HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1978-09-14, Page 45econom
,But the gardens 'in the Netherlands are
still a "painter's palette colors" Mrsp
• ;.*DeGroot said, and housewiVes 'still wash
their windows- at least once a week and
sometimes more often.
But anyone visiting • the Netherlands
should know it won't be a budget
holiday—after, all, it ,costs twice, as much
there to buy a Big Mac hamburger as it does
in Canada!
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING—That's the way it must have
seemed to the hopeless new Grade 9 students who underwent initiation at
SDHS last week. More photos inside the Expositor. (Expositor Photo
replacement for Mr. Scott.
Road vouchers in the, sum
of $54,453,59 were approved
'and included gravel and
Construction expenses - for
Concession 4. General
Account in the sum of
$32,426.25 included Coyne
Drain Assessthents. and
Engineering Fees on the
Coyne. Kleinfeldt and
Melady Drains.
Council directed that the
County Planning Office be
approached to prepare ' a
by-law for a toning correct-
ion on residential and
industrial property in St.
Columban.
Approval in principle was
given for the enlarg'em'ent of
a hog operation and new
"barn, Subjeek to a certificate
of cbmpliaride being obtained
,from the Ministry of Etiviren-
,
mete. A liquid manure
operation is involved, •
E.H. Uuerstadt, O.L.S. of
..Orangeville. was appointed
as engineer to bring in
reports for the repair and
improvenienr. if' necessary:
of the Gardiner Extension
Municipal Drainage Works.
and the act or the petition of
David Brock, ftir repair and
improvement, if necessary.
of the Wren Drainage
Works.
By-laws were passed for
collecting Assessments on
the Coyne Drainage 'Works,
repair and improvement on
the Tyndall Drainage Works
(Tuckerstnith) and the Black
Creek Mousseau Drain (Hay
Township). The previsional.
by-late on. the Melady Drain-
age Works was given two
readings.
,afte'r 8,yecirs
Pressure of other work has
resulted in the resignation of
Hugh Scott, as Hibbert town-
ship representative on the
Mitchell and- District Plan-
ning Board. Mr. Scott
-presented his resignation
effective next December 31st
to council *at a meeting on
Sept. 5.
Mr. Scott pointed out that
he had been the Township's
representative since 1970,
when planning was first
commenced.
Reeve Ross McPhail, on
9 behalf •of Council expressed
their regret at his decision.
Council appreciated his
efforts' on the Board,
especially when it was being
fermented and during prep-
aration of the Official 'Plan
and Restricted Area By=
laws. It Was agreed to let the
new Council 'appoint a
Hibbert planning
board rep resigns
••,
xpositor
O
SEPTEMBER 21, 1978 — [Second Section Pages 1A — 8A]
.... ......
polite,. but they met with a failleSS
reception when they returned to Canada.
Mrs. DeGroot said if European tourists '
receive a similar reception, they might not
visit our country a second•time.
In the 25 years since the DeGroots left the
Netherlands to make their home in Canada,
Mrs. DeGroot said the country has pro-
gressed while their ideas of their homeland
tended to remain the some.
By Alice Gibb
Tieelsietherlands, one of Europe's smaller
countries' wavonce famous as the land of
windmills, tulips and Edam cheese.
But when Joe DrGroot and his wife Else of
Seaforth returned to visit their homeland
this summer, they discovered the Nether-
glands has become a• bustling, prosperous
nation.
The most obvious change since their last
visit in 1969 is the country's very healthy
economic position.
While the Canadian dollar has been falling
on the world markets, the Dutch guilder has
been going steadily up, and now ranks
among the highest currencies in Europe.
The DeGrOati, who, are both. -teachers
themselves, noted that a public school teacher
in the Netherlands now earns approximately
$12,000 annually. °
This figure. is "net wages" or take home
pay, And doesn't take into account vacation
benefits, health and life insurance and other
benefits proyided by the government.
