Page 2

THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 21, 1959

EDITORIAL PAGE

AND THEN THEY HAD NONE

No other single project in the Central Cariboo has
met with the number of frustrating delays as the new
War Memorial Hospital—and no other project is quite
so badly ‘needed.

Ironically, the latest delay, as far as the district
is concerned, has been self-imposed. The directors of
the improvement district feel that our share of the
hospital cost at nine mills is too much for the property
owners—particularly ranchers—to be asked to assume.

In insisting that some way be found to bring this
cost figure down to a maximum of six mills, the direc-
tors are not only adopting a realistic outlook, but
demonstrating a moral responsibility as well.

With the increasing number of small property
owners on the voters’ list, there is little doubt that a
money bylaw would pass, even at a higher mill rate
figure, but it would be grossly unfair to knowingly in-
flict a heavy financial burden on one industry.

Outside of the possible grant from the Indian
Affairs Department, what means can be found to shave
the district’s share of the cost is a problem that looks
practically incapable of solution. That is, within the
present boundaries of the hospital district.

The obvious answer is one that up to now has not
been too popular a suggestion in the south. We are
referring to the fact that the inclusion of the 100 Mile
hospital district would boost the assessed land and im-
provement value to a point where a new hospital would
be well within financial reach.

At the moment, 100 Mile has only a faint hope of
a hospital, the hope contained in a B.C. Hospital Insur-
ance survey that recommended a 30-bed unit for that
area. They have no committment from the Depart-
ment of Health and Welfare.

Here, a new hospital has been approved, the plans
drawn up—and we can’t afford the health authorities’
prescription.

Final result could well be that this great area of
land in the Central and South Cariboo will continue
to stumble along medically without an adequate hospi-
tal between Quesnel and Kamloops.

And “ stumble ” could well be an understatement.
We are still short of medical men in the country and
we haven't a hope of attracting them without modern
hospital facilities. We also run the very good risk
of losing the outstanding men we have, who put up
year by year with our inadequate and overcrowded
institution in the hope that-something worthy of the
name hospital will soon be a reality.

With one large district we could digest our hospi-
‘ital requirements piece-meal—a hospital at Williams
==> Lake, and then a smaller gne at 100 Mile House, the
combined projects to the enlarged area would mean a
mill rate that could be handled without difficulty.
As it stands now, one part of the district’ can’t swallow
the bite offered it, and the other doesn’t know when

it is going to be invited to the table.

WE HAVE AND WE HAVEN'T

For the past two months, the airport situation at
Williams Lake has bordered on the ridiculous.
Theoretically we are in fine shape as far as air travel
is concerned—we have two airports, one owned by the
village and one by the Department of Transport. How-
ever, in practice we haven’t had the services of either.
Chances of a passenger boarding CPA at Vancouver
of landing in Williams Lake have been slim indeed.
It has too often meant an air trip to Quesnel (the
extra mileage at your expense) and 79 miles back by
bus.

Reason behind the situation is partly the weather
and partly the snail’s pace the Department of Trans-
port has been displaying in completing their airport.
The town ’port has been as waterlogged as the rest of
the Cariboo, and for a turf landing strip, that means
no heavy aircraft. Up on the hill the DOT’s 7,500-foot
strip of asphalt lies in isolated splendor, awaiting a
permanent staff to look after it—who in turn must
wait for accommodation.

With pressure being brought to bear to make use
of the new airport on a temporary basis, the DOT has
generously consented—provided the village looks after
it this winter. The catch is there has been no mention
of equipment, and without the mechanical means of
moving the snow, the job is an impossibility. Alter-
native would be to hire equipment if it was available,
and given a winter of heavy snow the village could
go broke trying to keep ahead of the weather.

We don’t think it would hurt the DOT to rustle
up enough temporary accommodation for a service
crew to open up their new airport and keep it going
until permanent buildings are erected.

THIS READER LIKES THE

The Editor, ‘“proper climate” in a com-
The Williams Lake Tribune munity which is conducive to
the best learning situation.

Dear Sir—I do appreciate
receiving copies of your very

You deserve the thanks of all
of us for the excellent job you

interesting newspaper and o js this respect.
always take time out to glance - :
through it. read the I always experience a little

disappointment when see
evidence of a lack of interest
in education, in spite of the
efforts of people like yourself
and others, as was demon-
strated in your September 30
edition in the report of the
very poor attendance at the
high school P-TA. I certainly
agree with Tom Beames that
a successful P-TA is an asset
to any school, but unless it can
be a success, it perhaps should

“Cracker Barrel Forum" and
the columns written by your
wife and yourself. I always
enjoy these and congratulate
the three of you on the excel-
lent job which you do.

