HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Signal, 1912-1-4, Page 2s TunneDae, JaDIMAST 4, Witt
THE SIGNAL ( :(1DERICH ONTARIO
it3nal
OULEkt+:b TAtUO.
PUBLISHED BVIERY THUR8DAY
tor
TBC PIIUNACO.. Limited
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arn iwb b matei
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ad oeisaoelltsis tact at r earls • 4a •s
tbs and iwi tow addressat hoed is
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psi Has for drassaesr aced b aa
torr
mob nonpareil e. twelve lines by •
es to tack.
Bualau0 cards of six not nod under. 116 e•
year.
Advwderm•ste at Lab, Frond, Shaped, bas-
a.tla.s Yawl. Situations Wooled. Howies tar
dais or to Heat. Farms for Buis or to Rah -t,
Arti isr fro Baas. me.. sot •zo••dioswork Sis sash etabhitt
tit an* sebosquWads*rtm $1 la ar Int dvertise
coats Is euseartiou-
Asseses m.ot. la o.dlnary'sealing type tea
cents par Hasa No notice Iris than fishs
nay ootycs, t.widthof wla the
,BM oW
t id any ladivtdual or asrd-
�e>d aeoesdt $i. so advertisement and
Rates tar dl,pdy and contract advertise -
mead will bo gig oo &mikados.
Address W osss.atalc tuns to
TBE BIONA L PRINTINU CO., Limited
Ooderica On.
O )D011LH. TSUMUAT. JAN. 1. t1t2
THE POWER QUESTION.
The powet bylaws outwitted in the
oouutie. of Huron, Bruce and Grey on
Moodey last were carried in et•c'ry in-
stance. The small number of contrary
ballots polled in nearly ever}" instance
may be taken as an indication that the
electors were told, as they were in
Goderich, that the vote would have no
signiflc•nce except as showing the de-
sire of the people for cheap power.
The tontiary" vote in Goderich was
comparatively large, owing. no doubt.,
to the discovery al "the eleventh
hour' that a favorable vote would
throw the making of a contract into
the bands of the town council. If the
discovery had been made earlier, giv-
ing the people an opportunity to have
the whole matter thoroughly die-
cusee•d. either th • byl.w might have
been defeated or the Hydro -electric
Commission forced to give a guarantee
that nothing binding should be done
without a vote of the ratepayers. As it
is. The Signers article last week bas
draivn public attention sharply- to the
condition of the law in the matter,and
any further steps towards the making
of a binding contract will be more
carefully watched.
The Signal was absolutely correct in
it. statement last week of the legal
aspact of the matter. It has secured
a written opinion front a lawyer wbo
has an intimate acquaintance witb the
development of the law relating to the
Ontario hydro -electric power project.
He writes as follows:
I have read your article 'in The
Signal. It is entirely borne out by the
section you quote from the Statutes of
liN.9. the matter is perhaps made
nacre clear, how Iver, by reviewing the
legislat' ;acceding this. The first
of this legislation is found in 1908,
chap. 15. That was the Act constitut-
ing the Hydro -electric Power Com-
mission of Ontario. and under section
_ ZQCtbat Act provision was made for
the council submitting to the electors
a byla+rauthori*iog a contract with
the Commission Arran HAVING RIMS
Ft-RNIRHED HY THE CO IKIRRION WITH
PLANS AND g$TIMAT1J1 AND A FORM OF
THE 1'ROPORED ormane(T. it is not
necessary to trouble further with this
Act. as it Wits repealed in the follow-
ing year. 1907 Chapter 19 of that
year, called the Power Commission
Act, is now the main Act, and this
Act of 19117 provided for an applica-
tion by a municipality to the Commis-
sion for the supply of electric power
and for the furnishing by the Com-
mission of a statement of the uaxi-
mum p1 ice for power, an estimate of
e be cost of transmission line, plane,
specifications, etc., and went on to
provide that the council might there•
upon enter intoa PROYIHIONALcOnt tact
with the I;ommission. The next.
section 13 provides that 111P pro-
visional contract shall not he binding
upon the corporation unless .and until
u bylaw approving the same hes been
submitted' to and has received the
eastern of the *lectors. This section
further provides that the estimates
and a copy of the provisional contract
are to be p1Mish•d with the bylaw and
form part of it.