The DeGroots said when Dutch wage
earners talk about their salaries "their
.concern is their take'home pay:' rather than
the total amount they ,earn annually. ,
Another sign that the Netherlands is in a
much healthier , economic position is 'the
change in• housing trends.
A.444 44,4•••
Canadian diet, is the fact fresh fish is readily
available in the Netherlands, no Matter how
far an 'area is from the sea.„„„ft
Joe DeGroot said another major change
since their visit nine years ago are the new
four lane highways which have been built in
most Westere European countries,
The roads are mueblike our own Hwy.
401; except in France, vOere traVellersliave
to pay tolls to use the new superhighways.
Mr, DeGroot said it'S a common complaint
in the rest 9f Europe that the French net*
is building their roads "on the money of the
tourists."
Impressed
The DeGroots were also unpressed With
the extensive recreation4eOgram which haS
been implemented by the Netherladd's
socialist coalition, government.
The government , is an 'amalgamation of
the country's three.leading parties including
the Christian Democrats, the Labor party
and the Catholic political party.
The government now owns a network of
beautiftil parks through' the country, and
Mrs. DeGroot said most towns have a,
number of recreation facilites—from soccer
fields and tennis coirts to indoor swimming
pools and fitness trails.
' She added while the Dutch "are not
weight ' conscious" they are "fitness
oriented" and the fitness trails, like the One
recently net ouside Clinton, provide them
with an excuse •to jok}run, and otherwise
exercise gracefully: •
The DeGroots also noticed , the 'Nether-
lands has becomes even more heritage
conscious since, their last visit.
Heritage foundation are" designating
everything from windmills to old farms,
ehurcres and private homes.
Mrs. DeGroot- said while owners of the
building can restore or alter the interiors,
they can't change the , outside appearance of
.the buildings.
One of the results of this new interest in
preserving the country's heritage is that old
thatched roof houses in the smaller towns
• arc being. purchased for over '$200,000 by
city people who restore them , as weekend
homes.
•"Farms
Mr. "DeGroot said many of the farms in the
country's southern province still have the
traditional thatched 0 roofs'-with the stable
-and house attached and a 'second separate
barn to hold the grain.
The Diitch thoroughness for cleaeliness•
extends' even to their barns, and Mr.
DeGroot said the walls are whitewashed and
sprayed every year during the eight months
the animals are out t? pasture.
•
Smaller
Farms in.the Netherlands. are smaller than
in Canada. often averaging about SO acres in
size.
However. every piece of the land is used
for crops or pasturing land. and Mr. DeGroot
said his father once said, "A Dutch farmer
..could live on the waste land in a Canadian
farmer's fields."
One beneficial result, of the falling
Canadian dollar, beneficial at least to
Europeans. is that more will .now be
•
"I like to see an olci rail fence Tharzigs
and zags at .wilt Across a field without
pretense "And 'over yoeder hill.",
There isiioetry to be found in the pattern,
of fences 'woven across, Ontario. They -
served a 'useful and 'necessary pUrpOse and
remain historic relics of the past, add to the'
story .of Canada'S' farming - tradition. and
testify to the ingenuity, of the men and
.women who first 'settled this great land. -
Memdries of the spraddle:legged , or • ,
• zig-zagged rail -fences marching across the •
landscape are , recalled when 'driving-
, through. back-country. especially in the
' Ottawa Valley with which. the writer. has
• grown familiar. Their memories are as
inseparable .from the landscape as the
woodlots and bushes from which. the
fencing materials were rough hewn.
Houses and barns .and sheds. fashioned
from the same forests . stand •• in ruined
shapes but the countless miles of rail
fences were the most extensive use to
which the slender tree-trunks were put.
Fences first built by the Indian tribes
seem to have been restrictedtd weirs built
across narrow streams to direct the fishy
hordes toward traps or to hunting-fen.ces to .
corral big game from which they could. not
escape. Here and there were left
• where ,snares were concealed to' catch any
fugitive attemntine to' break through.
Fences built by the first white settlers
date from, the original clearing operations. •.
