HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1954-01-14, Page 2Page 2 THE TIMES-ADVOCATE, EXETER, ONTARIO, THURSDAY MORNING, JANUARY 14, 1954
This Journal shall always fight for
progress, reform and public welfare,,
never be afraid to attack wrong,
never belong to any political party,
never be satisfied with merely print
ing news.
Couple of Kicks on the Shins
THURSDAY MORNING, JANUARY 14, 1954
SHDHS Addition
Raise Money Now
To Avoid Debentures
Enforced Rules
Fans who are becoming alarmed about
spread of rough and illegal hockey practices
to minor teams with young players will agree
with the recent action of the Aurora Recrea
tion Commission.
In a letter sent to the Ontario Hockey
Association, the. commission charged that
hockey rules are being flouted by players
and not enforced by officials.
The commission protested “rough tac
tics, unsportsmanlike conduct and lack of
authority” in present-day hockey, and said
that as a group sponsoring minor hockey it
feels something should be done.
“It seems to us”, the letter stated, “the
example set by OHA games, through the
medium of television, radio and through the
actual witnessing of games leaves much to
be desired in that:
“The rule book is not strictly enforced:
“There is lack of control of players and
team officials by referees;
“The emphasis is on winning at any
cost.
“Surely it is up to the executive of the
OHA to see that the excellent code of rules
formulated throughout the years is strictly
enforced”.
Disagree
The sordid party-line montony of Can
ada’s members of parliament, which has been
criticized before in this newspaper, is under
fire in the current issue of Maclean’s maga
zine.
Annoyed by the hue and cry raised
when 11 Progressive Conservatives voted
against the majority of the party, the maga
zine states in an editorial “. . . we are con
cerned about the suggestion that disagree
ment itself is’ in some way reprehensible, a
misdemeanor if not a felony”.
“. . . It seems to us that in Canada our
parties have gone too far in the direction of
unanimity, of ‘regularity’. You don’t have to
be an anarchist to wish that some Liberal
MP would occasionally tell the Government
that it’s on the wrong tack, and back up
this expression of personal opinion by vot
ing ‘no’ in the House.
“Our politicians tell us that they argue
vigorously in the secrecy of party caucus.
Maybe they do, though we find it hard to
believe. But in public they sound like tape
recordings of each other.
“This has two disadvantages for' Can
adian democracy. One is the simple and all-
too-obvious fact that Canadian politics are a
stupefying bore. Once upon a time it was
considered ill-mannered to discuss politics at
private gatherings lest the argument become
heated. It’s equally ill-mannered for the op
posite reason — the subject is too tedious.
This isn’t a good thing for the democratic
system in this country.
“Much more serious, though, is the
.-other disadvantage—the deliberate smother
ing of controversy. Parties have become so
much alike that inter-party debate is almost
as inhibited as the public discussion of issues'
.among members of the same party. If we
don’t look out we’re going to lose the ability
to tolerate disagreement. And if we lose
that, no matter what word we may use to
describe our system of government, real free
democracy •will have died in a coma.”
Amen.
Note And Comment
Congratulations to Usborne, Biddulph,
Bosanquet, Stanley and other township coun
cils who were re-elected by acclamation last
week. Best wishes for another progressive
year in 1954'.
* * *
Question for the Ontario Department of
Highways: Wouldn’t it be better to improve
ALL the Thames Road at once instead of
only six miles of it at a time?
* * , * *
’ One person explained haphazard park
ing in small towns this way: People don’t
park their cars around here, they abandon
them,
Although Principal H. L. Sturgis esti
mates that no addition to the South Huron
District High School will be necessary for
the 1954-55 term, it is apparent that the
school will have to be enlarged soon after-
that. In view of this, our question is: Would
it not be more economical to raise at least
part of the cost of an addition by taxes dur
ing the next two years rather than raise all
of the amount by debentures ?
While it is difficult for us to estimate
how large an addition will be necessary, it
should not be for officials who know the
present enrolment in district public schools
which will fill the high school in future
years. Our guess would be that the addition
would have to be at least four rooms: two
or more for the. increased enrolment; two to
relieve the present congestion which has al
ready taken over the library and one home
economics room.
Based on the cost of the two-room ad
dition to Exeter Public School this year,
these four rooms 'would cost the district
about $150,000. If the provincial government
pays three-quarters of this amount, this
would leave approximately $37,500 for the
district to raise.
