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DEBATE OX THE MILLER BILL INTERESTING REPORT OF DISCUSSION THAT PRECEDED REJECTION OF MEASURE. Minister of Justice Irritates Author of Proposed Legislation by Dubbing It the "Yankee Bill" — Small Chance for Compromise. Oltswn. Out.. April it. -Highly interesting was tin- parliamentary skirmishing Iliat attended the killing .r the Miller ami I«-i t inr hilt at the session r the 1! mm- of Commons Thursday niirlit . Partes; Hi BMratac. and iftMIM sitting of tlic house he debate ii.nl con I baaed wilh little excitement except for a brief elleiilllltt r between Messrs. QMwB Liberal. Ncv. Brunswick i anil Mr. Croshy Halifax!. The former uiaile sweeping charges of corruption Upon lie 1 r ..1 1 hiic tracks ..f tin- maritime provinces, which were liotly resented liy the member for Hali fax. When the house reassembled at eight oVloek it xvas e Ideal tiiai the opponents of the hill were Maniac of victory. Mr. Metoii West Northumberland!, v, ho led the opposition to tile measure, moved to strike out Section 1 of the hill. This particular section was not imiiortaiit, hut ihe motion araa intended la farce a show of hamls. it carried by :i vole i.l seventy-eight to seventy-seven. Of the ministers Sir Frederick Borden. Mr. Sifton and Mr. Ay loswoi I n Mood up and were counted anion:; those Aim voted in favor of the motion to virtually kill the hill. Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Mr. K. L. Borden and Mr. George Orakaai were counted in the negative Tli • bill Max in committee of the whole, the ye.is and navs were not called or recorded, hut it was apparent that all party lines were obliterated. Another test vote occurred upon Mr. Mctolls motiou to strike out Section 2 ot the bill. By this time the apBaaeata Ot the hill were stronger and carried their |joint by a majority of twelve. This time Minister Gr; ham aligned kiuiscll with the enemies of the measure. Mr. Miller was now fighting with his back to the wall. Hi sought to reassemble his forces and to meet to some extent the views of his opjionents by ■M eahsK U amenilment to the effect that nothing in the bill should lie construed to prohibit individual betting. This was lost on a standing vote of eighty-sceii to seventv-four. Mr. Miller then ran up the voile Hug by moving that the committee rise, and suddenly brought down upon bis head an avalanche of crilic:sm from his own supporters as well as from the appsacata f the MB. From this time on l lie house was in great confusion. Deputy Speaker Mclntvre. who was presiding. kept his lead, however, and declared several motions out of order, including one made by iSir Wilfrid Laurier. For ■ time then- were hopes of a eoinpr.i luise. bat Mr. Miller declared that the measure pro-IHivid by Mr. M.VoIl patterned after the Knglish statute wonld make matters worse than under the present law. Tile house was entirely willing to amend the Criminal C-xle by prohibiting the hand-tKMik and the poolroom and the .■ulvcrtiseniont and sale of tip-, and to shorten the time of ra e meeting*, but the promoters of the Miller bill preferred to have the whole matter go over until the next session of parliament. Partes the efteraeaa eVhalr. it. I.. Borden, leader of tin- i oi,-. iv.H :m opposition, insisted that the govei Tinient should announce its position. This Sir Wilfred Laarier rt fused to do and frankly ad-milted th. H irreconcilable differences of opinion existed among tile mciulicrs of the cabinet. Mr. Ayles-vorth. however, had already spoken. He dcscrilied the McColl amendments as constituting the model Btatate which bad been taken from the Knglish statute drafted by Lard Dave.v . He ■farad the Milicr lull, or iiie "Yankee bill." as he called it. unmercifully. W. F. Maclean ■referred the substitute hill em-haaVd in the McCMI anieiidnicnts. He opposed tin-Miller bill as reported h.v the s|iocial eaauatttee as mi British. It had beea copied, he said, from the hasty legislation of aererai of the Halted States, which had made conditions worse instead of better. To denounce the vTsedMae as a degraded place and to denounce the people who patronize it as criminals was an insult which the people of Toronto would resent. There was no public demand for