PAGE FOUR eS he Sidney & Islands Review Publisher and Editor: Alfred Cunningham. Issued every Thursday at Sidney, B.C. Price $2.00 per annum, in advance. All advertisements must be in The Re- view Office, Berquist Building, Beacon Avenue, not later than Wednesday noon. Letters intended for publication in The Review must be accompanied by the writ- er’s name. Victoria Agents: Government Street. James Island Agents: Greene. North Saanich Agent: Turgoose. Salt Spring Agents: Mowatt Bros. Deep Cove Agents: Deep Cove Trading ... ...-Company... T. N. Hibben & Co., .Waterhouse and Geo. Spencer, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 nn \ PUBLIC SPIRIT IN| SIDNEY The lack of public spirit in Sidney is striking and regrettable. The population of the town, like the town itself is sleepy and needs badly waking up. This som- nolence, it is admitted, is due perhaps in some measure to the fact that most of the young men of the city have been called up for military duty and are either in training as soldiers or are serving their country in Flanders. In fact the absence of young men in Sidney is striking to any newcomer. But on the other hand, the bulk of the male residents here are men of an age and experience who usually take an active interest in civil affairs, and it is more than strange, it is regrettable that these men should just allow them- selves to vegitate and the town to rust. There are one or two striking exceptions, as there generally is to every rule, with the natural result that the public work, such as it is, falls upon the shoulders of that devoted few, who gladly bear the civic burden and carry~out the public du-} ties thrust upon them. This is a time when great changes are occurring and cor- porate and individual life will never be as it was before the war. In most places: the spirit of the war, the great sacrifices the people are called upon to make and endure, has breathed a new life into old bones. It is an age when democracy is fighting for its very existence and there is every evidence that with the magnificent response made that democracy will be | triumphant. Religion, too, which has | played such an important part in the in- dividual and corporate life of the people, will need many drasti: reforms in its atti- tude towards the people as a whole, in its} methods in dealing with social and dog-; matic problems, in the delicate task t| has before it «% winning the confidence of and guiding the new democracy. Old times have changed, old manners gone, and the new philosophy the soldier has | acquired on the battlefield with all its | tragic incidents, and a daily contempt for death, has of necessity changed his views of life. It has given him a higher sense of duty towards himself and his fellows. But these are the lessons of the fighting line, and these have hardly reached Sid- ney at present. What we need here is to get down to the present, and for the numerous residents in this favored little town, in graphic American parlance: To get a move on, right now! In our last two issues we have endeav- ored to show that Sidney, as a town of its size and importance is badly served in its roads, its prehistoric post office (sic) which might well have been Installed when Rowland Hill introduced his penny postaze | scheme into England; in its railway trans- port facilities, which would disgrace many an English village even in war time. These omissions are admittedly due to the in- difference of oificials in high quarters, | but, they are on.issions which, like the! tide flowing beneath the bridge of ages, will go on for ever unless some concerted attempt is made by Sidney citizens to get them remedied. | { There is, In short, no sort of real, live, | public spirit in the place; it is content apparently to lead a Rip Van Winkle ex- ixstence, although this is British Columbia to boot! Two atriking, evidences of this spirit of somnolent indifference to public ‘duty were afforded last week. One of our leading citizens recetves an offer from a gallant omicer at the front to receive two valuable war trophtes - Ger.wan machine Canada, and, guns-- which the young men of Sidney tthe publie-spirited men. of | towed later in the piping times of peace THE SIDNEY AND ISLANDS REVIEW, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1918 helped to capture from a stubborn enemy He is appealed to to take them over and present them to the town as a lasting memorial of the Great War and the gallant part the young men of Sidwey played in | it. He aecepts the responsibility gladly, | as any public spirited eitizen would do, but, he is faced with absurd difficulty that there is no civic body to whom he can transfer the trophies! And in Sidney and its environs there are something like one thousand political voters. To even accen- tuate in this particular instance the need of the residents arousing themselves to the call of public duty, he follows the natural course of placing the facts in the local newspaper, and appeals®in that organ to the public to come forward and make cuggestions in its columns as to what shall be done with the guns. His appeal was probably read by at least a thousand peo- ple here, but up to the time of writing this, no one has had the temerity to write to the Editor to assist Mr. White in his difficulty. Some city! Mr. White’s next step, we presume, will be. at his own ex- nense, to insert an advertisement in om Want Ad. column, advertising either for a site or dispose of the trophies. Now, would the same reception been accorded such an honorable and magni- ficent gift, say in