Since a one-mill levy throughout the
district produces about $12,500 in taxes, it
would appear that the hoard could raise
$25,000 over two years with an increase in
taxes of one mill. The school board now has
a balance of $20,000 from which the remain
ing $17,500 might be drawn providing oper
ating costs can be met.
In this way, debentures could be avoid
ed and, consequently, the debt of the parti
cipating municipalities would not- be in
creased by the addition.
Huron County council has already
shown the way in this type of financing with
the addition to the County Home. For three
years the council collected an extra $50,000
annually so that it could pay its share to
wards the cost of the building without issu
ing debentures.
Although a “pay-as-you-go” policy is
sometimes excessively strenuous if crowded
into a small number of years, it appears that
in this case the taxpayers would not suffer
greatly. It might be pointed out here that
the present district high school rate is only
five mills, a levy which is low compared to
the 8- and 10-mill rates of other district
schools.
It is quite possible that this plan may
not be workable because of some regulations
of which we are not aware. Barring this, we
think it merits consideration.
Unfortunate Us
Canadians may be interested to know
that slums and bread lines are typical of
our country; that we are grossly broken by
police repression; that our election rights are
based on racial, religious and property dis
crimination.
These and other unknown'“truths” are
revealed by no less an authority than the
Soviet Encyclopaedia, an official publication
of the Soviet Government of Russia.
In its 16-page review - of Canada, the
encyclopaedia says the “rights of Canadian
citizens are’ grossly broken by police repres
sion, directed mainly against workers and
progressives.”
It proceeds: “Included in the British
Empire, Canada is in fact in considerably
greater dependence on the monopolists of
the United States. The system of government
reproduces the most reactionary features of
the State order of the United States and
England. The Canadian Senate is a most re
actionary institution, consisting of repre
sentatives of big capital. Election rights are
based on racial, religious and property dis
crimination. Very often most important state
decisions arc taken by the Canadian Prime
Minister and Cabinet without prior consulta
tion with the House of Commons, which
later gives formal sanction.”
The article is illustrated with photo
graphs of a slum in Montreal and a queue
of unemployed, said to be at Toronto. These
are presented as typical of this country.
Aren’t we the unfortunate ones though?
Maybe we ought to start a campaign in Rus
sia appealing for food parcels and financial
assistance.
Exeter ®ime 5=Quorate
Times Established 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Advocate Established 1881
Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario
w %
An Independent Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Town of Exeter and District
Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa
Member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association
Member of the Ontario-Quebec Division of the CWNA
Member of the Audit Dureau of Circulation
Paid-in-Advance Circulation as of September 30, 1953 — 2,474
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Canada (in advance) $3.00 per year —• U.S.A, (in advance) per year
Published by The Exeter Times-Advocate Limited
—Windsor Star
Jottings By J.M.S.
It Happened Three Times
There is an old saying that it
is better to be born lucky than
rich. One of the best known char
acters in this community might
well be said to come under this
maxim. I refer to William Goss
man, of Dashwood.
When the Exeter Lions raffled
off a summer cottage at Grand
Bend in 19 52 William Gossman
won a television set for selling
Mie winning ticket.
At the Lucan frolic at Christ
mas Mr. Gossman was fortunate
in winning a radio and at New
Years he won a beautiful honey
colored bedroom suite at the
Firemen’s Frolic at Thedford?
“It’s the best bed I ever slept in’’
said William a few days ago. And
Bill has slept in some mighty
funny places.
I remember my brother Herb
telling about running across Bill
near Windsor on a rather cold
day in winter. He had picked him
up on the road and taken him to
the city. That night he asked
Herb is he could sleep in his car.
During the night a rap came on
Herb’s bedroom door in the ho
tel and there stood a policeman
with Bill and the policeman
wanted to know if he had given
Bill permission to sleep in his
car. When he found out Bill was
telling the truth he took him to
the police station and gave him
accommodation for the rest of
the night. *
Mr. Gossman has had quite a
colorful career. I-Ie was born at
Dashwood, a son of Fred Goss
man, and was one of 15 children,
six girls and nine boys. He was
united in marriage with Mabie
Gaiser and they have 10 children.
Nine are away doing fairly well,
while the youngest is at home.