parliament to dci hire a large and rcs|wcted section of the rom-aiiimitv to be criminals. Mr. Fort in Liberal, Quebec i opposed the Miller 5. ill and twitted some English speaking nieinlNis of lhc house with inconsistency. These gentlemen, he isaiil. were alwavs pi. -aching loyalty to ileal Brit as*, and now they were forcing a tyrannical law upon Qaefece which Seated Britisb tradition ami was j eiug urged by Sealet* from the United States. He warned tie- lw use that if the Miller bill did puss 5t would never he enforced *n Qaebee. Hon. A. B. Ayieaararth. Minister of Justice on the l.aurier cabinet, said the MeCoB aun inluieiits con-atitated a bill takes shaasl verbatim from the Fug lisb statute. He would refer to that as the "British bill": the asurc presented bv Mr. Miller he , «h isteii.,| the "Yankee bill". The Itritisb bill i ! struck at the person, the Kaakee bill straek at the jilaec One was a BBMtri statute, well ib -igned to . eare tic- erBs wbiefa bad frewa up on the race caajeae; the other was either incoherent or it went s-i. far a- to prohibit the smallest wager between ii. •lividuaN. It would not only affect the race course. lint it would also make it a crime to play bridge SC • •eii ehteheri if a cigar was at stake "Where is this tiling going to end?" asked Mr. Ayleswoith. "VYo bare made it a crime for a man to go fishing on Holiday: we have branded as a criminal a bey searijr grown who BSSOkea I cigarette. I believe the lav is ! Hot far di-iant when the intlucnces seated the Mill.-r , bill will demand a criminal statule ag;:inM en 1 jil.i". iug. liaiicing and any other form of amusement Vhih certain people may regard a* sinful." He thought the whale Mibiect of rigulating racing , ns " i.lb"! - BlijCht SBfelj be left to the provillcis. If the pio.iinial Kovenuaeata caakl be trusted to rasjw-Jat- the lnpioi tv.itlic tiny eaaJd iirtainly retralate ra mi- assorlatloas. The steasare prasased bj Mr. MeOoil. he said. v. a- saaerfar in every way to tile . JMiMcr bill, and he would support it." although the matter of the length of line a meeting ahottld l.iM and the ssaaher of meeting* to be held in any SSe vcar ahoold be a Blatter to be dealt with by provincial legists! ion. Cheers, i Mr. Laaeaster favored tin- nnu-iidment nronos l I |V Mr. MeCaB. He had reeeired letters alne-st eoai-iiiiiiiding him to vote for the Milb r bill, but he had ataa r.eijved bmBJ letl era from moderate people «irg ug him to vote for tie- amendment . The pro-paaal sf Mr. McOall w.mld. far one thing, make far ■ les byprurrisj among the seaple. In the true in te rests • i sMiralitx. therefore, he thought the aasead-inciit wa» i le imd lejrbdatioa the bouse eaald pa. Mr i; rasas WeHandt defeaded the Fort Brie ir»c;. which le- said araa raaaweaed on as bhrh a plane as tin- V.o "Ibitie race track. He pointed "ill tbat thin were dasereaeea of opinion a to whit vi;i~ a proper -laiidard of moral ivi titiule. He re tnitided the hou . that at one time there was a great call I j againM the running of street cars on Sun daurs. If a by law were proposed to stop the running "f street ears sa Saadajra in Ihtaaaa in- are-dieted lll.lt It WOUld be badly defeated. Mr. Milicr. father of the bill, showed irrilathm in replying to Mr. Aylcawortb. who had assumed he ; rob- of i-odfather bv calling his measure the Yatii • liill. After some of Mr. Millers supuorlcrs had Continued on second page. DEBATE OX THE MILLER BILL. Continued from first page. " l ccn heard Mr. McColl moved that .Section I of the MB, which detiu. s ■ " • mini n gaming house" Be • struck out. Mr. Mctolls motion was carried amid 1 loud cheers l.y 7 votes 77. Clause 1 having Ihi-u removed from the hill. Mr Mctoll movid that the same treatment he accorded I to clause 2. which denned a ••common betting place" and also the word "place." To this motion Mr. Miller « MMoaed Bfl anie:idment declaring that "the BKk-Has of this hill shall not extend to licts betw.