Editorials & Comments Well-timed silence hatfr^more eloquence than speech../ -7-Marfin F. Tupper Prince George Citizen t (Established 1916) Published every Monaoy and Thursday at Prince George, B.C., by The Citizen Publishers & Printers Ltd. Editor: C. A. vVarner J DIRECTORS N. J. Izowsky, H. G. Kennedy, C. A. Warner Largest circulation of any weakly newspaper in Central and Korthtm British Columbia. Subscription: per year -Outside Canada - - - $4.00 $5.00. An Independent Class "A" Semi-Weekly Newspaper devoted to the upbuilding of Prince George and all communities comprising Northern and Central B.C. Authorized as second class mail by Post Office Department, Ottawa Vital Northland The Canadian northland, to southerners' eyes, i has a split*personality. To some it's an almost unreal place of color- ¦ ful history, full of the romance of the unknown. To others the north is real and vital, stirring with the development of its mineral resources and bustling with construction of the Arctic rcdar sentry posts known as the DEW (Distant Early Warning) -line. "~V , " f) However they look at it, Canadians are'rnore and more turning their thoughts and aspirations north to a hinterland •vaster than in any other country except Russia. Recent events have given impetus to that interest. Governor-General Massey returned recently f/om an un-I precsdented vice-regal visit to the Arctic archipelago and a flight over the North Pole. He was followed to the north by a i group of Canadian and United States cabinet ministers* inspecting the vital radar defence line. Background to these events has been the steady development of the north's mineral, wealth. t The Yukon and the Northwest'Territories cover 1,511,979 square miles—nearly 39.3 per cent of Canada's total area. Yet their population, counted at 25,100 in the 1951 census, is' a tiny .17 per, osnt of the country's total. Among these are 14,400 Indians and,Eskimos. The north's minerals are considered by many experts to be an incalculable store-house of treasure whose surface has hardly been scratched yet. Mr. Massey, returning to Ottawa from his trip, stopped off at The Pas in northern Manitoba and in a speech expressed his confidence that the huge area can be developed and liveqj ^n.despite its cold and menacing aspects. "Increasingly we from the south are being invited and encouraged to realize the infinite economic and social possibilities of this land," he said.. "Like other parts of our great country, at first sight mysterious arid sometimes forbidding, it now is revealing itself as a region where it needs only energy, determination and ingenuity to build large and thriving communities." Perambulant Penman -. Recptly the British Columbia, volume, and assumes an air of Gamtf Branch announced that its, mere tolerance towards the native of the the use of fish CORDELL C. HOPKINS Street Closing Plan A plan now being seriously considered by the city council which would result in the permanent closure of portions of 23,residential streets in the south-west section of the city has sjr^jch to commend it from the standpoint of the city. The sealing off of some five miles of streets will create more than 200 homesites with a market value of approximately $200,000," and when these have passed into private hands there will be a ,. considerable increase in tax revenues. Irf addition the plan would eliminate the necessity of constructing streets, sidewalks and storm drains which are' estimated would cost $1,400,000/ There would also be a large reduction in the city's street* maintenance and snow plowing costs. It is not surprising that lot owners orrthe affected streets are voicing strong objections to the scheme, especially those' with improved corner lots. While the latter will be granted prior rights to purchase the new lots to be created by the plan, there is some justification for the opinion expressed by these* owners'that this priority is inadequate compensation for the loss of ther corner-lot status. Corner property costs about 50 percent more than inside lots, and it would seem that a fairer deal would be to offer these owners the adjoining lot to be created by the street closure plan for a nomjnaf sum. Last .week the city council revealed plans to push the .... city's boundaries west to the foot of Cranbrook.Hill, and this brings up another undesirable feature of the street closing policy. Have the future owners of lots in this area any assurance that their property'won't be sealed off and isolated by the elimination of street allowances? What is to prevent the council from practicing more economy at the expense of property owners anywhere' in the city? Such doubts are apt to act as a deterrent to potential purchasers of lots in the undeveloped section of the city. \ Chrysler Expert Named NILk Convention A principal speaker at the sixteenth annual convention of the Northern Interior Lumbermen's Association later this month will be Chrysler Corporation labor .expert Cordell G. Hopkins. Mr. Hopkins has been with Chrysler Corporation siijce 1927. After working in a wide variety of jobs he, was appointed assistant labor relations supervisor at the Plymouth plant. Detroit, in 19-10. Two years later he was appointed labor relations,.supervisor at the same plant and served as- a member of the labor'managemejU war production drive committee. dustrial relations fin April 3 5', 1955., Born in Big Tom's Creek, Yir-ginia, on June M, 1905, flopkins was educated in .public schools In Kentucky and Tennessee, graduating from Crawford private school in Harlan, Kentucky. He has taken '-many courses in specialized subjects at the University of Detroit and. Eastern roe as bait on three western steel head rivers was based