§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEasked Mr. Solicitor General, Whether the insertion of the word "may" throughout the Canada Loan Guarantee Act of the present Session does not give the Treasury the power of postponing the issue of the guarantee for any period that may seem desirable?
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL,in reply, said, it would not be fair to answer the Question of the hon. Baronet simply in the affirmative, because it was limited merely to the power of postponing the guarantee. The Act was, in point of fact permissive, and enabled the Treasury to withhold the guarantee altogether, if they thought fit to do so. That was the form usual in such cases, and it gave to the Executive Government authority to grant the guarantee, they being responsible for the exercise of that authority in a proper manner.