George
epen ent Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interest* of Central and Northern British Columbia
Prince George, B.C., Thursday, November 27,  1941
#2.00 a Year
Jbruk Garrison iins Attacking Force
L Zealanders Take Sidi Rezegh in Stitf Fighing While Ler British Troops Relieve Besieged Army and Round L Nazi Raiders—-R.A.F. Battles Reinforced Luftwaffe.
CAIRO, Nov. 27 (BUP)—The main British forces at-Lg in Libya early today joined troops from the British Jruk garrison at Edduda, general headquarters for the Mid-East said today. Edduda had been captured by troops LTobruk yesterday, and the communique said troops from Imain British forces reached there today. iforced and, reformed British<f~"
forces thundered into the bat-Rezegh bolstered by a hard column of New Zealanders cut down from Gambut and itured Rezegh,  focal  point of on Tuesday night.
Capture
communique  said  a British had also  reoccupied  Bir  El in face of heavy opposition. e New Zealanders who re-; sidi Rezegh were supported iks. The communique said fighting had raged many yesterday  in  the Rezegh in a battle expected to de-the fate of Gen. Erwin el's German-African army. quarters  said   an   armoured i column was 'hunting an Axis : force which yesterday broke p Egypt near Sidi Omar and then sup into a number of parties ate on  both   sides   of   the t-Iibya frontier.
»various brushes our columns lay accounted for five tanks t other vehicles, while 300 most ofc- them Germans. iflptured," the. communique tfihe raiding Axis column.
sRAF. is locked in a terrific r with, a reinforced Luftwaffe i is using" more and more new s drawn from Europe, including : ME 109 fighters. British men I tanks are arriving at the scene otiy. There is some specula-regarding the possibility move by Free French forces the southern Libyan frontier tauthorities refused to discuss it.
ay claims
IDIA HELD
OME—The High Command said &? that Italo-German forces have aptured Sidi Omar, just across Libyan border  in Egypt.   The nunique reiterated that Italian still hold Bardla on the Libert which the British claim (have captured, and said British are streaming  into timt on town,
ILIN—The High Command re-today that a Nazi submarine a British- destroyer off the coast. The report said fight-fta north Africa is continuing on y scale.
Savings Drive Nears Objective
Chairman E. p. Ldtitle of the Prince George District War Savings Committee, announced today that the response to' tne War Weapons Drive during the past week has been more satisfactory, and that if it continues so to the end of the' month, the city and district will nave exceeded their quota.-
All employees of both the City Hall and the Fire Hall have signed up 100 per cent.
fire department had a call to home of I. Spaner on Sunday 64  p.m. a chimney fire caused  excitement.
City Council Buys Oil Tank Forr Storage
Junior Institute to Have Use of Hall for War Savings Drive Entertainments.
The City council at a brief meeting Monday- night decided to buy a
second-hand, oil storage tank from the Quesnfel Quartz Mines (in iiquid-ation) at Hixon creek to hold the carload of road oil which could not be used last fall.
The  liquidators  first asked. $500 for the tank, but accepted an offer cf $300 f.o.b. Hixon for it. HALL
Misses Moffatt and Ball, appearing as a delegation from the Junio Women's Institute, were told tha the Institute may have the use o. the Ritz-Kifer Hall each Tuesday night to stage projected entertainments in aid of war savings.
The hall will also be rented to local meiVs basketball club for scheduled games at $5 a month, to help pay the cost of cleaning the hall.
PROPERTY
...Accounts to the amount of $7143 were passed.
The City agreed to exchange Lot 8 in Block 23 with Marsh all-Wells, Ltd.. for Lot 18 in Block 43.
An offer of $45 from J. Masson for the Lestin house on Third Ave. was accepted, on condition that Mr. Mhsson remove the house before January 1.
"The Sting in the Tail"
Fort Fraser Woodsmen Track Down Suspects
Riiiiger, Settler and Garageman Round Up Three Men Charged with Stealing Auto at Smithers—Night Snowfall Betrays   Fugitives  Who  Ran   into  Ambush   at   Engen
Arthur Bagshow, William Harstad and Allen House, the latter a soldier, are under arrest at Smithers charged with the theft of an auto and gasoline after three men of Fort Fraser, sworn in as special constables, trailed them through the snow Monday in a chase which ended when the suspects walked into an ambush and surrendered afte*r a warning rifle shot. ' The captors were Bert Irwin, ga:
Throughout Canada, from dawn to dusk, keen-eyed young men from Canada and other Empire countries learn to become gunners in R.CJLF. schools of the British. Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Nothing is left to hazard in the training of a gunner, for upon his sharp eyes and quick trigger finger depends to a large extent the efficiency . of our Air Force. In this photo a young gunner of the R.C.A.F. with his Vickers gun. stands by the tail of a Fairey Battle ready for action.