I, of course, always look for

aware that those of us asso-
ciated with education appre-
ciate the support you give to

your local teaching staff and
school board. I am sure, too, D@ abandoned.
that T have told you that Iam I think all of us as indi-

convinced the local newspaper,
more than any other medium,
s in establishing the

viduals like recognition in one
form or another, The recog-
nition which teachers receive

As

semblance to the

Except for the lake and the hills,
this picture taken from Signal Point *
on north lakeside bears little re-
scene
Barely discernable at the lower left

to look
is the Cariboo Highway as it nears
what is now the busy little settle-
ment around Wells Coffee Shop and
Valleyview Motel.

it used

today.

SPEAKING
PARSONALLY

BY. REV. A. ANDERSON

Mo8t of us have learned to be
lazy by being too busy. Do you
remember when you were very
small being taught about the
dizzy speed at which the world
rotates around its axis. I re
member, but I didn’t believe it
then. Yet now it seems some-
times as if I were having to
keep running in order to keep
up with it. We live in that
world. Our society
stands with
whip over wu.

kind of

man
“amongst us is
the one who

can rise up

against the

taskmaster of
convention and say, “Keep
going where?” and * Produce
what?" Then, having an-
swered those  questio: for
himself, he will proceed in
his own time to go where he
feels he must go, and produce
what he feels he must produce.

And at the end, his whole life’s
contribution may be visible and

measurable, or it may in-
visible and immeasurable. In
either case, only he himself

knows whether or not that con-
tribution has been worthwhile.

Far too many are the slaves
of convention, failing ever to
think of the abiding signiticance
of what they are contributing
to life. The; chained to
the whirling wheel of activity
that goes nowhere. Being busy
in this way is simply a way of
being lazy: lazy of mind and
spirit. It is a way of hiding
from the fact that what we are
busy at, doesn’t really amount
to much

are

On the other hand, the person
who is ready to do a few things
well is not lazy but sensible.
He is likely the one who recog-
nizes the importance of quiet-
ness in life, as the well from
which he may drink deeply in
order to retresh himself for an
other day’s journey.

Of course, I_am not arguing
in favor of slothfulness, but
rather for greatness. The men
of the ages who have left the
most significant marks on the
world are those who found time
to be quiet, time to cultivate
friendships with other people
and with God, time to think,
time to work, time to love, and
time to pray. The greatest of
all such men was Jesus of
Nazareth

in a district encourages them
to stay there rather than move
elsewhere. The pictures that
you are running of the teach-

ing staffs are valuable from
this point of view. For many
parents these pictures will

constitute the first introduction
to the teachers of their child-
ren and will thus assist in pav-
ing the way for closer home-
school relationships.
gain my sincere thanks for
the service you render through
your newspaper to education
STAN EVANS,
Assist. General Secretary,
B.C. Teachers’ Federation
Vancouver 9, B.C.

FEELS DRUG STORES
SHOULD BE EXEMPT

Dear S: ‘A recent situation
arose which made me reali
the great inconvenience suf-
fered by the public by the fact

ACCENT ON

rae

— By Clive Stangoc —

When we ran across that Welsh place name in
Sylvia Baker’s “ letter home " last week—remember

the one? Llanfairpwllgwyn
natural
It might have been spelled correctly,

llandysiliogchogoch.
eall for help.

our

lgogerychwyrndrobwl-
reaction was to

but only a good Welshman would know, so we got on
the telephone to Tom Mason.

Tom came right
ov and lovingly
rolled off the outsize
name, to the-
amazement of
Tribune staff looking
on. Pronouncing that
collection of letters
not only looks like a
formidable task, but
an impossible one. ae
We could quite believe the
translator when he said that by
time a porter had
finished calling out the name
of the small station, the train
had left the village behind,

the train

In a newspaper office one-gets

used to surprises in the mail,
but a letter last week presented
somewhat of a precedent. The
letter was address to “Cariboo
Star, Williams Lake, B.C..” and
the sorting clerk in the post
office undoubtedly thought the
sender meant the local news-
paper. So did we, until we got

well into the body of the mes-
sage. “Dear Cariboo Star,” it
read, “My name is

I am fourteen years old and I
am in grade nine at school...”
On it went to give a number of
more vital statistics, but it
wasn’t until the last paragraph
that a light began to dawn.. .