Vancouver, or even Vic- sponse? Is it conceivable that such would have been the case? And if not, why should it be even so in Sidney? The second instance has reference to a meeting convened of what is apparently the only public body of any kind existing in the townu—we allude to the Sidney Board of Trade. The meeting was con- vened at a convenient hour, when no one could be absent with the plea that he was working, to consider questions of public importance to the welfare of the town, | and as a result the meeting was adjourned because only three members had a suffic- | ient sense of duty to attend! For shame, | ES . will be posted to them on Thursday even- toria, in such a deplorable absence of re- lt have a municipality, and get to work at once, now that they have the leisure in the long winter evenings before them to create a municipality, so that in the Spring, when perhaps the youngsters may be home again from the war, we may have something to show them and to please them. Something attempted, something done! Let them see that the ‘old uns” left behind were not slackers—that they have even done their bit, small and pleas- ing as it was, and that whilst the boys were serving the Smpire their fathers were serving the town. With a view to this we ask our readers to read the re- port of the Board of Trade meeting and to attend the meeting next Tuesday. Help to boost the town in which you live and win your livelihood. oO THE SIDNEY REVIEW A New Feature ee co The arrival of our new machinery will enable us to print the Review much more rapidly than hitherto has been the case, and from our next issue, to be published on Thursday, Oct. 24, the paper will be published at 3 p.m. on the day of issue. Subscribers, who desire copies of their paper early, may call or send for their pa- pers at that hour—otherwise their copies ing and they will receive them by Friday morning’s post delivery Copies will also be on sale at the local agents. In view of a new feature we purpose introducing into the Review, from our issue of the 24th inst., we would prefer subscribers to call or send for their copies at 3 p.m. This new feature will take the form of a summary of the day’s ‘‘War and Other Important News” received up to 2 p.m. on the day of publication...We have ar- ranged for the news to be phoned down from Victoria just before we go to press. Oyr readers will therefore realise the ad- vantage of securing their copy of the paper early, as the news it will contain will be some hours tn advance of any evening pa- per received here from Victoria. We trust our readers will appreciate our citizens of Sidney, this is not the spirit) qocire to serve them, in giving them the of the time! for the town, which your boy or his com- rade is dailv risking his life to serve, for in serving the Empire he is also truly serving this small fraction of it. The women here are setting the example, in their entertainments and_ their public eatherings and in their energy and methods Scarcely a day passes without some form! of public activity on their part, and yet! in the maters of a Post Office, Railway Transport, things civic and municipal, the men of Sidney appear to be content just toi sit by their fireside in the evening and take| what the gods gave them. | This Rip Van Winkle spirit existent in Sidney indicates, at any rate to a new-. comer, that one thing is esential to Sidney! and the sooner the very few public spirited | men here take the mater in hand, organ-i ige an undertaking and enlist the women: vo'ers o? Sidney to Relp them with their: co-operation, the better it will be for the: town, its reputation and its young gen-: eration.,We allude to the need of a munl- etpality. Tt needs a Municipal Council | to be established here, with its proceedings this paper, to wake up the residents to: some senso of their civic responsibilities, ; and the need of bringing Sidney up to | date in not a few things. We need a | pubile Municipal Hall to start with—any oulidine will do to make a start with in: these davs of public economy, to be fol-, with a Munieipal llalf worthy of the place. There aro many things municipal which micht well he taken in hand by agi ener-; retie, | mand to be regularly reported in the columns of| This is not doing your bit] latest news on the day of publication. oO SIDNEY’S NEW SCHOOL A Complaint eo—— A correspondent writes schecol for Sidney is rapidly ,assuming shape. This will make a very notable addition to the school accommodation and is greatly needed. It is 25 years since anything of a like character has been at- tempted, and is the result of a persistent avitation on the part of some of the resi- dents, of which the ladies took the most prominent part. We have some lively recollection of the various meetings that have been held in the past, and remem- ber the last one, when the ratepayers were eloquently persuaded to acept a two-room building instead of a five-roomed one. We were alsa informed that it would be mod- ern and up-to-date. We opened our eyes with profound as- tonishment the other day, when we were told that the toilets for the new school were earth holes. Is this modern or up-to-date ? If this is true we appeal to the school trustees to get busy right now and de- proper sanitary arrangements. We consider in this and all other mat- ters the government should set an ex- ample, and on a question of this-matter cost should be of secondary consideration, the health of the children the first. Sidney has a water system available for sehool use or a septic tank could be inutalled, the school is so situated