For 35 years Mr. Gossman
peddled vegetables and flowers
to the summer cottages at Grand
Bend. At first he used a horse
and wagon to make the rounds
and carried the vegetables in
bushel baskets. He was the first
to put them up in packages for
his customers. During the first
years there were few roads, most
ly trails through the parks. To
get to the London side south of
the river he would have to help
push the wagon to get up the
sandhill. Only once did his wife
accompany him on the trip. She
found that visiting the cottagers
and climbing the sand dunes was
no picnic and she decided that
■frer place was at home with her
family.
Mosquitoes and horseflies were
terrible at times and Bill used to
take along some coaloil to rub
on the horse for protection. I
can well bear witness to the
mosquitoes as several of us were
out gathering pine knots with a
pony a number of years ago and
the mosquitoes were so bad that
they almost drove the horse
crazy, and I had to abandon a
pile of knots that I had secured.
During the off season Mr.
Gossman peddled fish in Exeter
and the surrounding villages. At
other times he helped supple
ment the family income by sharp
ening scissors. With his scissors-
grinding outfit he worked his
way at one time to Montreal and
back. On another occasion he
and Mrs. Gossman motored to
Brandort, Man., and from there
Mr. G os's man hitch-hiked to
Banff and Lake Louise. While on
that trip he was picked up on
the road by a lady from Dash
wood and driven for 350 miles.
The longest trip undertaken
was in 19 5 2 when he and his son
Kenneth made the trip to Florida
to visit with a sister in a Model
T Ford. They had 10 or 12 blow
out on the trip. They ’brought
home with 'them some palm
branches, cocoanuts, grape fruits
and oranges.
During the First Great Wai-
Mr. Gossman enlisted with the
9 6th Battalion and went overseas
to England He tried to enlist in
the second war but was turned
down on account of his age.
■One of the most exciting times
experienced while raising his
large family was the disappear
ance of a young daughter While
living at Smoky Hollow Mr. Goss
man had gone out in the evening
to fetch a cow from the bush for
milking. On returning the young
lady was missing and the whole
family turned out for the search.
She had followed her father after
the cow and when found was
sound asleep along the pathway.
Jovial in character Bill always
has some wisecrack to make. On
one occasion last summer I was
motoring to Grand Benfl, and
Bill was flagman while the high
way was under construction. He
stopped me and as I was about
to pull away he says “You can’t
go west”. “Why?” I enquired.
“Because you will run into the
lake”. I could have swatted him.
Ever ready to turn his hand to
make a dollar, for the past few
years lie has been selling tickets
on almost every draw that has
been held in the district and
usually he has had a few tickets
of his own in the draw and they
have paid off handsomely. “When
they called me from Thedford to
tell me I had won the bedroom
suite, I told them to quit their
kidding” said Bill. He went down
the next day and’ when he ar
rived home at Dashwood he stop
ped at the main intersection, to
show off his latest prize.
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News From Our
NEIGHBORS
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As t/ie
"TIMES"
.Go By
50 YEARS AGO
Messrs. Snell and Blatchford
now have their new chopping
mill in full operation.
The services being conducted
by Evangelist McHardy in James
St. Methodist Church are meet
ing with good success and much
good is being done.
Mr. Fran Sliapton, of Medicine
Hat, N.W.T., who has spent some
time in the West, returned home
much improved. He has been an
ashama sufferer and the change
of climate proved helpful.
Mr. W. H. Trott has disposed
Of his two stores on Main St.
The one he now occupies has
been purchased by Mr. Hartlieb,
of Dashwood, who now occupies
a store north of Moulson’s bank,
which has been purchased by.
William Howey. It is rumoured a
new drug store will be opened
up by Mr. Wesley Howey. Mr.
Trott has a notion of retiring
from business and taking up
farming.
Mr. Willis Powell has in his
possession a New Testament
printed in Irish dialect and- is
sued in 1703. There are known
to be only a few copies of this
issue.
25 YEARS AGO
The resignation because of ill
ness of Miss N. Medd, teacher
on the P.S. staff, was received
and accepted to take effect on
March 1. Miss Mamie Pridham,
of Russeldale, who is teaching
near Goderich, has been engaged
to-fill the vacancy.
Mr. A. O. Elliot, the new Ford
agent, is> moving to Exeter and
has rented the residence of Mr.
