Page 2 THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 24, 1959 WORKING AGAINST OURSELVES _ Last Wednesday, a laddie who had just been clipped for two dollars for overparking dropped into the office to register a complaint, and we think he had a very good point, Our parking meters are applicable to business hours, as everyone Knows, or should know, therefore on Wednesday morning you have to deposit a coin to Keep out of the clutches of the law. But last Wednes- day was “clean- -up day” and if every merchant had complied with the wishes of the Village Commission, the town would have been shut up tight. Fact that quite a few merchants changed their minds and stayed open is beside the point. As far as the village office was concerned, there were no retail business hours being observed on that day. So why the meter man on duty? The man we talked to received a parking ticket and went over to the village office to see what the score was under the circumstances. Ruling was there was nothing the office could do, so he had to pay up. Frankly, we think the incident should never have happened. However, if the meter man being on duty was an oversight, the situation should have been rec- tified as soon as the first ticket came in — and the ticket should have been torn up. Here was a case of the village working against itself. On one hand the commission authorizes a clean- up day to impress visitors, and commits a thumping blunder in public relations with the! same people it seeks to impress. WE CAN'T SEE ANY PROBLEM Provided the Village Commission has the power to implement the wishes of the Retail Merchants’ As- sociatiog, it would appear that Williams Lake is about to experience a major change in the hours of business yn see centres with one evel _g shopping, Flioubt that this idea is popular with the ‘akes the cash registers tinkle. he shops opening one night a week, stores to close one full day in order to stay within mum work hour week. Which day the mer- choose seems to be immaterial to the general The housewife may have to watch her buying little more closely at first if the stores are not Monday, but that is just a matter of kitchen afagement. From the point of view of the store aipee Monday closing would give them the advantage we decent weekend. . , we will soon atune our- Argu- ] Being creatures of habi : felves to the hours the merchants decide on. ments to the contrary, we don’t believe customers are going to rush down the highway to place big orders in other centres just because their own stores are not open until the following morning. The merchants have little to worry about but giving good service at reasonable prices to keep the customer “at home.’ IN THE NAME OF DEFENCE? — From The Printed Word Commons public accounts committee continues its good work of rooting out and exposing instances of waste and extravagance in government. Latest inci- dent to attract the committee’s attention was Army’s decision to charter Super-Constellation aircraft to move 113 Newfoundland militiamen to summer camp after they refused to travel in C-119 Flying Boxcars. Defence Department, according to Auditor General Watson Sellar, could have moved this group of militia- men for $7,000 less than the cost to the taxpayers of chartering Super-Constellations. Needless expenditure of $7,000 of the taxpayers’ money is shocking. Equally shocking is the fact that the Defence Department should consider it necessary to pamper the whims of a handful of men serving in Canada’s armed forces at the taxpayers’ expense, instead of subjecting them to proper discipline. THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE Established 1931 Editor, Clive Stangoe Published every Wednesday at Williams Lake, B.C. by the Cariboo Press Ltd. Subscription per year, $3.00. Outside Canada, $4.00 Advertising rates on application Authorized as Second Class Mail by the Post Office. * was done by his|talented wife, EDITORIAL PAGE brand-new and ready back in the 20’s, The building looks a little lonely too, sitting a long way from the main business district of Railway Avenue. AS IT USED TO LOOK The Canadian Bank of Commerce, for business construct, the Now, 35 years later, the bank is about ready to build a new branch. cidently, the original builders didn’t Fault lies with the cameraman. In- bank with a slight list. THE MACDUFF OTTAWA REPORT Loss leaders losing battle OTT A W A — Sweeping changes in Canada’s anti-com- Dines legislation were intro- duced in the House of Com- mons last week by Justice Minister Fulton, the first since the Conservative Government took office two years ago. Mr. Fulton maintains the amendments are designed to make the law more effective in Keeping business honest by helping to maintain competi- tion, wipe out misleading ad- Vertising practices and at the same time provide protection for small businesses in Canada. While the changes will un- doubtedly do many of these things, some observers are left with a gnawing doubt about how well some of them will Safeguard the consumer. Anti- combines laws have been on the statute books in Canada in one form or another for more than half a century and even pre- dated the so-called anti-trust laws of the U.S. NO MONOPOLIES At: first they were designed primaroly to prevent: Private conceivable, however, that some of them may open a door to joint operations between companies which will not be in the interests of the con- sumer because in various subtle ways they could lead to a decrease in competition. While small businesses stand to gain from the new pro- visions against loss-leader sell- ing, it may be at the expense or consumers across the country. Loss leaders have never been clearly defined, but generally speaking they