They served to mark boundaries, to keep.•
animals. wild or domestice. in or out of
• certain restricted areas, to protect crops.
for' privacy. for seclusion and as a. way of,
clearan ce.
. slash resulting from land
In Stages
Settlers cleared the virgin forest in
varioys stages. At first the tie derbresh was
removed and the slash burned off but some
was,„piled up to make a primitive brush
fence. These Windrows of deadwood
formed an impenetrable obstacle where
branches ‘yere woven into each other of
found lying °tithe ground Might he used to
form the base of the knee which often had.
to be diverted so that advantage might be
taken of natural obstacles.
, •
There were obvious disadvantages in the
brush fence. It was a serious fire hazard;
seldom followed a boundary accurately it
could , be moved only with difficulty.
Although there %vas no financial outlay
involved, it cost considerable more in time,
and labour than certain other types. It did,
however, occupy a large amount of arable
land that might have been cultivated to
ft
good advantage., It has been. stated that a
brush, fence should be at least forty feet
wide and damn high,
In the second stage of forest clearing,
the• trees.' were felled and drawn . into
windrows by oxen 'where they were burned
off later for wood-ash, Good,' straight logs
. were-spared and used for farm buildings
and, those-of upto ten-inches in diameter
were restricted to. the ,making of split rails
for fence construction'. This land-clearing
by the family represented a vast struggle to
.Miercome the wilderness and, at times, an
impossible task but. day after day they
continued and persevered. The stillness of
the winter forestwould often be broken by
the 'thwacking' sound of the pioneer's
bmad axe.
Stump Clea-ring
The usual successor to the brush fence
was one of stumps. This resulted as the
second stage of land-clearing, perhaps ten
or fifteen years later wherethe inot`s of the
tree stumps were sufficiently rotted to
make it possible to pull . them out'. The
farmer dug around t he.sturnp unil he found
a big root that ran out sideways. He would
hitch the stout logging chain to, this root,
lead the chain across the top of the stump,
'and attach it to the yoke borne by hiS 4 team
of oxen.,
Amid shouts and some' mild
cursing, a whip was crashed in mid-air and
the • beasts strained as they leaned . into'
their task. The stump almost invariably
would turn over as it came loose. It .was
then dragged to the border of the field to
be positioned, the rosette of interlacing
roots facing th,e outside of the property.
Any. gaps remaining were filled in with
brush. The resulting fence might well have
been a combination of these two materials.
At a later date mechanical stump pullers
were invented by which a screw system
„vvered by horses drew the rotted stump ,
ro the ground with a: minimum of
man effort. Oxen. however, continued
to be us d to clreiv . the stumpt to its
deStinati n to form an inpenetrable barrier
against the which had a tendency to
wander as fa the grass would lead them
without regard to distance or direction.
Without these primitive structure's the
-control of liv • stock would be virtually
impossible arid the resultant loss
devastating. Few stump fences remain
today. Gread grartip loved to say that they
were pig tight, bull stirring, and horse high.
Indeed their telsted. tangled roots
pointing skyward formed beautiful
patterns- along the edge of many a
ploughed field. Depending upon the type
of stump it might be up to twenty years
before the settler could clear away' the
stumps and rubble.
Rail fences were the most common in
Ontario as they zig-zagged like a wriggling
snake. Indeed it was Sor4etimes called a
.snake or worme fence. At times it has been
• called th.e Virginia 'Rail 'fence. These were
' by far the most' usual type in Canada and
were foUnd wherever there were the
materials for their construction. Many
hundreds of miles of then-I!, still exist in
Eastern Ontario.
To make a good fence rail, one chose a
tall, straight tree. Often one.eould get two
or three twelve foot lengths from one tree
and almost free from knots. When straight
grained, one started at the narrow end of
the log and, with axe and wedge Of wood Or
iron, the two sections ultimately fell apart.
Each half was similarly split down the
middle. A mile of snake fence six rails
high, with, rails eleven feet or so in length,
overlapping at foot at each angle required
some 4000 rails which represented much
felling, trimming, splitting, hauling and
erecting.