Esli Heywood, on Andrew St.
The first hockey match to be
played in Exetei- this winter be
tween Dashwood and Exeter re
sulted in a 2-2 tie.
Weather over the weekend was
extremely cold and stormy and
roads were blocked for auto traf
fic for a time. The medical doc
tors, who were very busy, had. to
resort to horses and cutters and
Mr. Frank Taylor used five teams
of horses for one of the local
doctors on Sunday,
The churches of town were
closed on Sunday by order of
the Board of Health owing to an
epidemic of influenza.
The high and public schools
reopened on Monday after being
closed since Christmas because of
the epidemic.
15 YEARS AGO
Rev. D. C. Hill presided for
the inaugural meeting of the
municipal council on January 9.
Councillors T u c k e y , Southcott
and Dignan were named a strik
ing committee to report at the
adjourned meeting, January 10.
The .old Crystal Palace at the
fair grounds has been sold to Mr,
Cliff Brintnell who will have it
torn down and removed in the
near future,
Miss Mary Grigg, a life-long
resident of Exeter, died sudden
ly, in her eighty-fourth year. She
had succeeded her brother, John
Grigg, in conducting the Grigg
Stationery store and was esteem
ed by a large circle of friends and
acquaintances.
• The body of Henry Fremlin,
58, of Clinton, who perished in a
raging snow storm during Christ
mas week, was found by C.N.R.
section men on the right-of-way,
seven -miles east of Clinton.
Miss Reba Simmons and Miss
Phyllis Bierling, of town, and
Miss Mary Broadfoot, of Bruce-
field, have successfully passed
their examinations for nurse reg
istration in Ontario.
IO YEARS AGO
The first ice carnival of the
season attracted a large crowd to
the arena. A broomball .game be
tween the officers and N.C.O.’s
of Centralia RCAF was the hit of
the evening.
■Samuel Ross, caretaker of the
Main St. United Church for near
ly 27' years, was presented with
a purse of money by the con
gregation upon his retirement.
Mr. John Hunkin received
word from Ottawa that his son,
Pte. Aimer L. Hunkin, had been
officially reported accidentally
killed on January 1 in North
Africa.
Jack Delbridge, while return
ing from Windsor driving a Tuc-
key Transport with a 10-ton load,
telescoped a police cruiser at an
intersection on Wharncliffe Road,
London. The police officers and
Mr. Delbridge escaped serious in
jury. Cause of the collision was
icy pavement and no charges
were laid against the driver.
Canadiana
| By JIM GREENBLAT o I
Falls Down Bank
A car from Wingham went
through the guard rail and top
pled end over end down the em
bankment at Grieve’s bridge on
t’lie county road, 2% miles
north of Seaforth, on Sunday
night about 8:30. One of the oc
cupants of the car, Mrs. Minnie
Beltz, of Stratford, received a
broken collar bone and was taken
to Scott Memorial Hospital for
treatment. The others in the car
escaped with a shaking up.
(Seaforth News)
Jigger Runs Away
A railway jigger that rah away
from its C.P.R. section crew on
Monday caused considerable ex-
citment and discomfiture in the
Walton district,
Harold Smalldon and his as
sistant, Clarence Flood, had stop
ped About two miles east of Wal
ton to dp some work on the Side
of the track. In some way, the
brake oh the jigger disengaged,
the engine went into gear, and
the jigger was away, with the
two mon in hot, but vain, pur
suit.
Harvey Craig, whose farm is
near there, noticed the mishap,
and at once drove to Walton to
Ward the station agent, P, Hol
man, who at first was inclined
to pass it off as A joke. When
ho looked tip the track, hewovOF,
he saw the crewless jigger head
ing his way and jumped Into
action. He and Mr. Craig each
grabbed a shovel and started to
pile snow on the tracks; but the
jigger sailed through the drifts
and headed for Blyth, easily out
distancing the two other men,
Allen Searl and Ray Huether,
who1 took up the chase oh foot.
The jigger went all the way to
Blyth, where it was finally stop
ped by two sectionmen, H. Dex
ter and Harold Cunningham. No
one was hurt during the affair
and no damage was caused.