are sales by stores, usually the big chain stores and frequently at a loss, designed to attract customers as a sort of “ come- on.”” GREW IN VOLUME Loss-leader selling grew rapidly in volume after a 1951 amendment to the Combines Act prohibiting resale price maintenance, that is prescribe List prices for retail stores which the manufacturer lays down. The new amendment introduced by the Conserva- tive admi ion would ex- ONE YEAR ‘AGO June 25, 1958 Like the rest of British Col- umbia, Williams Lake and dis- trict sweltered through most of June in temperatures that hovered around the 90 mark. The hottest day up till that time was June 24 when the mercury climbed to about 98 : . Big moment in the lives of 38 Williams Lake junior misses took place with their enrolment into the new Brow- nie Pack . . . ¢: practical dem- onstration of painting given here by Robin Pearce was well received by aré enthusiasts. The demonstration was of a co-operativ , With Mr. Pearce 4le¢turing while the demo: Pies work Faye access for tourists and pionéers was pro- mised to Chimney Lake, Fel- ker and Brunson Lakes. A new approach road was planned and under construction for comple- tion in the summer of ’59 . The final meeting of the sea- son for the Cariboo Music Fes- tival committee was held last Wednesday. The occasion was also a farewell for Mrs. C. Boyce. It was through her ef- forts that the music festival was first started. FIVE YEARS AGO June 24, 1954 The six men who have car- ried out the organizational work of the Williams Lake and District Ambulance Society and started its campaign for funds, were entrusted with the job of seeing the project through its first year at the general meet- ing of the society last night . Receipt from Victoria of a simplified form of zoning by-law prompted commission- ers to have copies made for study. Stan Goad said the by- law would be actively consid- ered prior to placing it before the people at a public meeting as is required by the Town Planning Act “Think where you are going and then make a success of it,” bank acountant Don Mars told the graduating class of Williams Lake High School as he gave the principal address yester- day . . . The local Boy Scouts Association received a report on the Scouts who were taking marksmanship instruction through the local Cariboo As- sociation of Marksmen. Walter Bailey reported that five Scouts received their bronze badges. TEN YEARS AGO Trappers were warned to protect their own interests. Eric Coller, president of the B.C. Registered Trappers As- sociation warned that register- ed trappers all over the prov- ince had better get together in one compact body in order to better meet the dangers which Jay ahead for the raw fur in- dustry . . Sportsmen asked for a restricted deer area to be established. Williams Lake and District Fish and Game Club endorsed a_ resolution asking the Game Commission to set aside a restricted area for members of the deer fam- ily . . . Stores sold new pota- toes grown right here in the Continued on Page Seven Ter wh sy Ib = By Clive Stangoe — SUBJECT of the Royal Tour press releases has been occupying the attention of several newspapers. The Comox Free Press kept a box score of these pre- tour releases from Ottawa and at the last count were up to 41. Comments the Free Press (refer- ring to the last two) “the releases con- tain no less than 21 sheets of paper deal- ing with the Queen's tour of Prinee Ed- situation, Mr. Koster said he felt that B.C. beef producers had little to fear but fear itself. *~ * * TAKING onr man- on-the-street ory mais wees AL closing ‘iss wyrd Island ¢na a ‘Taser tour tHrougn four small Ontario _ ; store towns knows what phot the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa has in mind when it sends out these re- leases. Of all the 41, only two dealt with the B.C. por- tion of the tour. But the most interesting thing about these releases is that they are sent out in triplicate, one in Eng- lish and two in French. If the government isn’t trying to subsidize the paper industry indirectly, then we can only assume that the press officer for the Royal Tour is being ‘paid by the release. Well, he has a good record. Of the 41 Pieces of information he has managed to send out, no less than 123 press releases, 41 in English and 82 in French, but, we might add, none in the Free Press.” Cece Hacker, publisher of the Abbotsford News, claims their office has been put to feverishly trying to translate the release, since they have received only copies in French. In Williams Lake we have n spared the effort — we en't received any rele: * * * THERE WAS one painting (2) on the walls of the Studio Workshop that wasn’t allowed Show to remain: for the Art last weekend. Members Art Society had paintin: the wall for several days prior to the show, and every evening work parties were busily put- ting finishing touches to the walls, The opportunity wasn’t missed by Players’ Club mem- ber John Stewart, who used some wall paint to make up his own sketch, labeled ‘“‘Lone- some Pine” and with the nota~-~ tion $85.00 also imprinted on it. The sketch remained among the proper paintings right up to the day of the show, but the hanging committee caught up with it. * wk Lk JACK KOSTER, well-known rancher of Canoe Creek, drop- ped into the office last week to pass on a word of commen- dation on the work of colum- nist A. J. Drinkell. Mr. Koster said he particularly appreci- ated the columnist’s article dealing with cattle marketing and a recent comment from the B.C, Beef Cattle Growers office. Mr. Koster sald he. con- curred with Mr. Drinkell’s re- marks and thought his mes- sage timely and worthwhile. From his own study of the Fred Waterhouse and myself found ourselves