CITIZEN , 14, No. 17. PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN^ THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1932 Five Cents Property Owners flow Faced With. Rate of 65 Mills Three Factors Beyond Control , of Council Force Increase of 10 Mills in Taxes IMPROVEMENTS EXEMPT Cost of Unemployment Relief is Now EThe Most Serious of Municipal Problems The rate cf taxation for Prince George will be sixty-five mills this vear an advance of ten mills over the rate for 1931. This is the finding of Alderman Griffith, chairman of the finance committee, as disclosed at the counci meeting on Monday evening. Uncontrollable expenditures more than use up the difference in revenue under the higher rate. /Prince George is a lcng way back from New York, but the discount upon the Canadian dollar will cost the city this year something in excess of $6000, in interest payments on account of municipal bonds, and in redemption payments. The second important item of expenditure under this head is the charge of $4000 for the relief of the unemployed. The total provision for unemployment relief is- $12,000, but two-thirds of this amount is returnable, so the amount the city must find is reducad to $4000. Just what is going to happen in connection with unemployment relief is the mcGLdisturbing factor in municipal affairs throughout the province. The unemployment is more acute during the winter months, so in the case of Prince George the city cannot lay out public work which could be carried on to advantage, and the major part of the relief is in d'rect cash payment1;, for which the city receives no return whatever. Relief payments in Prince George fluctuate from $1000 to $1500 l>er month, so that the city's proportion of the cost becomes approximately $4000. Thrs is a heavy charge for a small municipality, and under the estimated 10'/o collection of taxes accounts for 5>a mills of the 10-mill increase in the tax rate. The most disquieting th'ng in connection with'this charge is the uncertainty of ah early release from it. Heavy Discount Charge In the matter of the increased charge in financing, owing to the discount upon the Canadian dollar, the city is now virtually out of trouble. During the current year it was caught on the-redemption of $34,000 worth of debentures, while the rate of discount ranged as high as 'r23%:: There were in all $50,000 worth of debentures maturing during tihe first quarter of the year, but the city v.)as fn the fortunate positon of having repurchased $16,000 of them as a sinking fund investment, and thus avoided the discount charges which would have attended the redemption on maturity. At 20r^ this represented a savfng to the city of $3,333. Taking the discount charges paid by the city in connection with redemption and interest charges on debentures during the current year at $6,000 this on a 70% collection would require a rate of 8'i mills, so that the two items of uncontrollable expenditure. in~ the absence of counter-balancing economies, would call for an increase of 14 mills in the rate of taxation, as compared with the 10 mills which the finance committee! finds Itself obliged to recommend to the council. Sales Tax Reversions A still further necessity for the increase in the mill-rate is found in the reversion to the city for delinquent taxes of lands assessed at $97,200. Tliis represented a reduction of 9c; from the taxable values of the previoyp year. Had the values remained on the assessment roll ac taxable, these lots under a levy of 55 mills, with a collection of 70%, would have yielded $3.742 in taxes. The equalization of tax receipts, with the omission' of this taxable value, would involve a further increase of 5 mills in the rate, so that under the three headings, with respect to which the council had no control, the explanation is furnished for an increase of 19 mills in the rate, but by cutting controllable expenditures to yhe limit the Increase has been kept to 10 mills. The members of the finance committee have reason to believe that with we reversion of the former holdings oi the Grand Trunk Pacifc Development Company, which represented the duuc of the reversions operating in September last___the-end has been cached Th the shrinkage in assessment values. The Prince George townsite was originally owned by the townsite department of i the railway company. P*?^0* received a quarter-inter- t b EMIL BRONLUND WAS HELD UP BY BAD WEATHER Emil Bronlund, whose delay on the trip from the headwaters of McLeod river occasioned. his friends in this crty much uneasiness, reached Prince George on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by E. H. Burden and Henry Waldof, who started out some days ago to search for him. Messrs. Burden and Waldof had difficult going. Summit Lake is still frozen, and it was necessary for them on Thursday morning to drag their canoe over four miles of ipe until they could strike open water .in the Crooked River. Davie Lake was also covered with ice, and they were dragging their canoe over this when they came across Bronlund and Ham Witter, making their .way south in the same tedious way, dragging their boat over the ice. Bronlund explained he had been held up at Alward Is Still Hopeful on the P.G.E. Issue Believes Premier Tolmie Holds an Acceptable Proposal from British Capital MAY INTEREST CAPITAL Offer of the Rival United States Syndicate Will t^fot Be Given Consideration .Dr. .R. W, Alward, M. L. A., arrived home on Friday morning's