We Broadcast Stations or Central Interior
jVgeon Announces that Government and P.G.E. Wire
! Services Have Been Secured to Permit Establishment of
transmitters   at   Prince   George   and   Other   Centres.
A direct wire service to Prince George, Quesnel, Wells, Ws Lake and Ashcroft through Dominion and P.G.E. *ay lines has been arranged by the Canadian Broadcasting irPoration and in the near future, transmitting stations will erected at the five cities to carry CBC programs to residents *e Central Interior, according to an announcement made
by J. Gray Turgeon, M.P^for^Cariboo^ of the transmitter sta-'f   Tlle  nevv arrangement  has been confirmed and negotiations with the
 s Promised by CBC last spring,
 hld
'been
 parlia-
ient held up beca-UBe no parlia-wu-y vote was passed for the tel-
1 W» services, though all other aeements had been made.
D
has now decided, after stations by Mr. Turgeon, to ® the necessary capital funds its own revenues.
the project could not carried out until a vote
from Parliament
confirmed an       g
P G.E. are now under way, while the
required Work by the Dominion Tel-
agraphs is proceeding at top speed.
EXTENSION
The districts to be covered by the transmitters will get reception equal to that received by radio_owner;s in Vancouver from CBR, the engineers in charge st&tc.
It is hoped that the service will later be extended to VandeHhoof and other points west of here.
Government Says "Yes" Government Says "No"
The Prince George Branch of the Canadian Ked Cross, the City Council and other local organizations would like to know where they are at on- the salvage question.      /
Recently the Canadian Government, through the Department of National War Services, sent an appeal to the Red Cross here for all kinds of salvage, especially iron and steel."
"Iron and steel are urgently needed," it declared.
Last Monday the Canadian Government, through the Canadian National Railways, informed the City Council tihat neither free nor reduced rates of transportation could be granted on scrap iron and steel salvage.
"Wv are compelled to answer in the negative," it declared.
The P.GJE. transports one car of scrap and salvage a month free from Quesnel to Vancouver.
The Red Cross Salvage Committee states that it can gather at least one carload a month of the "urgently needed" iron and steel scrap in Prince George and vicinity.
Asselstine Out Of Cabinet
Fifth cabinet member to resign from the Pattullo "rump" cabinet during the past ten days, Hon. W. J. Asselstine, minister of labor, former minister of mines and trade and industry, left the government Tuesday.
This leaves Premier Pattullo With only two of his original ministers in the cabinet, Hon. A. Wells Gray and Hon. C. S. Leary.
Hon. G. S. Wismer and Hon. G. M. Weir were defeated at the .polls, Hon John Hart, Hon. G. S. Pearson and Mr. Asselstine have resigned, Hon. Norman Whittaker resigned ast week after five days in office as actorney-general, and Hon EC. C. .TcDonalc1. minister of agriculture, •as res:.cjned but is "carrying on emporarily" until his post is filled.
Injured Hunter Loses Leg
John Miller. Vancouver hunter who was sib.ot in the right leg last Wednesday by a hunting companion who mistook him for a bear in an Isle Pierre field, underwent an amputation of the injured leg Tuesday.
It was thought at first that the leg could be saved, but the circulatory system was so Badly damaged that the blood supply to the leg failed and gangrene set in and it was necessary to amputate tine leg to save his life.
Following the operation in Prince George Hospital he was reported to be doing very well
Mrs. Miller flew up from Vancouver Saturday to be with her husband until he is well enough to return to the Coast.
U.S.-Japan Talks Stalled
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State Funeral for Lapointe; Died Wednesday
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Britain Conscripts All Women
ii
BRITISH  UNITED  PRESS — THURSDAY, NOVEMBER  27
(Special to The Citizen.)
SHANGHAI—The liner President Madfson, its departure suddenly peeded by two days, sailed today, evacuating from Shanghai the last 360 members of the Fourth United States Garrison, a marine regiment which for 14 years had stood guard at the International Settlement.
WASHINGTON-—The future of United States-JTaputese relations were injectural today following a. frank statement otf the American position ast night. It is bcMftved there would be no sharp or sudden break between he United Stales and Japan, but with a continuation of American economic restrictions, a praflual and steady deterioration in relations was indicated. The next more is op to the Japanese, but the attitude of the U.S. government is such that there is little possibility of negotiations being oon-inned. Secretary of Sate Oordell Hull, switching after a series of conjfer-(ContintseH on PageJFive)
ageman, John Kirkland, settler, and Wilbert Irwin, assistant forest ranger.