You will see. therefore, that as the
law stood at this time the electors
must approve of • concrete and defin-
ite proposition. They must have the
proposed contract submitted to them
before the municipality could be
bound.
it is necemary to depart a little
from the history of the legislation and
to see what had been going on in the
way of working out the scheme with
the muulcipaliUse, in order to ;imp-
eril understand the change made in
1910. The Commission found that
there was more or hems nppositit,n in
• -:G*f many municipalities to the somewhat
-.+ indefinite terms of tbe eontr.et sub.
pal
mmimed to the rnuniciities. Galt
pr
'shape 1s a t ypical tare. There a by-
law aw had been submitted the to electors
approving of a contract filling as a
it was di1ereot in its terms from :he
bylaw that had been 'submitted some
time peeviousl . Th. bylaw. you will
see. had a fixed mealtimes price, while
the contract had only as estimated
maximum price. An applicatloo was m
made its Toronto for • mandamus to
twrnp•l the Mayoe to sign the bylaw
and the cootract In pursuuuoe of it,
m
but no the arguent of thea ica-
tlon Mr. Justice Anglin upheldthe
Mayor in hie position and refused togrant any mandamus,
that the bylaw aadcontract were ground
the power of the council without
the assent of the ratepayers The de-
cision in this case is quite a leogtby
one and goes into the history of the
legislation at some length. and if an -
one want* to see it it can be foued is
volume 17 of the Ontario Luw Re-
ports, at page 870.
Then came the Act of 191* chapter
19. You will see that by that Act
Gait is conclusively deemed to twee
executed the contract, notwithstand-
ing the fact that it had never exe-
cuted it, and notwitbstanding the
further fact that the ratepayers had
never approved of it. My own idea is
that section 11, which is tbe section
you lutes quoted, was panted for the
purpose of avoiding future complica-
tion+ of this kind with any mayors or
other municipal officers wbo might be a
little particular about entering into
contracts without the necessary san..-
t' of the ratepayers as required by
law 1 believe that in other places
where the municipal officers had been
somewbt.t more easy-going than the
Mayor of Galt and had actually signed
the contracts—although they were
just as illegal as in the caseof (ialt—
some ratepayers bad taken proceed-
ings to rescind the proceedingaot the
council. in order to bead this off.
r
section 8 of this Act was paed,
which forever stayed ell these actions.
Thera can be no question that in the
case of a number of municipalities,
therefore, the Legislature took it upon
itself to hind these municipalities to a
contract of which the ratepayers had
never cu.' cured their approval.
as
Tbere wanother most extraordin-
ary feature of this legislation in 19119 :
that by section 2 the Legislatuts under-
took to vary the terrns of the contract.
The Power Commission is. and always
bas been, practically the Government.
so that we really have here one party
to the contract assuming to alter its
term.; so that even in cases where the
ratepayers bad approved of the con-
tract the Legislature undertook to
alter it without asking the ratepayers'permission.
n.1910 another Act was passed,p
pier 11 making ecefurther alter -
at iiiiibnnnnnus in the terms of the contract,
also without asking the consent of the
wunicipalities interested en it.
Before passing over the Act of 1909,
however, it would be as well to call
your attention to the provisions of
clause 13 of the coptract, which appears
on page 00 of the Statutes. You will see
that clause A hinds a corporation en-
tering into an agreement with the
Commission to take electric power ex-
clusively front the Commission, sub-
ject to a provieioe contained in an
earlier clause providing for some
exceptional circumstances. Thin
would hamper the town of Goderich
in csee either the countyor some
private parties should undertake the
development of the Maitland River
power, after you had made a contract
with the Commission.
The position in brief is that the
Commies bas hedged itself in by
every possible means so that it can do
almost wtiat it. like., and from time to
time as they have found that tbey
would like to have further powers. the
Legislature seems to have no hesita-
tion whatever in granting sueh powers
as are desired, even when to do so
altena the contract between the muni-
cipalities and the C ommiwian. While
it. would be going too far to ray that
either the Commission or the Legisla-
ture has assumed to do things that the
electors have in any cane pronounced
against. yet the tendency has been
distinctly in the way of taking matters
out of the bands bf the electors and
giving them no voice. And when the
ratepayers. being deprived of the right
to express themselves through their
votes. seek to make themselves heard tbe courts, legislation has
been passed to head thein off.
This revels a vastly different state
of affairs from what the, people of
Goderirh were led to believe. To put
it shortly, the favorable vote on Mon-
day has taken the whole thing out o -
the hands of the" ratepayers, unless
the town council voluntarily submits
the question at a later stage. The
town council and the Power Commis,-
sion between them can make a con-
tract for Niagara power and throw
the Maitland River scheme overboard.
We do not for a moment suppoae that
they will do so ; but if the ratepayers
had understood that they were being
asked to give such powers to the coun-
cil the vote would have been vastly
different.