C. N. R. CROWN LANDS IN PEACE RIVER ARE-WITHDRAWN FROM PREE1V«>TION Victoria, April 23—The government has decided to withdraw all lands in tJhe Peace River district, including those in the Peace River Block, from pre-emption entry. Notice to this effect is contained in the B. C. Gazette, j Council Approves Free Site and Flour Mill May be Operating in City in August Exemption from Taxes for 10-Year Period the lands being closed to entry as from j May 16th. This action was taken by j. the government. to prevent an abuse j of the pre-emption. section of the j Land Act, it having been demonstrat- j ed persons were becoming pre-emptors _____ for the sole purpose of finding an! . easy way to secure unemployment re- Promoter Says He Will Be in CAPACITY 100 BARRELS lief from the ernment. o- Port McLeod on his way out as it was I train from the coast, following tts av impossrble to travel There was about; tendance on the session of the pro-a foot of water on the "ice and the vtncial legislature. With respect to *_.«•. i_^__. _,•__¦•_ ,._.,. ¦, . •! the developments in connection with the P.GJE.. whictti hold a major interest for the people of this district. Dr. Alward was guarded in his remarks, having, respect for pending nego- t d k d trail being close to the water level it would have been foolhardy to attempt to come through. It was at McLeod that Bronlund fell in with Witter. The latter had been, , . . ... , . , trapping in the Nation river section j t'ations was not prepared to make de- finite predictions. ¦ Throughout the but had been taken ill. He was de-lerious and unable to eat, and his boys decided to bring him out as far as the fort, and having the patient GREAT BRITAIN MAY CANCEL RUSSIAN TRADE AGREEMENT London, April 27—Sir Walter Run-ciman, president of tihe board of trade, made the announcement -n the house yesterday that tlie government is considering the cancellation of the Anglo-Russian trade agreement as a preliminary to the holding of the eco-Ottawa. Tliis presented the Market For 75,000 Bushels of Local Grown Wheat nomic conference at trade agreement has p entire seisum of tthe: legislature the representative of an English syndicate, which is desirous of purchasing the strapped to' a tobogganr Wetter im-1 completed portion of the- railway and proved rapidly at the fort and when i completing it into the Peace River, Bronlund started south on Wednesday j continued in negotiation with the gov- morning he decided to accompany him. They had been on the trail two days when they met Burden ^and Waldof. The local syndicate, with which Bronlund is associated, has made a number of locations on the headwaters of McLeod river. a.nd is preparing to do further prospecting to determine more fully the probable values contained in the gravels. PRESIDENT DE VALERA YIELDS NOTHING ON ISSUE OF THE OATH emment, and at the close of the session Premier Tolmie made the statement he felt, confident an arrangement satisfactory to the federal, as well as the provincial government, would be arrived at* It should be kept in mind. Dr. Alward said, that the Dublin, April .27—The Labm mem- j bers of the dail today blfxkta the ef- j foir of President a mgh sctu>o1 in Ireland when the time for this is j of careful enquiry by the government. ripe The general impression is that but did not commend themselves and de Valera has weakened himself in the United Stales syndicate might be the declaration he has seen fit to, considered as definitely, out. make. He evidently is not prepared tol A pece of legislation which Dr. Al- go the whole road to independence j ward thinks will be far-reaching, in and will therefore lose prestige with i the development of that section of the Republicans, although going far j the province to be served by the ex- fenge ^ be accepted enough to put the Free State outside : tension of the P.G.E was that lift- One of the di£ficulties to ^ over. the empire, and subject it to tariff j ing the reserve on coal and petroleum : come is thnt of finance. To raise funds discriminaion of Great Britain and j _land*- ^!uclL...obtaliK;d, for severaM aiTangeme.nts have been made to hold the other dominions. evening. the farmers at the market price would i be a gTeat advantage to the farmers. j and tlie saving of the freight rate | would give the local mill a margin to j set against the advantage of the large WITH THREE TEAMS; j Elmquist says the big mills are having -------- ' the'r own difficulties at the present As the result of a meet'ng of soccer i time, through the loss of their markets, in that it has become ingiy cheaper to move grain than flour, and the indications point to (Continued on Page Three) team and a team of Scandinavians, and an effort will be made during- the week j to bring out every soccer player in the j city or district. The McBride team, ; present holders of the Perry Cup, have i issued a challenge to Prince George to visit McBride and try to lift the trophy and there is every prospect the chal- BRITISH SERVES NOTICE ON IRISH FREE STATE LESS BANK FAILURES IN UNITED STATES Quesnel and Vanderhoof have both expressed a des're for home-and-home Washington, April 2b—The rc-'jerve bank reports but forty-bank failures \n the United States for the month of March, the lowest in any month over a fifteen-month period. An even better showing will be made for the current month. WEATHFR REPORT years. The lifting of this reserve was \ a dance in the Community Hall. South a matter for the accomplishment of \ Fort George, tomorrow evening. As which Dr. Alward had been striving for nearly two years, and he wa>3 therefore very pleased to see it make its appearance in the legislature. The uw«Ui. .