Prince George Citizen An Independent Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Central and Northern British Columbia I 29; No. 12 Prince George, B.C., Thursday, March 21, 1946 #2.00 a Year lortb Unites Municipa bjectives THERS—Mayor Jack Nichol-Prince George was elected to executive of the Central British ,bia Municipal Association ,n municipal leaders convened , Thursday to elect Mayor H.M eett of Prince Rupert, president; H D Thain,. city clerk of, the nset Port." secretary-treasurer. M. Greene of Smithers is -president. executive of three comprises Nicholson, Emii Haugland of ace, and J. R Philpott of Van- tioof. elegates to the organizational bting were entertained at a ban-in the Bulkley Hotel Thursday ayor Nicholson expressed hlm-as more than satisfied with the tfons. being particularly lmpres- the atmosphere of genial owship. elegates visited the coal mines elkwa on Friday afternoon as of the colliery and were , coal seams 14 feet wide. .ull dress session of the new i will be held at least 30 days when the Union of B.C. Mu- ?alities meets. iity Appeals ir Hospital iting five weeks of nego-by City Council toward se-; the military hospital for local [is the latest development that 1 Assets Corporation advises that I building has not been declared |lus. here is a strong possibility that nay secure use of the quarters emergency measure," was the i held out by Mayor Jack Nichol-stating that negotiations are continued with Major-Genera! Worthington, G.O.C. in C. of (tern Command. of members of Prince ge Hospital Society over the bed shortage in the present led to C. H. Wisenden, sec-ry-treasurer, at present in Van-er, being asked to request the Air Service Into North Considered At Hearing Today Sittings of the Air Transport Board got under way in the Court House this forenoon on an application by Central British '' Columbia Airways Ltd. for a licence to operate a non-scheduled charter commercial air service based here and at Fort St. James. The service would include the carriage of passengers and goods. The applicant proposes particularly to serve the area generally within a radius of 200 miles of each base. The permanent franchise is being sought following activity by the company on a temporary operating permit which enabled flights to relieve a drastic shortage of air transportation in the areas north and northwest of Prince George, including three mercy missions in the past two weeks. These Involved bringing out a stricken miner, locating another who had become snowbound and relieving a community near Takla Landing that had been isolated since mid-October from air travel. The Aeronautics Act was amended in 1944 making provision for setting up an Air Transport Board of three members to license all civil Air carriers and to advise the government on questions of policy with regard to the development of new air routes. One of the members, Air Vice-Marshal A. Perrier, reached here Wednesday by CP.A. to conduct today's hearing at which T. P. Hor-robin, of Vancouver, is serving as court stenographer. Public Responds To Red Cross Collections are holding well up to ast year's, A. M. Patterson reported oday in stating he has received over 500 to date from canvassers conducting the membership drive of the Red Cross Society throughout Prince George. While aggregate totals give Prince George a lead over district points, Mrs. Sinclair McLean of Shelley has to date made the largest collection of any- canvasser, turning in Top: Ted Ilarlow, first student of Caribou Flying Club, his familiar tilted cap toward Bob Bochme, dub secretary, prepares to take-off the taxi strip at the airport with Gerry Qninn, manager and instructor, at the controls. Bottom: Marian Umbach awaits being closed in as Dick Cortess Jr. and C.P.A.'s Bffl Smith, themselves students, shove forward the plexiglass cover on a potential member, before the trim Tiger Moth circles Prince George. Beat Spring Caribou Flying Club Starts Dual Instruction For Tyros Council both for financial aid j $171.21. alterations required on the ary hospital and for assistance xpediting securing the quarters, ove which had been anticipated tt Fathers. cision of the hospital board to application for emergency (followed the annual meeting I this session efforts toward fin-He a new hospital were recount-hopes expressed that the Plans may be of use in three time. i HOSPITAL, Page Seven) > Knight Named sriff of County l P. Knight, who took up resi-ere a year ago October after years spent in the Bridge ' district while working in the eer Mine- was appointed Thurs-"~ sheriff for the County of succeeding the late A. K. tr, from routine duties he will luired to prepare lists of jurors forthcomiiig courts of As- Mrs. Henry Houghtaling heads the list of local canvassers with $118.70, gathered in the east end of town, Mrs. George Morgan has secured $102 from subscribers in the Millar Addition and Mrs. John Mal-lis, $101 from the Crescents, apart from $9 forwarded by Francis Steele of Hoodoo Lake. Although late in getting under way,.Canvassers report they fully anticipate the roll call being made here in common with other drives throughout the province wil# establish membership in the local Red Cross on a par with the 1945 Btrength or, it is hoped, better that mark, when the first peacetime campaign is ended. "HOME FRONT" APPEAL Decision to hold the Salvation Army "Home Front" appeal with special inauguration and dedication services in Salvation Army Corps halls throughout' Canada upon opening of the campaign on Sunday, September 15, is announced by Lieut.