the centre of a small gathering in no time at all — although there was no connection be- tween the clump of people and the survey. Bert Roberts stopped to see me about a Stampede matter, Jack Kirk came over to see Fred on advertising. Ben Clarke had stopped and was joined in conversation by Mrs. Lil Deschene. On the other side of the lane intersection an- other three people were chat- ting. Scene was noticeable enough that Constable Dick Brookbank, turning his car in- to the lane, came to a stop as he tried to ascertain what ac- cident was causing the gather- ‘ing. Nothing like a quiet sur- vey. from to restrict competition and fix prices to the public. Later provisions were put into the law prohibiting the merger of two or more companies and the operation of monopolies which were contrary to the public interest. The amendments proposed by the government to make it clearer what types of mergers and monopolies are illegal seems bound to make this sec- tion of the legislation a more effective instrument in protect- ing the public interest. Under the Bill, for example, mergers are outlawed if they lead to a lessening of compe- tition unless the merging companies can prove’ that the move would result in econ- omies which would benefit the consumer without reducing competition in the industry substantially, or that one of the companies would be forced the wall unless the amalga- pation was carried out. ‘TRICTIQNS SSncorn apis the. Bifl does t relate soWmuch to! thede sections, but those covering combinations of separate com- panies and also the provisions to curb loss-leader selling. At the present the Combines In- vestigation Act and sections of the Criminal Code make’ it illegal for companies to join forces for a number of differ- ent purposes such ‘as limiting production or fixing prices. The new section proposed by Mr. Fulton, however, would allow firms to come together to exchange statistics, define product standards, . exchange credit information, define trade terms, to-operate in research and development, restrict ad- yertising “or some other matters not enumerated.” How this section will work out in practice will remain un- certain until it has been tried and tested in the courts. It is CARIBOO COMMENT By William Speare, MLA A troubled woman stopped me on the street to talk about her husband. Delay in getting an appeal of his Workman's Compensation claim was be- coming a serious problem. This happens all too frequently and is no joke. Real hardship and distress caused by injury to the wage-earner is recognized by your Provincial Government as an acutely serious matter. The Government introduced a number of far-reaching mea- sures at the, last session de- signed to improve the Work- mens Compensation set-up. In helping out with this latest case, I learned of progress that has taken place, which might be of value to pass along. An increased schedule of benefits came into force with Third Reading of the Bill. In addition, a new appeal pro- cedure was established, but be- cause of administrative chang- es it could not be implemented immediately. This provided for a Medical Review Panel made up of qualified specialists. A chairman was to be named, and a further list of profes- sional men made up from which the workman and em- ployer will each nominate their choice. Contact was made with the medical profession whose co- operation led to the appoint- ment of Dr. Gordon C. John- ston, of Vancouver, as Chair- man of the Panel. A commit- tee of nine doctors has also been appointed to select the list of specialists. Dr. Johnston has an out- standing medical record. An associate on the attending staff at Vancouver General Hospi- tal, he practises a specialty of general surgery. He is also a clinical instructor in surgery at the University of British Columbia, and has extremely high professional attainments. The nine doctors chosen to form the Medical Committee are all highly recognized in their profession. In addition to this progress, necessary forms are being drafted, and procedures laid out. The new and improved Medical Appeal Panel should be working in full force before very long. In the meantime, workmen who wish to have their cases reviewed by this Panel should write to the Workmens Com- pensation Board, 707 West 37th Avenue, Vancouver, and ask for copies of the new ap- peal forms. I would be glad to help in filling them out. Appeals are to be dealt with on a first come, first served basis. It is, of course, still nec essary to have a medical cer- tificate from a physician, stat- ing there are grounds for a medical dispute to be resolved. Since ammending the Work- mens Compensation Act, Brit- ish Columbia has the finest benefits accorded workment anywhere in Canada. Once our new appeal procedure is in op- eration we will also have the most effective appeal system. empt manufacturers from pros- ecution under the resale price law if they refused to sell to retailers who “ persistently ” use their wares as loss leaders, fail to provide the service the purchaser might reasonably expect or carry misleading ad- vertising. How far these pro- visions will carry the country ‘back along the road to resale price maintenance only time and the courts can determine. OAPITAL HILL CAPSULES The new amendments to the Combines Act proposed by the Government contain one sec- tion which should win wide- spread approval. This makes LETTERS 10 THE TRAIL STILL FAR FROM A ROAD The Editor, The Williams Lake Tribune Dear Sir—Between Williams |Lake and the Bella Coola Val- jleythere is a lengthy trail— deofie.g00 miles of trail. \Some Pp ‘call this trail a road, others a highway. However, the people of the Chilcotin are not easily convinced. They believe only what they see and