“Well, I don’t know what else
to write about myself, but I
hope you will be my pen pal
anyway.”

Evidently the writer was

answering an appeal for a pen
pal that probably appeared in a
coast daily’s children’s corner,
but she sent a letter direct to
Williams Lake.
So, “Cariboo Star,” we have at
least one of your answers, if
you would care’ to come in and
claim the letter.

A reader brought in a small
bottle containing a leech the
other day. Purpose of the visit
was to demonstrate that the
large-scale waterworks project
this hasn’t changed one
cause complaint, since the

year
of

that our two local drug stores
are forced to operate as other
retail stores.

I was given my release from
the hospital on a Monday, with
a new baby. I was immedi-
ately faced with

the problem

bottles, milk,
could take my baby home.
Doubtless, these could have

been purchased on Saturday
had I known I would be re-
leased on Monday, but I know
that the doctors are unable,
days ahead of time, to be cer-
tain of any definite date a
patient can be be discharged
The patients, therefore, if told
on a Sunday or Monday that
they can go home, are faced
with a choice of staying in an
over-crowded hospital until
Tuesday, calling the druggist
and inconveniencing him to
make a special trip to his store

leech had come out
of a kitchen tap. We
can't quite agree
with our informan
though. In compari-
son to
have in
this one
small and
transparent in
indicating it
from a deeper part of the lake,
thanks to the new intake. The
others the former intake sucked
in were big, black, welled ex-
amples of water life.

So much for progress on the
waterworks front.

taps,
quite
almost
color,
came

Margaret (Ma)
eran publisher in the weekly
field, is about to demonstrate
that one is never too old to take
on something new.

Mrs. Murray sold her Alaska
y News at Fort St. John
last year to her son, and offici-

Murray, vet-

retired. Now we take note
she is founding a new
weekly newspaper at Fort Nel-

son (population 1,000), which

located at Mile 300, Alaska
Highway.
Writes Margaret, in the Alaska

Highwa: ews, “The challenge
to take hold and make an effort

to collect the live news, dis-
pense it through columns of
white space, to strive for the

objectives that could be had, is
worth taking a chance on, and
for damshur that’s what we
will do or die in the attempt.”

NATURE'S AIR

CONDITIONER

It has been said that in one
summer a single maple puts
forth about 432,000 leaves, ex-
posing to the sun half an acre
of leaf surface, and every inch
of this expanse is absorbing
heat, light and carbon dioxide
reducing the heat of the
surrounding air, giving it
moisture and oxygen, and puri-
tying it for our special use.

is

gas

EDUCATION

or going home minus the nec-
essary medicines. As I am
sure the greater, number of
patients are from out of town,
it is obvious what problems
they are faced with.

I would be very interested
in knowing why the drug
stores in Williams Lake can-
not operate as other drug
stores in other towns, staying
open for even two hours on a
Sunday or holiday. If our
other retail merhants are so
afraid of the few cents profit
the drug store will make on a
two-hour period on Sunday—
have they considered the
profits the grocery and variety
stores make every day on
drug store items such as
toiletry articles, aspirins, gift
cards, etc.?

According to a letter to your

Continued on Page Three

THE MACDUFF OTTAWA REPORT

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGONS

OTTAWA—As we predicted a
month beforehand, Canada’s
chartered banks have come

under heavy fire recently from
both Prime Miniistier Diefen-
baker and Finance Minister
Fleming as the, villains behind
the present credit drought.

During 1957 Mr. Dieifenbaker
launched a_ relentless attack
from the opposition benches in
the Commons and out on the
hustings against the Liberal
regime for the tight money sit-
uation whiich then prevailed.

Faced with a credit shortage
that made that of two years ago
seem mild by comparison and
interest rates that were climb-
ing to an all-time high, the Con-
servative leader had to find a
scapegoat. He settled for the
banks, which politically can all
too easily be portrayed as the
epitomy of Big Business.

Mr. Diefenbaker made no
direct charges, but the unmist-
akable inference he left with the
man-in-the-street was that the
banks were solely to blame for
the present credit shortage and
the reason they were to blame
was that they were depriving
small borrowers of loans to lend
money to the big, wealthy corp-
orations.
assure you this, that the
government does not intend that
the prosperity resulting from
the economic recovery shall be
for the benefit of the few and to
the frustration of. the many,”
the Prime Minister declared.

