question raised as to the holding of the 

 said returning officer as respects the candidature of 

 the said George G. King, is one cognizable by the 

 Supreme Court in the Province of New Brunswick, 

 under the provisions of the Contested Election Act, 

 and that no objection has been made as to the qualifi- 

 cation or eligibility of the said George F. Baird to sit 

 in the House of Commons if he be duly elected for the 

 said electoral district. 



Resolved, That in the opinion of the committee 

 the House ought not to declare that the said George 

 F. Baird is not entitled to sit in the said House, but 

 should leave the case to be disposed of under the pro- 

 visions of the Controverted Elections act, it being the 

 intention, spirit, and policy of Parliament that all 

 questions as to the validity of the election of members 

 to the House of Commons should be decided by the 

 ordinary legal tribunals of the country instead of by 

 the House of Commons. 



Dunn was summoned to the bar of the 

 House " to be examined touching his conduct in 

 returning a candidate who had not the majority 

 of votes." 



Mr. Weldon (St. John), moved : 



That the second report of the Select Standing Com- 

 mittee on Privileges and Elections be not concurred 

 in. but that it be resolved. That in view of the pro- 

 visions of the Dominion Elections act, Revised Stat- 

 utes of Canada, chapter 8, and the duties of a return- 

 ing officer as therein defined, and also in view of the 

 facts elicited on the examination of Mr. John R. 

 Dunn, the returning officer of the electoral district of 

 the county of Queen's, N. B., at the last election for 

 the said district, and it appearing that nominations 

 were received, a poll granted and held, and that at the 

 summing^ up of the votes George G. King had 1,191 

 votes and George F. Baird 1,130 votes, it was the duty 

 of the said John R. Dunn, at the said election, to 

 ha re declared and returned George G. King as the 

 member elected for the said electoral district. 



Hon. Mr. Thompson, Minister of Justice, 

 moved in amendment the adoption of the re- 

 port of the committee. 



Mr. Davies (Prince Edward Island), moved in 

 amendment to the amendment : 



That all the words after the word " That," in the 

 amendment to be struck out, and the following sub- 

 stituted instead thereof: " at the late election held in 

 the county of Queen's, New Brunswick, for the House 

 of Commons, two candidates, namely George G. King 

 and George F. Baird, were nominated, a poll demanded 

 and granted and duly held, and on the summing up 

 of the votes polled, the candidate George G. King, 

 had a majority of sixty-one votes. That the returning 

 officer nevertheless returned the defeated candidate, 

 the said George F. Baird, as elected, and that it was 

 his duty instead to have returned the said George G. 

 King, who received the said majority of votes, as the 

 member elected, and that said returning officer (by 

 name. John R. Dunn), be forthwith summoned to 

 attend at the bar of this House and amend his return 

 accordingly." 



The amendment to the amendment was nega- 

 tived on the following division : 



YEAS Amyot, Armstrong, Bain (Wentworth), 

 Barron, Beausoleil, Bechard, Bernier, Borden, Bou- 

 rassa, Bowman, Boyle, Bnen, Burdett, Campbell 

 (Kent), Cartwnght (Sir Richard), Casey. Casgrain, 

 Charlton, Choquette, Cimon, Clayes, Cook, Couture, 

 Davies, De St. Georges, Dessaint, Doyon, Duchesnay, 

 Dupont, Edgar, Edwards, Eisenhaucr, Ellis, Fiset, 

 Fisher, Flynn, Gauthier, Geoifrion, Gigault, Gillmor, 

 Guay, Hale, Holton, Innes, Jones, Kirk, Lauderkin, 

 Lang, Langelier (Montmorency ), Langelier (Quebec), 

 Laurier, Lavergne, Lister, Livingston, Lovitt, Mac- 

 donald (Huron), Mclntyre, McMullen, Mallory, Mills 

 (Bothwell), Mitchell, Mulock, Paterson (Brant), Pat- 

 terson (Essex), Perry, Platt, Prefontame, Purcell, 

 Rinfret, Robertson (King's, Prince Edward Island), 

 Robertson (Shelburne), Ste. Marie, Scriver, Semple, 

 Skinner, Somerville, Sutherland, Trow, Turcot, 

 Waldie, Watson, Weldon (St. John), Welsh, Wilson 

 (Elgin), Yeo 85. 



NAYS Audet, Bain (Soulanges), Baker, Bergiu, 

 Bowell, Brown, Bryson, Cameron, Cargill, Carlin^, 

 Carpenter. Caron (Sir Adolphe). Chisholm, Cock- 

 burn, Colby, Coughlin, Coulombe, Curran, Daly, 

 Daoust, Davin, Davis, Dawson, Desaulniers, De's- 

 jardins, Ferguson (Leeds and Grenville), Ferguson 

 (Welland), Foster, Freeman, Gaudet, Girouard, Gor- 

 don, Grandbois, Guilbault, Guillet, Haggart, Hall, 

 Hesson, Hickey, Hudspeth, Ives. Jamieson, Kennv. 

 Labelle, Landry, Langevin (Sir Hector), Macdonala 

 (Sir John), McDowall, McCarthy, McCulla, McDonald 

 (Victoria), McDougald (Pictou), McDougall (Cape 

 Breton), McGreevy, McKay, McKeen, McLelan, Mc- 

 Neill, Madill, Mara, Marshall. Masson, Mills (An- 

 napolis), Moffat, Moncreiff, Montague, Montplaisir, 

 O'Brien, Perley (Assiniboia),Perley (Ottawa), Porter, 

 Reid, Riopel, Robertson (Hastings), Robillard, Roome, 

 Ross. Royal, Rykert, Scarth, Shakespeare, Small, 

 Smith (Sir Donald), Smith (Ontario), Sproule, Stev- 

 enson, Taylor, Temple, Therien, Thompson, Tisdale, 

 Tupper (Pictou), Tyrwhitt, Vanasse, Ward, Weldon 

 (Albert), White (Card well), White (Renfrew), Wil- 

 mot, Wilson (Argenteuil ), Wilson (Lennox), Wood 

 (Brockville), Wood (Westmoreland), Wright 104. 



The amendment of the Minister of Justice 

 was carried on the same division reversed, with 

 the single exception that Mr. Burns voted with 

 the majority making the vote 105 against 85. 



The Clerk of the Crown in Chancery was 

 accused of illegally giving an undue advantage 

 to Conservative members in gazetting the re- 

 turns of members elected at the general elec- 

 tion. It was proved that this official, as a 

 general rule, published the returns of Con- 

 servative members in the first issue of the 

 " Official Gazette " after the receipt of the 

 returns, and withheld the returns of Opposition 

 members from publication in some cases for 

 weeks. The practical effect of this arrange- 

 ment was to give a much longer time in which 

 to lodge petitions against the return of Oppo- 

 sition members than against supporters of the 

 Government, the law providing that election 

 petitions must be filed within thirty days from 

 the publication in the Canada "Gazette" of 

 the receipt of the return to the writ of elec- 

 tion by the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery 

 A vote of censure failed to pass, but a bill 

 was passed during the session to amend the 

 Controverted Elections act by substituting for 

 the clause referring to the publication in the 

 " Official Gazette " a clause providing that 

 election petitions must be filed within thirty 

 days from the day fixed for the nomination 