-Ool. G. Charles Tutte, national campaign manager. • H. Trotter Heads urling Club Executive present as commlttee to consider ret premises or en- *> provide a will be formed in -H.''BU1» Trot- Sunday following hla residt embers _,.,, ¦^cussing' club president Club. of Prince approved of the action problems involved quarters ^rom the Hill t -treasurer. <* five was-elected from nine nominees, as follows; W. H. "Jimmy" James, Walter T. Burns, Wilson Muirhead, George Koiia$ and Fred Lockyer, with the immediate past president, Harry G. Kennedy. Plans are complete for the annual banquet and dance to be held tomorrow night in the Prince George Hotel ballroom, when trophies won during the winter, will be presented as follows: Kelly Cup, Harold Assman rink; Robertson Cup and Chevrolet Cup, Roy White; McCullagh Shield, Harry Kennedy; Consolation Cup, Bill Peckham, and Bank of Commerce Cup, George Kolias. Despite a late spring, no less than seven members of Cfiribou Flying! Club have undertaken instruction from Gerry Quinn, club manager; and instructor, whose "school" on j Sunday drew dozens of autoists to the airport. First pupil was Ted Harlow, fol- j lowing in the steps of his brother,! Bob, who was awarded the D.F.C. during war service with the R.C.A.F. j Dick Corless Jr., who has plans' for aerial exploration work and! prospecting trips this summer, is; getting in dual instruction with a j view to securing his private licence, i Ted Schmitt, of Fraser Flats, if j one sawmill owner who foresees the j value of looking down on timber limits and getting around the country, and with CP.A.'s flight engineer, Bill Smith, and,Eric DeWitt. whose zeal for flying was acquired as a radar operator aboard the flat-top carrier Nabob, completes the initial roster of students. Hal Rogers, best known for his prowess as a hockey player of many years standing, has forsaken guarding the man who guards the goal to try his hand at flying. • B. F. "Ted" Williams, president of Caribou Flying Club, has hopes of looking down on many a stamping ground of his in the north once he acquires a private licence, toward which he is taking dual instruction. » Marian Umbach who, with feminine logic, insisted on a trial spin the week before, considers being the first of her sex to take training by Joining. Former Flt.-Sergt. Kenny Quinn is undergoing a check-out on the Tiger Moth. One of the commonest questions asked of club members has been: "Why did you buy a Tiger Moth and not a more modern craft?" The factors involved were explained by Gerry Quinn. Purpose of the Caribou Flying Club is to teach men and women to fly, and there is considerable difference between an aircraft and a training aircraft. When you are taught to fly the latter, converting to another make or model should only be a matter of familiarization and a check-out. Mr. Quinn pointed out how bush pilots with hundreds of hours experience are required by commercial lines to serve as co-pllots for a month or so Spring, Take it Or Leave it, is Here! February may be a little fellow, but under his 28 days he packed a rugged wallop that carried well on into March, so that while today is the official start of spring, oldtimers must find reassurance from incidents reported by Aid. W. R. Munro and Mrs. T. Tyner. Aid. Munro was so taken with a vivid yellow butterfly in Paul Wieland's garden that he brought it to the Citizen to prove spring was here, at least last Thursday. Mrs. Tyner reports from South Fort George, where the residents feel they have much more to offer gardeners than has Prince George, that in her garden and that of a neighbor, Mrs. E. Cahoon, rhubarb leafs are sprouting up through patches cleared of snow. -^ Met. Staff at the airport merely point to the record of 105.6 inches of snow which had fallen to March 10. to familiarize themselves with the new craft. In effect, one has to practically learn all bver again. The Tiger Moth acquired by the club is one of the best for its size, price and maintenance available and up until 1944, practically all of the R.C.A.F. pilots, he recalled, obtained their initial flying instruction in Tiger Moths. The plane was acquired at a very low cost from the Vancouver Aero Club which was able to buy several that were surplus to the Air Force. It carries the letters CF-CTK, is yellow in color with a black nose cowling and has dual controls in the two seats which are in line, the instructor sitting up front and tlv student behind. The "Gypsy Major" engine is p. four-cylindor air-cooled Job with an output of around 130 h.p. The plane has a cruising speed of around 90 m.p.h. Executive of Caribou Flying Club meets tonight. Meet Debt to Our Dead, Urges President of Legion Globe Shrivels For Voyagers "Please forward my Citizen," requested Walter T. Seymour on Thursday, in advising he was leaving for England on Sunday from Vancouver with Bruce G. Parker. "When do you expect to get there?" he was asked. "On Tuesday," was the casual reply which nearly floored his questioner. In the time it takes to reach here from Vancouver by C.N.K., they will have reached Great Britain by T.C.A. Mr. Seymour expects to be away six months whilst Mr. Parker, who flew with his companion from Montreal on Monday for Prestwick, Scotland, figures on returning in two months after visiting his aged mother in Bristol. She will be 93 years of age in August. New School Deal Awaits Signing Of Cameron Act VICTORIA—'Provisions embodied in an act implementing the Cameron report on the cost of education will be brought into force by proclamation on a date to be fixed by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Coun- Legislation