Up to a few weeks before his
speech over the national CBC
television network the banks

ted to large borrowers than was
wise. But this is only a small
part of the story.
LDOT TO LENDING

By far the largest increase in
loans have gone to relatively
small borrowers. But there is
a limit to how much money the
banks can lend and that limit
has virtually been reached,
which is no fault of the chart-
ered bankers.

Mr. Fleming perhaps recog-
nizes the absurdity of this
argument, confined himself to

blaming the Bank of Canada for
the credit shortage of two years
ago, charging that it deliberately
intervened to promote tight
money,

LOOKIN
BACK ALONG
THE TRAIL

ONE YEAR AGO

October 22, 1958
Williams Lake voters will, be
asked at civie election time to
approve a money bylaw that will
assure the town of a decent,
and adequate water supply for
years to come Despite a
dull blustery afternoon, Bank of
Montreal officials estimate that
750 to 1,000 people took advant-

age ot their “open house”
Saturday to inspect the new
premises . . . With the naming

of streets in 100 Mile House the
cost of street signs was the
main issue at the Board of Trade
meeting held there October 14
Pars A scathing indictment
against our treatment of the
Indian population was made
this week by Miss Amy Wilson,
RN, OBE, who announced her
retirement from the post of
field nurse with the Indian
Health Services of this district.
FIVE YEARS AGO
October 21, 1954

Residents of Horsefly have
inquired into the possibility of
establishing an air-lift for their
community next spring as an
alternative to road travel, Harry
Brown, president of the Horse-
fly committee of the district
Board of Trade told Hon. Ralph
Chetwyn at a special meeting
here yesterday ... Plans origin-
ated last Thursday for the forma-
tion of a night patrol service in
the business section. of town
were spurred this week by the

discovery Monday morning of
the fifth serious case of break-
ing-and-entering since the
middle of August ... The min-

amum temperature recorded in
October in 1954 at Williams
Lake was 46 degrees, a high
was recorded at 71 degrees.
Continued on Page Six

THE WILLIAMS LAKE
TRIBUNE
Established 1931
Editor, Clive Stangoe

Published every Wednesday at
Williams Lake, B.C., by the
Cariboo Press Limited.
Subscription per year _ $3.00
Outside Canada __.___ $4.00
Advertising rates on application
Authorized as Second Class
Mail by the Post Office

As one example of this policy
he cited the pressure brought on
the chartered banks to curtail
what is known as “term loans,”

loans for an extended period
and usually to large corpora-
tions. What the Bank of

Canada was doing then was ex-
actly the sort of policy now
being urged by the government!

Tight money is not in itself
something that any government
need be ashamed of. It is a
sound policy to be pursued at a
time when the economic mach-
ine is starting to race out of
control, for it is to ultimate
benefit of all Canadians in all
walks of life.

It is not popular because very
few people understand why they
cannot borrow all the money
they want when they want it.
The Conservatives capitalized
heavily on that reaction in 1957.
Today they are faced with the
same situation, but they won't
face up to it.

CONFIDENCE SHAKEN

Because of this attitude and
the political double-talk in which
it has been engaging, confidence
in the government among mem-
bers of the financial community
both at home and abroad has
been badly shaken. Leading
British newspapers which at one
time hailed Mr. Diefenbaker as
a powerful new force in the
Commonwealth have shown a
sad disillusionment.

In Canada, housing is already
suffering because of the govern-
ment’s attempts to escape blame
for tight money. Private funds
for residential _ construction
under National Housing Act
have been completely dried up
because the six percent interest
ceiling fixed by the cabinet is
below that on ordinary govern-
ment bonds. So far the govern-
ment has been afraid to increase
the rate for fear of drawing
down criticism upon itself. The
prime residential mortgage lend-
ing rate of the insurance com-
panies has risen to seven and
one half per cent to reflect the
differential in risk and admini-
stration cost as against high
interest bearing government
bonas.

THE BANK OF CANADA AND
THE GOVERNMENT

In its twisting aha turnings,
the Conservative government has
sought to avoid any respons.
ibility for monetary policy by
denying any control whatever
over the operations of the Bank
of Canada.

In the course of a few months

it has overthrown a relation-

=e

pa

s f é cae.