THE HOSPITAL BYLAW.
The Signal feels that the failure of
the ratepayers to pass the hospital
bylaw was a mistake, No doubt the
prospect of a further addition to the
debenture debt of the municipality.
with its accompaniment of an addition,
holt ever slight, to the tax bill,
influenced many votes ;but, unionthe
ratepayers wish to - withdraw ti
altogether their support of * bos-
pitel. the truest ecnnoasy w ,mild have
been to adopt the proposal which was
plated tietoe, them on Monday. Any
money spent in improving or enlarg-
ing the present hospital building on
of the problem of securing a good(
site and a modern hospital building etc 1
• moderate coot. As was explained,
the proposal was to leave the Is of
the Cameron re.idenoe 'Kandla They
are reported to be in good condition
sod to be of such construction as
to be readily adaptable for b epital
purposes. The whole interior was to
be torn out and the new interior was
to crake a modern. commodious hos-
pital. The total soot of carrying out
this scheme would be considerably
lest. than that of building from the
ground up, and yet it would provide
an entirely satisfactory building prac-
tically as good as new.
it is to be hoped that the project
will not be abandoned, but that the
ratepayers will be given anotheroppor-
tunity of expressing themselves upon
it. Perhaps sufficient pains were not
taken to acquaint the ratepayers with
the good points of the proposal. A
convenient occasion for the taking of
another vote may present Itself within
the next few the, and when the
bylaw is again vubmitted the hospital
board should take the voters fully into
their confidence and give no voter an
opportunity to say that the project
was not thoroughly explained.
THE TAX ON LAND VALUES.
One or two expressions in Mr. Lock -
hart's letter on the assessment ques-
tion published in lest week's Signal
leave us io doubt as to whether he
has not made the same mistake that
man+ "them have made in connection
with . i a land tax proposal. "The pro-
posal . 'o tax land values, not iand
accoruiug to itm area. "The poorer
man's quarter -acre away floto tbe
centre of the town" would be assessed'
at a lower valuation not because it is
owned by a poorer man but because
the land is actually lower in value. it
is the presence of the community that
gives land its relative value. A va-
cant lot near the Square in Goderich
is worth much more than a, lot of the
some size half -a -mile from the Squar-
It has acquired its value from the ac-
tivities of people who have built on
adjoining or neighboring lots and
who have made the vicinity of the
Square the business centre of the
town. The communise mattes the
value: the community should receive
a return in the way of taxes. Nut so
with a store building, a house, or other
improvement. The owner of the
store or house has provided these with
his own labor or his own money. He
owes the community nothing ; why
should be be taxed?
This question cannot he seen in .its
lane heating unless one .goes farther
hick and examines at their very
foundation the conditions that make
wealth and poverty. One bears of a
man worth. fay. ten million dollars.
Where and what is the Dian's wealth
it is not cash in the bank ; it is nit
houses; or shine, of anything else that
has 'an immediate east value. It
may he land, the ownership sof which
give's him power to take toll. in the
way of annual rentals, from people
who roust have land to live upon and
who are so unfortunate as not to own
any. It May be railway stocks, by
the manipulation Of which be secures
the privilege of putting in his pocket
the surplus receipts of the railway—
that is, thesdifference between 11e
amount of money paid by the patrons
of the road and the cost of the sem vice
which they receive. It may be stocks
or bond. of other semi-monnpnlistie
concerns—at any rate. it is nothing
tangible; it is simply the power of
collecting year ht- year ,for his ono
enrichment a porti of the earnings
of other people. And as these things
tend to aecrlmul:ate the rich become
richer, while the poor man who is
unable to levy on anybody else pays
over s gradually increasing share of
his earning+ to swell the vast total
into eat, dividends, rents, etc. This
is why incalculable wealth exists
alongside abject poverty. This is
why, despite the main- labor-saving
devices of the last century. people
have to work almost as hard as their
fathers did in order to make a living.
This is not anarchistic claptrap ; it is
ordinary common sense going G. the
rhea of things.
The greatest monopoly of all is the
monopoly in land. As The Signal
remarked in a previous article, the
curse of the land monopoly is not
realized yet in chi.. country where
there is yet land unoceupied ; but now
is the time to establisb a system that
will Mad away frons, not towards,
monopoly in land. The tax on land
values teod* to prevent the accumula-
tion of large estates in land. It is a
recognition of the ptineiple that a
man has ■ tight to owe amid keep
what he himsselfcreates, but that be
has no right to own and keep wealth
1gaximun. price $22 per horsepower. Scutt "test ie practically wasted• which is created by the rommunity.