upon an appeal by tourists and the resolutions of groups of laymen, and is not a conservat4on measure. Less recently this writer supported the banning of roe on one of the three rivers provided the action was taken to conserve the steelhead fishery. I now wish to disassociate myself from supporting the ban and, further, to condemn it as a pitiful type' of legislation "which will serve no useful purpose. At the same time 1 would like to suggest to the British Columbia Game Branch- that it devote more of its efforts to enforcement of laws designed to promote conservation and less* of its time muddling in the private feuds which exist "between .various strata of anglers. ^ The statement toy a spokesman for the B.C. Game Branch that the opinions and desires of I American tourists influenced the decision to ban roe on the Kis-piox River came to me as a distinct shock. 1 did not realize that the trustees of/British Columbia wildlife had so abandoned normal nationalism .that the whim of a tourist was sufficient lo deprive a native British Columbian of his natural heritage. As a native of a. part of Canada where wildlife abounds, I cannot regard the tourist hunter or the tourist anpler as having anything but a second class right to tenjqy what is rightfully oursv We have reached a sorry pass indeed when, to comply with the angling ethics of a resident of Ponokah, U.S.A., we compel "a! large number of British Colufn-1 bia residents to forego a method of fishing which is not harmful to any given • fishery. The whole picture of the nonresident hunter and anglpr is a 'Mr. Hopkins was transferred to j Kentucky Normal Slate College, the Los Angeles plant in Decem-' He is also- a graduate of the ber; 1945 as laoor relations super-1 Chrysler Conference of Business visor. He became manager of in-^Management. Residents of Central B.C. and other regions of Canada beyond ^$ range,.of a television station should be interested in the announcement that CBC's national television service is losing money at the rate of more than $2,000,000 a month, which will come oyt of the federal treasury: When we pay our income and sales taxes, it is scant comfort to realize that we are subsidizing the TV^jtertainment of those who live in a "few big cities. Instead of dipping into the^treasury to pay the losses incurred in the operation of Canada's television fretwork, wouldn't it be fairer to impose a direct tax on the own- r ^ i . . , . ,, . -» -T-i j ' n f j- I used up what was left, ers of television sets in this country? .Thousands of Canadions .j k*t my c0,d bul t living "in the sticks", are being forced to pay for something1' they are not getting. ,. * . By G. E. MORTIMER can be too Sometimes a r thrifty". My insistence on using up the eftovers has long been'a source of irritation in our house,. Every now and then I happen upon a small treasure trove of last week's "ood - in the refrigerator or the arcler, and summon my-.wife, with i cry of mingled rage and, triumph. .. • "Look at THAT," I.urge, polnt-ng toward the amorphQus mass with/ quivering finger, '- "I'm looking,", she replies. 'What is it?" "You know what. Perfectly ?ood spaghetti^ and cheese."- "It has. green whiskers on it," my wife replies. "Why did you give it time to grow whiskers? You-could. ha\je used it up." I'l offered it to you on .Monday, but you didn't feel like spaghetti." ¦it -U Hz And the dispute goes on, with a hint on my part that my wife, might have eaten the spaghetti herself for lunch, and a promise from her that if the situation ever occurs; again she will make me eat every crumb of the stuff, by forcible feeding If need be. After a long series of defeats in these arguments, I still thought I was right in principle. However, something happened recently that made me doubt the virtue of intense thrift. ¦- The infant son had a_.bad cold or 'flu, and the doctor prescribed some medicine. When he ordered the child to stop taking the .stuff, there was still half a bottle left. By a Iucicy chance, I had a miserable cold myself." So 1 thriftily. that the ailment was only a case of too mWh thrift. However, some good came of it. The medicine I.am taking foe the hives and sore feet has cured my cold. British Columbian who accounts for 90 percent. The. Government of British Columbia, for reason's best known to itself, spends thousands of dollars publicizing the' facilities offered by resort keepers, and- very little on public resort facilities for its own people. Why the government does not also subsidize the advertising budget of the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker can only be attributed to their failure to organize for themselves an effective barrage of political pressure. »-It. is my firm opinion thdt. the British Columbia "Game Branch, caught up as it is in this weird vortex of pandering to the nonresident, would be well advised to conserve its modest budget for the purpose of carrying oj.it research on which It can base intelligent wildlife legislation. It is also my opinion that the PUT OF THI Mail Bag\ Letter* Backs Game Board Th Citi Editor, The Citizen: 23 your there has SUc 0( cism in your area coricern decision of the Game Den, in banning the use of n for the taking of sic-elhPad Mprice and'Hulkley riven Surely-the re>i(l,.m> (lf t> ico and Bulkle, be the first u I may say thai fheyljf In agreement with ¦(he Can partment in this matter subject has. |,oen discu^' length by our local rod and ianent i who clubs and-by the dents of this .district, a deep interest j,, t'he" of our sport fish and wildly must takc considei spawn.; water distance from make us the diminishing supf>}£ distorted one in this povince. We apparently have a game commission which bows and