— LOOKS AT —

ship between the government
and the central bank that has
been understood by all authori-
ties to exist for nearly 20 years.

It is true that the Bank of
Canada has the initial respon:
bility for laying down monetary
policy, but since 1939 it has been
assumed that ultimate responsi-
bility rested with the cabinet.
Even. Hon. J. M. MacDonald,
for years the Conservative fin-
ancial critic and until recently
a minister without portfolio, de-
clared a few years ago: “I re
gard the Department of Finance
as finally responsible for the
actions of the (central) banks.”

Five years ago, Graham
Towers, then governor of the
Bank of Canada, told a par-

liamentary committee there was
no “alibi” possible for the
government. If it disagreed

with the Bank of Canada policy
it could change the legislation,
or, more likely, force the
resignation of the governor in
the event.

TIGHT MONEY ~ LIBERAL
AND TORY STYLE

Money is “tight” today for the
same reason as in 1956-1957;
the demand for loans exceeds
the available supply of money.
There afe only two real dif-
ferences between Fleming's and
Harris’ tight money.

First, the federal govern-
ment is by far today Canada’s
biggest borrower, whereeas
under Harris federal debt was
being retired. Under the
Tories, the whole money
supp merease has gone to the
federal government to cover its
deficit. In Liberal days, all the
money supply increase plus an
additional amount released by
debt retirement out of surpluses,
was available for provincial,
municipal and private borrowers.
Second, even under attack, the
Liberals assumed some respons-
ibility for the anti-inflationary ,
tight money—that is, they ad-
mitted it was government policy.

Thus, Prime Minister Diefen-
baker contends that two years
ago tight money resulted from
the deliberate policy of the
Liberal Government, whereas to-
day it is only the “consequence
of natural forces.”

That this is patently ridicul-
ous is borne out by its own con-
tention that the federal govern-
ment has no control whatever
over the monetary policy pur-
sued by the Bank of Canada.
That being so, how could the
Liberals possibily have been re-
sponsible for tight money, which
he claimed then and’ now to
have been the case?

fRALK

BARRE

ia

The value of Board of Trade
co-operation in the Cariboo

By A. J. Drinkell
The formation of a Board of Trade at Lac La

Hache, as reported in the last

engaged the attention
forth. Such signs of

issue of The Tribune,

of the boys at our last hold-
growth and progress are al-

ways of great interest to those having their roots

deep down in the Cariboo.

The Community of
Lac La Hache has
grown amazingly dur-
ing recent years, and
some form of organ-
ized effort became
essential. Of particu.
lar interest to the
boys was the speech
. MacMillan of
Mile House jin
which he appealed for
co-operation between all Boards
of Trade in the Central Cariboo

Chairman Blunt recalled this
forum had debated this very
point a few years ago. These
conclusions may bear repeating.
It was suggested the Williams
Lake and District Board of
Trade encourage the formation
of Boards in all major settle-
ments throughout the district
with some form of representat-
ive committee where a Board of
Trade was impractical.

These regional Boards and
Committees to have affiliation
with the parent boards and re-
Presentation upon its directors.
EXPERIMENT TRIED

Shortly thereafter some mem-
bers of the Williams Lake
Board of Trade visited the larger
centres and really tried to get
& comprehensive organization
started. Unfortunately, nothing
lasting came of their efforts
—that Cariboo apathy is hard to
nail down. Since that time
however, considerable growth
has taken place; new industries
and much new blood pervades
the scene,

Forest Grove; 100
Mile House and now
Lac La Hache have in
turn formed their own

organizations. The
Forest Grove Board
opened up with a

most promising flour-
ish, but of late we
have heard little about
its operation which is
a great pity. In all
probability it still functions to
some‘ advantage on the local
scene.

We still think these various
local Boards would be well ad-
vised to seek affiliation with a
parent body. Such an arrange-
ment would permit of a more
intelligent approach to matters
both of local and general con-
cern. Local issues would have
the advantage of weightier pre-
sentation of their problems to
the government _ concerned,
while their opinions upon mat-
ters of wide import would be
embodied. in any final decision
arrived at by the parent body.
There are innumerable ways in
which co-operative action of
this nature would prove of great
benefit to all concerned.

We hope, therefore, Mr. Mac-
Millan will not stop at words in
the furtherance of his plea for
co-operation.

We feel sure he will receive
warm support from members of
the Willilams Lake Board of
Trade should he decide to
really activate the movement.