-. ;i i individuals, l. either of whom is engaged in bookmak i ing as a business or profession." this suh-aiacid-inent was defeated l.y a standing vote of S7 to 74. and Mr. Miller siitlered a further reverse in the ad action ; of Mr. McColls proposal to strike out clause 2 " by a vote of yeas. S5. nays 73. Mr. Mct.ll wished to carry the work of destruction further, and to strike out dSSBM :i. dctiuing ■ J disorderly house or place as including a gambling i-stalilishment. He wished to incorporate in the hill 1 clauses which he had proposed the day before, including a ■eettoa de. hiring that •"everyone is guilty v of an indictable .flense who frequents or loiters in I public place on behalf of himself or any other person fur the purpose of betting or wagering, or agreeing t" bet or wancr. or paying bets or wagers, and I shall be liable f..r the first offense to a fine of 1910.sh0, ■ and upon the *•- -. nd offense to a fine of 00. .Air. Miller then moved that the committee- rise. This meant the killing of the bill. Mr. Lancaster at « once entered an emphatic pretest against any sti.li procedure. "I am not here fooling with this matter," he said. "As I have said before. I am pre. pared to make a good law in this matter before the e house, lb-cause Mr. Miller eaunot get all he wants I cannot see that this committee should rise and than - prevent any law betas passed," Mr. Beaderaea Haltoni said Be presumed the object ■ of Mr. Millers motion was to kill the bill, -in.1 he was set goiag to help him in any such attempt. t Ha did not think the bill should be abandoned to ° anv such fate. Mr. Miller said he thought the M -Col] amendments would make things more objectionable to the e mrpin.rters of the legislation than they are at present . Finance Minister Fielding suggested that Mr. Miller should make his motion to rise and report progress and ask leave to sit again. Mr. Fielding said I liiH proposal would leave an opportunity for an agree-ment tx-ing cine to bttweCB the contending parties. L Mr. Miller replied that he would accept Mr. • Fieldings BBggeetten, and attempted to withdraw his motion, but failed to obtain unanimous consent and ■ the Miller nioiion being put. was voted down. Mr. Lancaster entered a protest against the time of the house being arasted in this way. For two j days tb? bouse had lx-en discussing the question, yet now in fifteen minutes a satisfactory measure could d he passed if the members would only concentrate . their minds on the subject. Mr. Gorman said the motion to MMtt progress : would very likely carry. He thought the great object of the propaard legislation was to reduce the 1 ■anther f says aa whfeh raea meetings should be • held, and Be advised owners and operators of race * tracks to reduce their meetings, otherwise they would probably find n.xt aeaalea legislation would 1 l e passed which would not Ik- to their advantage. By ths time tbe house was in great confusion. • Mr. McColl and some of his lappin T I ■ were eager * to hold their advantage and to pat through the .-on, ! mittce the ISBstltaUl measure known as the Pmg-Jish bill. Some supporters of the Miller bill were anxious to make a compromise, but Mr. Miller himself was olidurate. Other memliers. notably Mr. Henderson, were not disposed to surrender, although Mr. ■ Miller had rtgnldrd his willingness to quit. Finally Sir Wilfrid Laurier mov d that the committee i rise ami reaarl pc cress. Mr. tardea asked what this meant. Was the bill „ to .vine up again: Sir Wilfrid Laurier — We all want an early prorogation. I think we have given a good deal of .f time to this measure. Mr. Bord.-n. the opposition leader, and other members i insisted u|h u something more definite. Would Id the government, by again taking the bill up out of .f its order, make further consideration at this session m possible. V Sir Wilfrid Laurier — Not unless all parties agree h to it. The motion then passed without further comment it or division. Whether the ■abject of betting legislation comes W un aaiu il.is session depends on the altitude of Mr. r. Miller and bis immediate following. The House is i- a unit on the qaratioa of legislating agates! baad-Baak ! Betakes ana tipsters" advertise meats. But the "■ supporters of the Miller bill are not disposed to accept any eeinproniisc and in view of the raaeral do e- sire for eailv prorogation the peeslMltt] of any agreement e- lnuliialv satisfactory is v. rv remote. Both Mr. r. Miller and Mr. afeCoH state that thee will bring W tin ir respective bills before Parliament next session. "■
