The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-14
KING GOVERNMENT
 IN CANADA FACES
 DIFFICULT ISSUES
Probability of Defeat lnCreas- ing--Problem of Proposed St. Lawrence Canal Is
 Troubling Ministers
By J. 4. STEVENSON Special Dispatch to The Age Herald <6opyrigbt, 1929. by The Age-Herald)

<6opyrigbt, 1929. by The Age-Herald)
 ONtawa, May 1S.-rhe King or lib- eral fsrty Eovsrnment of ths Do sninion. has run into political rough weather. Lack of clear parliamen- sary majority has brought reversal of sts early prestige. Today troublous political Assues arc pillng up. Some of them affect tho United States. The possibility shat tho government may meet defeat at vote on some of she disputed problems is believed by leaders to be increasing. Such action would force the resignation of Mir Kins and his associates.
 The issues now acute are as fol- lows:
 First, the demand fathered by A w. Mcafaster, that all of the crown ministers sever their connection with directorates of banks. trust and in surance companies. This affects six ministers but most conspicuously the Minister of Justice. Sir Lomer SaouinI, who is A director of the Bank of Montreal and other corporations there
 Second, ths dsr and, from tho pro- grcssives, that reapportionment bill be adopted which would create 10 additional seats in tho western prov ipces.
 Third, the demand from French Canadian liberals that the militia budget be cut to the bone and the small Dominion navy laid up for at least a year.
 Price Fixing
 Fourth. tho demand from the west srn farmer organizations, that the Canadian wheat board be recreated with it's system of control and fixed prices.
 Fifth. the demand from represen- tatives of provinces affected that the government unqualifiedly approve the report of the international joint commission for construction of the St Lawrence waterway.
 Sixth, the demand by the British Columbia members that Oriental i'm migration be completely prohibited. A compromise favored by the govern ment ordering effective restriction" but not specifying how it was to be brought about was ordered by a vote of 1S0 to 3s recently. but the western members assert they are not satis- fled with this and we1l continue the agitation.
 The demand that all ministers re- Train from banking and. insurance activity is very insistent. The Cana dian banking law is to be revised next year. The minister of justice must propose amendments. Liberal newspapers are charging that Sir Lomer Gouinx is too friendly to fi- nancial interestk He has declared he will relinquish his portfolio before he will resign his bank directorship and in this decision he has been backed up by his fellow cabinet mem- bers. Liberal leading newspapers are backing Mir. McMasters and the agi- tation is increasing.
 So far as the military and naval program is concerned 1t is expected that tho reductions asked for will be authorized. The advocates of re- trenchment have the votes to defeat the original estimates so the govern ment has agreed to comprohime.
 Likely To Re Defeated
 The farmers will very likely be de- feated. The agricultural committee of the House as result of a series of hearings has reached tho conclu- sion that 20 long as open markets prevail in Chicago and Minneapolis any system of control hero would prove ruinous to the farmers. Incl dentafiy tho liberal leaders are con- vfnced that restoration of the board with its drastic powers would result tH sAo PtSStA6O ol lAo government fuctuating in western Canada exact ly as the price of grain did. Then, again, to recreate the board as origi- nally established would be impossi- ble in peace time the legal officials of the government assert To estab- fish 2 price fixing organization con current legislation by Ottawa and the provincial legislatures would be needed and this might be hard to se- cure.
 A decision of tho St. Lawrence waterways project is not yet in sight. Here, as In the United States, geogra- phical considerations influence mem bers. Those whose constituencies abufupon the proposed waterway are enthusiastically in its favor. Mem bers from Montreal and from north ern Ontario are opposed and favor the Georgian Bay canal route which proposes to use Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa river as tho avenue for connecting tho great lakes and tide water. They also fear the danger of possible entanglements with the United States. Western progressives favor the St. Lawrence plan but are opposed to it at present on the ground of expense holding that Dominion treasury could not stand the strain of financing 1t.