^...^ 6U>a. ^«. m...? ^c ww- i federal latest information the province has; pected once the game gets under way. j rty-five ' as to the probable existence of petro- j Irving Wilson, as president, and J. ! London, Apri 27—In the house of commons yesterday Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas, secretary for the dominions, served notice on the Irish Free State that the bill which President de Valera has caused to be introduced in, the Irish Dail. for the abolit'on of the oath of allegiance, is considered by the British government as a violation of the treaty entered into between games with Prince George during the ] Great Britain and the Free State gov-season .some good soccer may be ex- | ernment. ™» P,?^0* received a quarter-inter-h• which does not become taxable un-prn 3ote are alienated by the gov-t™Tm?n • There were, however, heavy bv^ ? of townsit« property made inri fv, wnstle company to the Millar <»na other speculating syndicates. Taxes »we paid on these lots for a number until the owners lost hope in development for Prince George a railway center, and one after ^Continued1 on Page Six) "Partly cloudy weather, with light southerly winds and higher temperatures," are the probabilities for the week-end, as issued by R. B. Carter, local meteorological i\?,evX Monaav was the warmest day of the year so far. with a temperature of 67 degrees. For tiie week ending Tuesday. April -fath there were 37 hours and 48 minutes ofL.mhshine, and a total precipitation of 17 of one inch. The maximum and minimum temperatures • for the period were: Wednesday ..... Thursday Friday ......... Saturday ......... Sunday ........ Monday.......... Tuesday ......................&-••'¦ 38 26 50 16 60 23 47 35 56 38 67 27 57 35 leum in the land.* tributary to the proposed extension of the P.G.E. is that contained in Die report of the P.GjE.. survey of natural rebou/rces. The geologists making this survey felt warranted in reporting that sn the provincial lands to the east of the Rocky Mountains There are 500.000 acres which could be considered oil-bearing. This of course did not mean the la'nd'3 are oil-bearing, but the geological conditions indicate they would be so found, and the report confirms earlier reports which warranted the i B.C. government¦' soi:uv years ago in undertaking drilling operations. The P,'G;E. "'report is nc! very specific as Hewett, as secretary-treasurer, will rect the fortunes of the local game j until an executive con be elected to j consist of one delegate from each1 team entering the local- league, and | she president and secretary-treasurer W WTT T TS HAS RETIRED FROM POST AS U. S. AMBASSADOR The Hillcrest Dairy makes the announcement that commencing on May first it will reduce the price of milk to ten cents per quart; tho lowest price at which it ha.s ever been delivered in Prince George. As delivery costs are a b"g factor in milk prices the sales volume is an important c'onid-eration. The Hillcrest Dairy has the in sales volume to warrant the pi~\s?n' to oil-bearing possibilities of "the -land-? ppricc reduction, hut the mOre custom? in the yicmUy of Alexandra, where j cis the dairy secures the longer the g-was undertaken last year. There price of milk will be kept down. may be oil found in this section in : ¦------------o------>¦------- commercial quantit'os. but in the re- Those attending at. Knpx Church on port the lands to the east of "the Rocky Sunday evening May 1st. will have Mountains are considered the most the pleasure of listening to carefully promising. In his opinion. Dr. Alward prepared music. Two fine anthems said, the liftfng of the reserve will I will be rendered • by the. choir. "The Shanghai. Apri 26—It is again announced that an agreement has been reached for the cessatibn of hostilities in the Sino-Japanew d;si)ute which will open the way for diplomatic settlement. j doubtless result in considerable activity in prospecting for coal and oil in a large part of the Peace River district. The riew coal and petroleum act. which comes into effect wit/h the opening of +he provincial lands to entry has been patterned uixm the Alberta (Continued on page 7) Radiant Morn Hath Passed Away," by Woodward, and " I Came Not To Call the Righteous" by Vincent. Mrs. C. C. Re:d will sing "Like As The Heart." Rev. P. Connal's address will be on Tolstoi's "What Men Live By.'" The soloist at the morning service will be mxs. Garsarae. Washington. April 27—The resigna-i tion of John W. Willis from the post of U. S. Ambassador to Poland *s announced, the same to become effective in June. The diplomatic service did not prove to the liking of the automobile magnate and he expressed a desire to return to the United States and business. J---------------------o-------------i--------- UNITED STATES STEEL FORCED TO PASS ITS QUARTERLY DIVIDEND New York. April 27—The United States Steel Corporation yesterday an-nonuyed the omission of its quarterly dividend on common stock for" the first time since 1915. The quarterly dividend on the preferred stock was declared at $1.75 per share. The gross earnings of the corporation for the first quarter of the current year were given at1 $3,970,920. out on this business there was a deficit of $1,137,607. The «ro.=>s earnings for 1931 were $19.-464.836. «/uv.