Bottom rail
In due time, the farmer learned that the
bottom rail resting on the ground. began to
rot and the fence . to disintegrate. Great
gandpapa learned to lay a foundation of
two flat' stones one on' top of the other to
foim what he called the hub or bay. if he
used just one stone,th'e moisture seemed to
creep up the stone and rot the wctod but
. with two stones the moisture was held in
check. He would-lay two such hubs some
twenty feet apart then a third one in the
middle . oUtside the direct .line between
numbers one and two Yo make.an angle and
'''add a fourth' beyond the second bud at the
same angle.
He would lay a rail from one to three and
another froin two to four. Then he would
put a third rail from two back hubs' and
adding rails until he got the length 'he
needed with the rails overlapping at the
bays. Occasionally the top rail might be
blown off in a wihdstorneor knocked off by
bossy as she scratched her-neck thereon_
Some effort was made to prevent this by
placing a heavy rail on top and lashing a
couple of field stones, together ,with wire and
hanging the same at the hub'.
Snake fences had many,advaniages at a'
time when timber was plentiful. The
winding pattern allowed it to • avoid
natural obstacles and could be easily
moved since no posts were required. The
major disadvantage was the amount of land
occupied. It has been estimated theta...Mile_
of fence took up more than an acre of
cleared nd and prevented the use of
nearly as much., Rumour ,,had it that a
farmer from Holland could make a living by
just using ;our fence-corners.
(To be, continued]
•
Housing
In 1969-, the DeGroots said the trend was
to build duplexes Or. row . heusing and the
country Was suffering a serious housing
shortage.
While housing may still be scarce in large
cities like Amsterdam, the DeGroots, who
come from the south o1 the country, found
many families arc now building el rate
single family homes. •.'
However, the "prices of land and h CS
are ridiculously high:: Mrs. DeGroot said;
and the. newspapers "in the country are
advertising deals , encouraging the Dutch
people to buy property, in Southetn Ireland,
where prices arc lower.
' The Dutch royal family are among' a
number of people in the country who have
purchased summer homes in the Irish
.Republic.
During:their month long visit with friends
in .the Netherlands. the DeGroots observed
other signs of the high standard of living.
Meat, for example, is 'much more
expensive than in Canada, but Elsa DeGroot
said people 'seem prepared to spend the
extra money to :have meat in their diet.
Baked good and candy' are also expensive..
but most families keep bowls of candy in
their homes all the time.
One notable difference in the. Dutch and
"' • sto
.e"
Couple who return cliwArer .
Netherlands
•
come to North America—Niagara Falls,
Disneyworld and Florida, •
Onof the first things many of the.tourists
do affer arriving here is to rent • an air
.• conditioned. larger model car—a contrast to
the small four cylinder cars which are the
'common form of transportation throughout
Europe.
The DeGroots'said one thing which often
surprises' many of the visitors the fact our
, public transportation system isn't as reliable
as the systems they're used to.
The. DeGroots said their daughter was
able to buy a rail pass in the Netherlands
4which allowed her to travel anywhere in the
Igeuntryefor-eight days.
The cotiple said the Dutch Aoyernment is
vacationing in 'North America. actively encouraging people to "explore
The D,eGroot •said many 'Europeans ,now yourown country" a policy they thought the
, Canadian ,government might 'consider as holiday twice a year—in the sumfner and
' again during the winter, when they either go well.
skiing or else bead to southern Spain or
northern Tunisia to bask in the sun.
An increasing number of Dutch tourists
are also travelling to North America,
particularly, the United States, where they
'find both the accOniodation inexpensive and
the gas far less expensive than in their own
'Country..
Mr's. DeGroot said the Dutch tourists
Pften .want to See -three things when
• The one Misgiving the De'roots have
" about Europeans who visit Canada, is the
reception the tourists receive from Canadian
custom officers..
The DeGroots found custom officers at, .
Eineepe bOrder, crossings unfailingly
Misgiving
Remembering with W.G. Strong
nces.-.then,and n
• fr