scrapes to the American millionaire-sportsman and considers the native o'utdoorsman in the light of a poacher. This has all come about as the result df pressure from an inside-ous force known as the "tourist industry". . y. The tourist industry, by and large, is comprised of a. group of hotel-keepers who ^don't give a tinkers' damn about whether there are any fish in the river tomorrow so long as the bar is full of wealthy transients- today and there is a "no vacancy" sign-jup over the driveway. ' The application of pressure made by the "tourist Industry" is So effective that the B.C. Government subsidizes it and the sporting goods merchant swallows the subsequent publicity to the extent that he throws out the red carpet to the visiting sportsinan, who accounts for perhaps 10 percent of the total sales game branch would »be well-ad- j tion that we. are a long way fi vised to discount the theories and'salt water wheilee most of ambitions of rod and gun- clubs '¦ steelhead come, ami that there and other such organizations and J man-v streams on the way get on with the job of ¦develop-;which?the_ steelhead ing for itself a plan of conservation which will puarantee that . British Columbia wildlife is not of a a diminishing resource. !¦' We -are a voung L'juntr, It is a fact that in most In. commencing to be .ievelopeJ stances the rod and gun clubs fe^^g T>\rt" ^¥ are mere tools of the game ^ m^n uh7°' m> 1'°nlyt branch with which to impress ^ S,° ll ljeho"ve> us t0 legislators. The contents Sr Illg^jS.S.^ grandchildren. After 51, years in the EulklJ Valley I can say that ] high] Commend the action of the Gas Board in this matter. FRANK M. DOCKRILL-Telkwa, B.C. SALMON VALLEY Mrs. F. Beau'regard, Doris; Pierre have left to .visit friend and relatives In Queb< Mrs. L. Bohn has eo'ne to Leod Lake for a month." J. DeGrasse i.-^ in Prince Geo hospital. B. Shields. A. Hanson anJ Caron motored .to Bablne Lakj on a business trip. Farmer's Institute will meet; the school, on May 12 at 8 pi Bingo from 9 to 11. followed;.! Following a month of exceptionally dry, warm weather and the promise of more to come, forestry officials sounded a warning at the weekend that the forest floor in the vast Fort George regior^is rapidly drying oi* and has already reached the stage the f.re hazard is high. Extreme caution" is essential teak of bush fires js to b3 prevented. Carelessness refcan be costly, not only to the owners of timber-the pqsic.economy of the entire area. two weeks later my feet^began to swell and my ankles blossomed with patches of carmine and rose-pink. I staggered along to the doctor, who traced my trouble to that leftover medicine. I was allergic to it. ? it Yr it Since that time the rest of my frame has broken out In a spring garden of hives. Various friends obliged me by dlagnosing.my case as gout, beri-beri or Peruvian rot, Trappers Want Legalization Of Fail Trapping Delegates to the northern zone of the B.C. Registered Trappers' Association convention here May 22 will ask that fall trapping of muskrats and beaver be made legal, in view of heavy winter losses. f Trappers and guides active in north-central British Columbia are expected to turn out in full numbers for the annual meeting. They will also ask that royal- \ ties be adjxiKtcd to compare with the value of the pelt and that 'higher duties be levied on raw fur.s entering Canada. The comparatively early date for the convention was chosen to enable trappers and guides to conclude their business sessions in time to pass their resolutions to |~r.he B.C. Game'Convention being held in th'p Civic Centre May 23 to 2fi inclusive. ' A number of new game regulations and amendments to the present regulations-will be introduced at the meeting/ ! C. H. Olds, regldqal president of the trappers' group, said thai trappers and guides do not wholly agree with the professional coi* tention that moose and deer in the northern part of the proving are dying because of a shortage of food. , Ways and means to reduce the slaughter of moose and deer by •railroad trains will be discussed. Relegates will ask .that.clogs found chasing and-killing, game lie destroyed. The trappers, and guides, real- majority of tlhe resolutions passed by such 'clubs, are suggested by game branch personnel and are dutifully approved by a handful of laymen hunters and anglers who haven't the faintest idea what they are doing. These resolutions are then placed before the legislators -with the implication that they represent that w^llo-the-wisp platitude, the "wiH of the people".' Until this province has' a government which realizes the importance of the continued existence of wildlife to its people, and the need for a far larger conservation budget, and until the British' Columbia Game Branch picks up the challenge which lies before expect it, we, many the people, can more ludicrous regulations like the ones imposed this year on the 'Mtorrice, the Bulkley and'the Kispiox Rivers; ¦< but although I was grateful for- izing that their livelihhood do-their kind intendst J assured them {tends on the careful husbanding Admiral 5 e r g e 1 Georgevich Gorshkov, who is the new Commander-in-chief of the. Soviet Navy, succeeding Admiral Nikolai G. Kuznetsov. Gorshkov formerly commanded Russia's . Black Sea fleet of all forms of wild life, will air all topics pertinent to conserwa-tion. ', , "New game regulations and' changes to the present regulations hare, their beginnings at the annual game meetings and those of uk who do not participate in the drafting of laws governing wildlife resources will have no cause to complain if those laws are not to our liking," Mr. Olds explains'. If you need a new tractor on your farm, but haven't the ready cash