The car, a Pord V-«, was stolen from Hoskins1 Garage at Smithers on the night of Sunday, November 23, and later the same night a garage at Houston was broken into and some gasoline stolen. A> car similiar to that stolen later called at A. G-. Annan's store at Endako and obtained gasoline, and the three men in it, one in uniform, drove away without paying.
At 8:30 a.m. Monday, Government Agent J. D. Moore at Port Fraser was notified of the incident at Endako and a request made that the men  be  intercepted  and asked  to make payment. No charge had been laid against them up to this time. However, Bert Irwin, operator of a Fort Fraser garage, was requested to keep watch for the car.   Information  was  received that a car  bad  left the  main road and gone to the north on a side road, and then to the south and west of the outskirts of Fort Fraser' village.
Mr. Irwin saw the men concerned and advised tlhem. that they were wanted at -the Government Agent's office, but the men left the car and disappeared in the 'woods.
It was learned dieh'fiiat* the car had been stolen./ LOST TRAIL
The Government Agent then advised Constable Parker at Vander-hoof, and he in company with Game Warden Brown and Andy Ray of the j Indian Department arrived on the scene. They picked up the tracks of the men, but lost them again where the roads were well travelled. They (See PORT FRASER. Page Five)
Sleepy Tractor Driver Knocks Tail OfHMane
Yukon Southern Airplane Wrecked at Whitehorse— "Cat" Crashes into Hangar.
A sleepy "cat" driver in Whitehorse, Y.T., crashed the doors of a closed hangar and neatly removed the tail assembly of the Yukon-Southern plane which passed northwards through Prince George Saturday, the bizarre accident delaying the Frince George-Vancouver plane service two days.
The driver was a young employee of the airport who had been pack-'itig snow on the runways with ay tractor, and by Sunday morning he had been working more than 22 hours without sleep. 2OO-YARD RUN
The trail of the "cat" afterwards showed plainly where the operator dropped into a doze, fully 200 yards from the hangar in which the airplane was hcused while waiting to make its southward Sunday flight.
It meandered across the field, knocking over a marker en route, and   headed   straight   for   the closed doors of the hangar. It crashed through the doors, unseating the driver without injury, and continued on until it collided with the tail assembly of the plane, ripping away rudder and elevators. TtANGE STATION
It is expected that tlhe plane will be back in service in .the near future. Additional news from Whitehorse Airport states, that the new range station there is now in operation.
With the arrival of winter, bhe Yukott-Soutihiern southbound schedules remain tine same, but a.recent change brings the northbound airplanes in liere at approximately 8:30 ain. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, as .they leave Vancouver tat 7:30 aon,                             v   '"*"
News of Our Boys On Active Service
In this column The Citizen hopes to keep people at home in touch with the activities and accomplishments of" Prince George and district men in the armed f roces in Canada and overseas, that we may remember that they are constantly working and in peril for us. We ask friends and relatives to send us letters or extracts from letters from men in the Services. Only parts of general interest will be published, and any originals sent in will be returned promptly.
Sgt.-Pilot Jack A. Milburn, son of Mr. and Mrs. Xxeorge Milburn, Prince George, has'arrived safely in England. Parts of his first letter home from overseas tell' bow the Old Country looked to him at first glance:
You have already heard over the radio of our safe landing in England as part of the Fifth Contingent. We had a pleasant voyage in a converted luxury liner and were adequately looked after by the Navy, V/hich escorted us across tine pond, r Shared a first-e!&ss cabin with four of my friends and so we were very comfortable.
We have been warned about mentioning any dates or places; I'm not
IN ENGLAND
SAPPER C. E. STROM
Son of C. W. Strom of Willow River, Sapper C. E. Strom is with the Royal Canadian Engineers in England. Here he is as he looked outside his "happy home" Somewhere in England this fall.
even allowed to tell you what the weather was like on the crossing'. I'm still on board ship as I write this letter but will get off early tomorrow morning. Then we "will be sent to a reception centre on two special Air Force trains. The reception centre was a summer report before the war.
Coming into the harbor we saw the masts of about five or six ships sticking out of the water, but these have been the results of all the German bombings since tine beginning of the war. The docks are in good condition except for broken windows and a few shingles off the roofs. Of course, I'm only looking out from the decks and so can't see everything.
Sons of C. W. Strom of Willow, River, Set. Alfred Strom is an instructor with the P.P.C.Ii.1. in Winnipeg, and Sapper C. E. Strom is with the Royal Canadian Engineers overseas.
Iiast month. Alfred was promoted to sergeant and wrote: "Today lam tine sergeant of the Main Guard. Tm responsible for any fifth columnists or unauthorized persons eniter-(See OTJR BOYS, Page Five)