feel. To these people it still looks like a trail and still feels like a trail. When they buy a vehicle, they have heavy duty springs and shock absorbers installed, and best in tires and some even buy welding machines so they can weld their vehicle back to- gether when they make a trip to town. Every year or so, the city man buys a new car because Mr. Jones bought one. The people in the Chilcotin are different again, they buy one because there ish’t any- thing left of the old one. On this trail there is a variety of vehicles. There are big trucks hauling lumber, gasoline, food and hardware. small trucks carrying boats moose horns and fishing tackle. There are big and small cars. About once or twice a year here are big an1234567890$__ there is a very peculiar look- ing vehicle that travels the trail, It's huge and massive, looking somewhat like an ani- mal of many hundreds of years ago. Its color is a vivid yel- low. Stretched along its slender body there are six rubber tires; four large ones at the back with two smaller ones away out front. Behind the front tires there is a blade, long, and narrow and running across the vehicle. Some say this is one of those new fangled things they use to smooth the trails with. How- ever, the Chilcotin people say no, it's just another tractor towing a trailer and going fish- ing. Two or three years ago the Government of British Colum- bia decided they were going to change the name of this trail and call it a road They spent a few thousand dollars on fix- ing some of the 300 miles. In part, this was a bribe, hoping that these people would agree with them that this trail was no longer a trail but a road. Again these people said no and to back up their argument they drive on the old trails where possible. These people can’t afford tanks and brengun carriers to drive these new roads, and they are about the only thing that will stand up on them. Mr. P. A. Gaglardi, Mr. Williams Lake Engineer and Mr. Public Works Foreman, when you decide to maintain the present trail, we then will it Mlegal for anyone selling any commodity to misrepresent the ordinary selling price in order to fool the consumer into be- lieving he is getting a bargain. Speaking in Montreal re- cently, Mr. Fulton disclosed that an investigation of the selling price of a certain article by his department uncovered the fact that only one of a number of retailers, had ever sold at the so-called “regular price.” In that one instance someone had forgotten to tell a salesman that the regular price was just “an advertising stunt.” Businesses using misrepre- sentation as the foundation of their advertising policy were “trespassing upon a matter of public right,’ "Mr. Fulton de- clared. Even if Canada is only the tail on North American de- fences, it gave all appearance last week of waving the dog. It was really last September that the Canadian Government decided that the real threat to the continent came not from manned bombers, but from the inter-continental ballistic mis- sile. Subsequently it scrapped the supersonic Arrow in line with this decision and decided to adopt only two U.S. Bomare guided missile bases to take their place. U.S. defence authorities con- tinued to insist until last week that the manned bomber was a serious threat, planned to pour billions into building new planes and new missiles. Last week is belatedly cut back its program and decided to con- centrate on a defence — if there is one — against the ICBM. THE EDITOR give credit and agree thot this trail will then be called a road. AL WASHEGARD. DISAGREES WITH COLUMNIST Dear Sir—On May 27, Mr. A. J. Prinkell's “‘ Cracker Bar- ~ Fel FW” had some fairly dirty cracks at the B.C. Beef Cattle Growers Association. Since I am responsible for the press release which is critic- ized by Mr. Drinkell, I trust you will allow me to reply to him. I was asked by both press and radio to comment on a re- lease by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which pointed out that the cyclical expansion of cattle numbers in the U.S.A. is in full swing. Slaughter rate of cattle in January to April was about seven percent below the previous year and calf slaughter 21 percent Tess. This slaughter rate indicates that a build-up in cattle inven- tories during 1959 is under- way. The report points out that if this build-up continues, it will end all hope of avoid- ‘ing the over-expansion that brought distress in the last cycle, My comment was that this report was a timely warning. B.C. ranchers with two percent of Canadian beef production, which in turn is only 10 per- cent of U.S. produetion, can’t do anything to stop this build- up, if it should keep on and lead to a break in cattle prices, I suggested what I thought to be sensible measures which ranchers could take in order to be in the best position to méet a market break if it does oceur. For Mr. Drinkell to argue from this that ‘the B.C. Beef Cattle Growers Association are determined (that) the buyers shall continue to exploit its members’ ‘is a deliberate lie. Mr. Drinkell may disagree with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that is his privi- lege. I, however, believe that they have better sources of in- formation than Mr. Drinkell. All of us would like to be- lieve that good prices for beef the here to stay. That is what many believed in 1928-29 _ some lost money by being too sure of it. I could have refused to com- ment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report. q¢ many people misunderstood my comments as badly as Mr. Drinkell, perhaps I should have been wiser to let people draw their own conclusions. Secretary, B.C. Beef Cattle Growers Association. Editor's Note: See Farm Page for comment referred to in, this letter.