was introduced in the Legislature by the Hon. George M Weir, minister of education. In place otf-'extefcing school districts the act will create large municipal districts which may consist of one municipality, or two or more municipalites. or a muncpallty combined with contiguous rural areas. Large rural districts may be formed by the combination of present rural areas. Financial clauses of the bill provide that the basic grant payable by the province to a school district in a fiscal year in quarterly instalments shall be made up from three allotments. These constitute: The minimum salaries of teachen regularly employed In accordap« ¦with a schedule of a stand ard/Oasie salaries prepared and authorized by the Council of Public Ipfitruction. Any allowance that/the council makes In the case ofXteacher holding a position of/special responsibility or of a teacher employed in a remote and isolated district. An allowance for current exnen-diture not exceeding $13 per pupil in Grades I to VI; $17 in Grades VTI'ib IX; $20 in Grades X to XIII. ^nd not less than $260 for ench classroom in operation. Deducted from these sums, however, will be the amount of money that can be raised by a five mill levy on the assessed value of taxable land and 75 per cent of Improvements. Children of men who gave their lives in war should be considered a* wards of Canada and Inherit the benefits the father would have da-rived, said Alex Walker, Dominion president of the Canadian Legion, on Wednesday to delegates attending the Vancouver convention of the B.C. Command. Featuring sessions to which Frank Perry and Geoffrey Calne were delegated from Post 43, Prince George branch of the Canadian Legion, the speech by the national president stressed the need for a law which would reflect not only the considered opinion of parliament but also the conscience of Canada. "If the father had lived, certain rights and opportunities would have come to him as a result of his war service, but he was called upon to sacrifice his life and with that h« also sacrificed the opportunities he-could have provided for his children," Mr. Walker continued. "Remembrance," he described, "becomes an empty gesture and a mockery if we permit the children of our dead comrades to lie heavily and needlessly handicapped in life," Mr. Walker stated proposals for a deceased veterans dependents' bill have gone before a parliamentary committee in a brief. ABOLISH MEANS TEST He demanded that the "Means Test," as applied to war veteran* allowance should be eliminated, suggesting as an alternative that income tax returns be used as a basis for granting of the allowance. Dealing with the handling of war assets, he claimed that the government has failed to meet the needs of university and vocational train-Ing. QUIZZES WAR ASSETS "There are millions of doll are worth of tools and instruments that/ Canada bought for war. Much not yet been declared surni vital articles necessary ^ tional purposes," he said, "Some of these haw? passed already as surplus anp/lr.ivc in some cases been sold to^clealers who resell at a profit Jm educational institutions. Let us not pay two profit* on this mj>£erial." A The speaker submit tod tint, ir •vetenvris are deprived of training in (he/use of scientific and technical uipment, "the defence of Canada as« well as her industrial development may be vitally affected, and the rehabilitation of our veterans injured." "Who is responsible for thus frustrating the government's own program?" he asked. "Is it the independent action of the head of the War Assets or is he merely adhering to a policy laid down by the government itself?" He claimed the responsibility for correcting the situation rests with the federal minister of reconstruction. Mr. Walker emphasized the desperate need for low-cost housing Immediately. He mentioned statements made by the ministers of labor and of reconstruction that by May there would be a shortage of manpower. Await Decision Ground Lines to Coast Map Aid Central Interior "Van?& $!..cou!*? &ver calling fSorry, your call cannot be completed)," may be a nightmare of the past, depending upon decision reached by the War Assets Corporation following negotiations unden-stood to have opened Wednesday in Ottawa regarding disposal of the Pacific Communication System. Best known to Prince George citizens as part of the repeater station nnd the three, trim cottages housing the staff, the system was one of the biggest of war jobs, providing the largest communications.project ever undertaken in B.C. Whilst civilians suffered the hit-and-miss communication afforded by radio-telephone to the coast from Quesnel, crisp, clear conversations from here with most parts of B.C. was made possible by the wartime undertaking now the object of negotiations toward peacetime use. Nearly J6.500 miles of wire along 2000 miles of pole line spaced by 63,000 poles were required in the network which included booster stations at Victoria, Vancouver, Lyt-ton, Williams Lake, branching west to Kleena Kleena and Bella Coola, and north to Prince George, Burns Lake, Woodcock and Prince Rupert. Engineered by the B.C. Telephone Company Ltd. and operated by the Air Force for all branches of the armed services, the system was made possible by Joint efforts of major communication groups, the Dominion government, the Air Force, Army, Navy and a number of private firms. It provided both telephone and teletype circuits for the armed forces. Switchboards in Victoria, Vancouver, Prince George and Prince Rupert, staffed by the R\CA.F., provided rapid switching of telephone calls. !.