The Rural Voice, 1989-04, Page 32AGRICULTURAL
EMPLOYMENT
SERVICES*
• Formerly Canada Farm Labour Pool
NEW NAME — SAME RELIABLE SERVICE
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assistance to the agricultural
industry
Recruit workers for agricultural
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Assist worker orientation and
transportation
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Provide information about
government employment
programs
OWEN SOUND WALKERTON
371-9522 881-3671
Big
Bear
SERVICES
INC.
WET BREWERS GRAIN
or
WET CORN DISTILLERS
can help your feeding program by:
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• an excellent rumen stimulant
• available in full and split load lots
now
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HOMINY
in good
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BIG BEAR
SERVICES INC.
FEED DIVISION
50 Westmount Rd.,
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2R5
(519) 886-4400
30 THE RURAL VOICE
Voice from
the Past
It's often been said: "The more thing's change, the more they
stay the same." But farm life has certainly undergone dramatic
and irreversible changes. Writer Wayne Kelly provides evi-
dence for both views: one, the changes in farming and rural life
have been so thorough that the past seems quaint; two,
"modern" problems really aren't so modern after all. Either
way, the "voices from the past" haven't lost their relevance.
T
he editorial page of The
Farmer's Advocate and
Home Magazine often
provided farmers with an outlet for
venting rural complaints. The
following letter from 83 years ago
could almost be sent today. Rural
mail delivery is still at issue.
And when the price of mailing a
letter today has reached 38 cents, it
is interesting to note that one rural
postmaster used to make a seven -mile,
half-day trip for which he received a
staggering sum: 38 cents!
20TH -CENTURY POSTAL SERVICE IN HURON!
To the Editor:
For 45 years we have had a
regular and well-conducted mail
service to Marnock from Belgrave;
distance, 3 1/2 miles. The mail
leaves Mamock about two o'clock,
and returns usually about five
or half -past five in the evening,
losing the greater portion of the
afternoon, and for which the mail
carrier has received the sum of 38
cents and a fraction per trip.
During all those years the mail
carrier and postmaster have been
the same person. Now, owing to
old age and infirmities, he cannot
carry this mail any longer. He
cannot engage anyone to carry it
for any such remuneration and, as
a consequence, has sent in his res-
ignation, which has been accepted
by the Post Office Department
which, in accepting it, asked him
to send in the office equipment
after the 31st of December, 1906.
In other words, the office is
closed. The Post Office Depart-
ment did not ask for tenders for
carrying the mail or keeping the
office open. The patrons of the
office are from 2 1/2 to 6 miles
from any other office. It is going
to be a serious inconvenience to us
to get our mail, compelling us to
reduce our newspapers and cor-
respondence to a minimum. A
magazine will be at a premium,
and a daily newspaper an unheard-
of luxury. A return to some of the
hardships of pioneer life.
A promise was give some time
ago, in answer to the agitation for a
rural mail delivery, that the Post
Office Department could not
afford the cost, but would increase
the number of outlying offices to
facilitate the delivery of mail, and
this, I suppose, is the fulfillment of
that promise.
I do not know what the inten-
tions of the Post Office authorities
are in regard to this matter, but a
large number of patrons of this
office consider it an outrage the
way we have been treated.0
J. W. Bone
Huron County