thaf a pive Hne could easily be carried out to the sev below low water. Now is the time for action and we trust the Trustees and parents will ret in line ard let the Educational Department know that thev will not accept such an old-fash- foned and antiquated svstem of toflet ac- :—-The new publfely-elected — body. Such a. commodation for the children. Counell would soon. find plenty of rane _ Qe eee for itself to do. The least of its fune- tions which would be likely to he tho| THE LLOYD GEORGE TYPE the most important - would be, that in rn dealings with the town's affairs with the rovernment or a corporation. The re- caleltrant rafiwayvs for instance, it) would represent the corporate life of Sidney. It could not fail, if the right public- The one thing we all adinire $n lloyd Georze 1s that we knew where to find him. He vets definitely. Tle is no luke-warm weakling. He fights on like our splendid hbovs sre doing despite the 25,900 casual- | ties since August 6th. | Are vou doing your part as well. Have spirited men and women were elected, to! you taken your stand on the thrift ques- do much good to the town and help most materially in its progress. We are aware the formation of such a responsibte body cannot be made merely for the embodli- ment of the seheme tn thease columnea. There are various obstacles to mounted and methods to be But, let be sur- employed. rock. Let Sidney dectde us get down to bed tion? Have you definitely decided that out of your good returns this year you will Iny | by such-and-such an amount for a Victory savings account, If you have done nothing in the matter you are not of this Lloyd You have heard the call to) bring dollars into the service of the when she calls, have not acted now. George type. Start the fund at once! your country And having heard, you Make the decisive move | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents To the Editor of The Sidney and Islands Review. Dear Sir: — While Col. W. W. Foster has ceased to be Sidney’s representative in the local legislature, he has continued in the ad- miration and esteem of the people. His gift of captured Ge.man machine guns will be greatly appreciated. I would suggest that a fund be immed- iately opened, gifts to which could be received by the Merchants Bank, The Review, and one or two other accredited persons, for a permanent memorial to the men who left the district at ‘‘Duty’s Call.” To command the confidence of all it should be of a useful character, such as a drinking fountain and trough for man and beast, on which the guns could be mounted. Yours truly, Ww. H. DAWES. MRS. SPOFFORD SPEAKS ON * CANADIAN CIVICS Appeals to the Women of Cobble Hill SHAWNIGAN LAKE, Oct. 12%.—The Shawnigan and Cobble Hill Women’s In- stitute held its monthly meetings at Shaw- nigan Lake and Cobble Hill. The meet- ing at Shawnigan opened with a standing vote of sympathy to Mr. and Mr. Twist and family on the death of Miss Dorothy Twist. The subject or the afternoon was “Canadian Civics,’ and was most lucidly dealt with by Mrs. Spofford, of Victoria. In concluding she appealed to the members to prepare themselves for and acept the responsibilities which devolve upon women- hood now that they have been granted the vote. She emphasized the fact that apathy cn the part of the women about public affairs might become an exploitable quan- tity for unworthy politicians. She stated mistakes would be made, but by mistakes one learns. At Cobble Hill the animated discussion on the same subject showed that fear af apathy in public affairs was not likely to prove true where the women of Cobble Hill were concerned. . The Red Cross reported for the month of September that $79.35 had been donated The total for the nine months ending Sept. 30th has reached the sum of $1,969.52. Garments sent to Victoria; 17 shirts, 9 pajamas, $0 pairs of socks, 3 helmets and 1 parcel of linen. Mail the Review weekly to your friends. Let them know you are still alive and how Sidney is progressing. Send us $2.50 and we will mail it regularly to any address for you. HANDSOME PROFIT ACCRUES VICTORIA FAIR FROM The Victoria Home Products Fair just concluded produced a handsome surplus over expenditures, according to Manarer George I. Warren, who yesterday announc- ed that the total takings were over $3,500, made up of gate receipts $2,951.90, and ex- hibitors’ fees, $598. The totalling of expenses has not yet been possible on account of their still be- ing a number of acounts which have not been rendered, but it is estimated by the management of the Fair that over $1,000 will be on hand after all the bills have been paid, to be applied towards the fin- ancing of a similar show next year or whatever use to which the cor:mittee may fnally decide to put the money. 0 JAMES ISLAND FREE OF INFLUENZA The inhabitants of James Island, who now number, we believe, close on 2,000, are happy in the fact that the Island has a clein DHL of health, being quite free of influenza or any other disease. —— -0O- Thines are foing well with us writes the war coresrpondent of the Notting- hamshire Guardian, but good or ill, the Briton remains the same as T saw him to- day In the villages behind the lines -— im- perturable, fndustrous, glad to get any comfort a man may find amidst ruin, and doing his job, whatever it may be, without worry if there is no immediate cause to have the ‘wind up.’’—That's the spirit with which to win the war! Do you enjoy reading a good hook ? The long winter evenings are coming on Join the Sidney Review Library. S100 deposit on joining und 10 cents fur hire of book.