....Afterward.,
at . QS town see ltieil d the The building can never he made per- instead of the land tax oppressing the
manently eatiafortnry and • uete r. nu� P^p it is e ..f the great ins* mi.
mrnls for the relief of weeds -
• bylaw ant♦edeleg • rostrata with
the Commission Maeiing the nsneici.
panty to pay the eat of power. what-
ever it rrigbt Fre. Tbe eon, part erre-
kilned a stat•..t Out' it was "esti-
n eated' the amid he $22 pee
horsepower, the viewer teems of
the contract MON bosed the muniei-
panty to -pay the awseent of the amt,
without Malting it to that figure.
Mayor Pall of Balt refused to
sign the eon elelmislg that the
eeueel W ee ty cs par its lie
for the perp see of a bospitah. The
sonar's, then, that • gibe and a buliding
providing Capper ateououodatiOn are
seemed. the *Ismer w 11 the motley
,poet upon Use hospital he responded
to gond par pose, lo► ieerroe nent
result*.
The propn.itim' for 1t'.- prat-rhaoe
of the old Cameron pmp'rty appeared
t) be • particularly favorable solution
EDITORIAL NOTES
Write it 1911
The day. are beginniug to lengtbeo.
That three-fifths obtuse is a gr. -a
thing ---fur the Berner -hoiden.
We didn't defeat the bydro-electr c
Lylaw, cwt we gave it quite a erure.
The hospital trusters will please not
take Monday's vote to mean that the
ratepayers want them to speed more
money on the present hospital build-
ing.
EPITAPHS.
O. a Purr
Here lies a singer who was dead
Balers his sags were kuo moo.
What it be rant le vain for bread
otmsrvs this handsome atone'
Orr a OOtraa
Admitted and chewed by countless folk
As on tali Green be .trulted
wa-i said he cwt. er mis.ed • stroke.
But now, alae : be'. putted.
Os' AS ICOITUa
If manuscripts could reach hint now.
Poor soul. be'd not rvturu ,m ;
He'd merely wipe his heated brow
And . . . burn 'em.
—J. J. Bell In January Lippincott..
A prominent member of the Board
of Trade, Toronto, writes to Grand
Trunk Ry. System as follows : "The
members of the board that took ad•
vantage of the dining car on your rail-
way on their return from Guelph last
evening were delighted with the ac-
cnwinodation and service given on the
car, and we were sorry that our
party did not include more members
to take advantage of the splendid ser-
vice we all enjoyed."
SUNSHINE
Scott's E[mils ionn
are the
Two Great tors
of Energy
Energy MOMS power--
power to lsvork, to that.
as throw keep
of disease.
and
Get all the sunshine
you can. and take
Scott's Emulsioo
regularly. It will give
you abeagth. Amok and
da awe Ile a.t SO77-5-
Jt't the f --'--i amid mime
the hast
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Edison Standard Rerorala. 40e. Edison
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1 JAMES F. THOMSON'S MUSIC STORE
New Test bras`
l a lens Jeer.at
The custom of paying calla os
friends New V•ear'. I)y i. a Aro 611
ane, and it. i. a pity it has rather
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ter advantage.
W. AOMgeo
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11
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Cleari `• Sale
of Furs, Fur Coats, Ladies' Jade", Linens,
Carpets, Rugs.
Women's Longs feasts Of Beaver Clothe and fancy Tweed,bearti-
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Ladies' Astrachan Lelleb Fur l'o,e ta, $26 to $40, on sale $15 to $27 -
Mink, Sable Mal OPeallies Stolels, Scarfs and Throws, Caper -
inns. regular 57, 511. ard111. or $5.110.
Men's Alaska Beaver Mats 518.00.
Men's Black Dog Coate wit►"Aai rachan Lamb Dollar $91.0.00.
Mew's Black Galloway Calf ('oats with Astrachan collar 5'd8 W.
Men's Fur -lined Cutts with Otter collar $35.00.
Linens.
Double Satin Damask, 72 in. wide, Table Lien its Holly. Dot.
Ribbon, Rose or Sbaui'vrk patterns, $1.15, for 51.00.
110 Cloths warranted all pure linen, size2 z 24 yards, in a vari-
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Carpets and Carpet Ends.
Forty Tapeetrj l *emu Samples. It yards long, in beautiful
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Thirty Brussels Samples for Rugs, quality up to 51.96 per yard.
In 14 yard ends, your choice each 90e.
Rugs.
English Axmin-ter Ramp, standees, very heavy and great for
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Velvet, 3 x 3 yards. for $15A0.
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e
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