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to the basis of that Act, and that they be authorized to make an announcement to the effect that the dependents will be provided for accordingly subject to such modifications as may hereafter be deemed wise after due investigation by your Commissioners and upon further report."

The Chairman of the Commission has reported orally that probably eighteen hundred persons lost their lives through the disaster and that the number may reach or even exceed two thousand when full and accurate information will have been obtained.

The Prime Minister observes that after a conference with the Chairman of the Commission he is of opinion that the policy of the Government with respect to further appropriations for relief to those suffering by the disaster ought to be announced without delay.

Although no legal liability rests upon the Crown, nevertheless it is beyond question that the explosion of the very large cargo of munitions of war laden upon the steamer Mont Blanc was an emergency of war from which the inhabitants of Halifax, Dartmouth and the surrounding district have suffered incalculable losses. The steamer Mont Blanc at the time of the explosion had resorted to harbor of Halifax for the purpose of convoy, and this steamship, like other steamships similarly laden, was using the harbour of Halifax in pursuance of the common purpose of the Alllied [Allied] Nations in carrying on the war. These considerations make it incumbent upon the Federal Government to provide reasonable and even generous relief for those who have suffered through the necessities of the war, without their own default and indedd [indeed] without adequate knowledge of the danger to which they were exposed in the utilization of the facilities of the port of Halifax for the common purpose of the Allied Nations.