(Huron Expositor)
False Alarm
Shortly before 11 o’clock on
Wedesday night, a telephone call
through the rural exchange asked
the St. Marys Fire Brigade to go
to a fire at the J. Coddington
farm in Downie Township. Driver
William Dunlbp and other mem
bers of the brigade hustled out
the big tandem wheeled fire
wagon and drove over snow-filled
roads to the Coddington home
stead, only to find that there was
no fire there. They then decided
that the fire might be ’at another
Coddington place on the Mitchell
Road and started to drive over
the roads in that direction via
the GlengOwan bridge, While ne
gotiating the heavy roads and
steep grades on this journey
something went Wrong With the
engine*of the heavy vehicle and
as a result the motor was ruined.
It was later dicovered that the
fire call was a hoax and Pro
vincial Police are carrying out an
investigation.
(■St. Marys Journal-Argus)
Had Close Call
On New Year’s Day while Mr.
and Mrs. William Riley, Zurich,
accompanied by his sister, Miss
Reta Riley, Staffa, were travel
ling a back street in Mitchell
their 1941 car became stuck on
the railway tracks. Unfortunate
ly tbe express train was coming
along. The three jumped clear of
the car and Mr. Riley tried to
signal the train to stop, but was
unnoticed as it was dark. The
train was travelling about 30
miles an hour and the car was
completely wrecked.
(Zurich Herald)
Avoids Electrocution
What might have resulted in
electrocution was fortunately
avoided yesterday morning when
a representative of a Toronto
firm was removing a drag line
Shovel with boom from the Mit
chell Lions lot located > south of
Main St. bridge here, following
its purchase from R. Nicholson
and Sons, of Monkton.
The driver mounted the shovel
and was driving off the lot ohto
No. 23 Highway towards Gra
ham’s service station. While go
ing over a snowbank the machine
suddenly dropped to the pave
ment, causing thei boom to fly up
and strike high voltage lines on
Blanchard St., thereby causing
hydro interruption to four resi
dents of the West Ward.
This Was a minor ocourrenee
for them, as the PUO hurriedly
rectified the trouble, but sparks
flew from the machine and the
drive? was extremely fortunate
to escape electrocution, as the
entire % machine is mouiited on
steel (Mitchell Advocate)
• Weyburn, Sask. Review:
“We only delude ourselves if we
think that by giving away our
product to reduce a temporary
surplus we solve anything.”
• Brooks (Alta.) Bulletin:
"Now in effect are many ad
vanced pieces of legislation, in
cluding children’s allowances, old
age pensions, and so on. The Con
servatives would be well-advised
to accept such, saying at the
same time that sufficient pro
gress has been made in that di
rection and there should be a
pause to enable the taxpayers to
catch their breath. They could
encourage a return to older and
proven precepts of hard work,
thrift and personal efforts under
freedom.
• Trepton (Ont.) Courier Ad
vocate: “The deep sense of re
ligion which has been evident
here throughout the growth of
the town has been largely re
sponsible for the continued de
velopment of Trenton. A town
populated by men and women
who are mindful of God is a
happy town and a town in which
it is pleasant to live.”
• Taber (Alta.) Times: Going
outyon a limb, and we mean a
long way out, Mr. Blackmore
stated Monday night that most
United States and Canadian news
papers are under the control of
communist influences. Such a
1 statement is in direct, opposition
to the Social Credit’s party’s ac
cusation of a few years ago, when
the party contended that the
newspapers, as a whole, were un
der Capitalistic influences.”
•■ White Rock, B.C. Sun: “In
these days when the heavy fin
ancial burdens of municipal gov
ernment and education for our
rapidly .growing communities
press us down, it may be well to
look on the brighter side. Canada
is growing up and we pay the
price for that growth as all pro
gress has to be paid for.”
e Lunenburg, N.S. Progress:
“The American judge who advo
cates a return to the technique
of the woodshed, which the older
element in any community can
recall so vividly, may have some
thing. Since most of the" wood
sheds have gone with "the van
ishing American”, the cellar will
<fo just as good providing father
has elbow room.”
• Who are and what do they
look like, these Capitalists, asks
the Canadian Statesman of Bow-
manville, Ont. “They are the
bricklayers, the toolmakers, the
farmers, the dairymen, the little
merchants, the men down the
street. They are the millions of
Canadians who sell their ser
vices and put their savings to
work. They are. just about all of
us.”
JASPER By Simpkins
