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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1966-06-09, Page 9A Centennial Poem Dear Canada, I love you, You are a hundred years of age, should like to write yourhls- tory If I were but a sage, Alas, I'm but a common man, Still I like to brag That I was born In Canada Beneath the British flag. Your boundaries are so very vast There is wealth beneath your hills, The pioneers who founded you Were men of iron wills, Your rivers and your forests Were explored by Indians rare, Before the pale faced white man Ever entered there. Oh Canada, the utopia, You are famed for power and You are the outstanding colony Within the Commonwealth. When Champlain first discovera ed you At great sacrifice and loss, He planted firm on your fair shore The fleur-de-lis and cross. -- R. Henry Leishman ,./AffifrOSX5114fe, LETTERS " EDITOR Fjez / 0/7/10ANZ &&,`'S Dear Editor: As a student in Wingham District High School for the past five years, I found the last three of them considerably brightened by your page in the paper. At last I found out what was going on up on the hill. From talking to several other senior students and their par- ents, I have found that all of them appreciate, and look for- ward to the page on school news that you run each week. In connection with your re- JUNE 1917 A pretty lune wedding grac- ed the home of Mr. John Mc- Burney, 6th Con, of Turnberry on Wednesday, June 13th, when his second youngest daughter, Miss Charlotte I. became the wife of Mr. Bertram Martin of Wingham. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Malcolm of Wroxeter. Deepest sympathy is extend- ed to Mr. and Mrs, Alex For- sythe, who on Monday received the sad intelligence that their son, Ross, had died of wounds received about six weeks ago. Winghamires will be glad to learn that the Government will put Mrs. E. Aitcheson, on the pension list. She will receive $280 a year as long as she re- mains a widow. Mrs. Aitche- son has suffered a heavy loss in the death of two brave sons who sacrificed their lives for their country. Mr. Wm. Tomkins who re- cently moved his household ef- fects to London has returned to town and will work in the Wes- tern Foundry again. JUNE 1931 At a regular meeting of Wingham Lodge 286 A.F.&. A.M., held in the Masonic Hall, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: W., M., W. H. Phair; S. W., J. McMichael; J.W., G. D. Fowler; Chap. , A. J. Wal- ker; Treas., J. W. McKibbon; Secretary, G. L. Baker; S.D. , T. A. Currie: J. D., W. T. Booth; 1.G., A. W. Irwin; Ty- ler, W, J. Elliott. On Friday morning James McInnes' fine brick cottage on the 6th concession Culross, near Teeswater, was destroyed by fire. Mrs. T. A. MacLean, Miss MacLean, Miss Sara MacLean of Wingham, and Miss Dinsley of Detroit, were guests at the Royal York Hotel last week and attended the graduation of Miss Agnes Frances MacLean which took place at the Wellesley Hospital on Friday, June 5. quest for a photographer and co-ordinator, I would like to recommend these jobs to future grade 12 students. Roth Dave and Brock told me that the job is not too difficult and it is sur- prising the number of people who will contribute if only you ask, For anyone who thinks that there will be no reward for such a job, just look at the school columnist, Elwin Moore. This job gave him some ex- perience and that year he won the London Free Press Scholar- ship. Thank you again for the boss page. Darryl Gibson, XIII -2 JUNE 1941 The engagement is announc- ed of Janet Annie, eldest daughter of Mr, Adam Robert- son and the late Mrs. Robertson, East Wawanosh, to John Dawson Craig, only son of Mr. and Mrs, John Craig, Whitechurch, and of his youngest daughter, Mary Margaret, Reg. N., to William James Peacock, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. James Peacock, Bluevale, The marriages to take place quietly in June. At the Wingham Public School board meeting on Tues- day evening it was decided to offer the principalship to Mr. Goldie Wheeler who has been on the staff for two years. It is our great pleasure to ex- tend congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. John Galbraith of town on the celebration of their golden wedding anniversary. They were married June 10th, 1891, in Wingham, by the Rev. John Scott, the Methodist minister. Mrs. John Weir attended the graduation of her daughter, Edith, who received the degree of B. H. Sc. from Toronto University on June 5. Bob and Elizabeth also attended the graduation. JUNE 1952 Leslie Mae Wall received word last week that she had been awarded the Lilian Mas- sey Treble Gold Medal in household economics, from the Senate of Victoria University. This medal was presented to her at a reception in Victoria College, held on Thursday eve- ning, June 5th, Those who attended the graduation of Miss Vivian Er- nest at St. Mary's Hospital, Kitchener on Thursday were: Rev. Ft, Durand of Wingham and his niece, Miss Lenore liartlieb of Kitchener; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ernest and son, Gratin Mr. and Mrs. Chris. Newman, Miss Margaret Brophy, Mrs. Norm Johnson, all of Wingham; Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Thompson and Clayton of Teeswater and Mrs. Fred Riehl of Kitchener. John Hanna, MPP, Ieft Tor- onto on Monday, to attend the opening ceremony of the Otto Holden generating station on the Ottawa River on June 10, We were sitting around bick- ering after church the other day. My daughter had a bad cold, and was generally owly. She didn't think much of God. "How can God let so many people in the world be starv- ing?", she wanted to know. Well, it's a fair question. Her mother and I tried to ex- plain that it was not God's doing, but man's, We said it was man's greed, insecurity and fear that made us live like kings (far better than medieval kings, in fact), while hundreds of mil- lions of peOple in the world, our brothers, starved and died of ill- ness unnecessarily. She wasn't buying any. "It all sounds pretty foggy to me," she grumped, "I don't think much of God, if that's the way He runs things." I asked her what she'd do about the situation. Like all kids, she didn't know, except to repeat that it was all wrong. Well, you can't have a 15-year- old sitting around running down God; so, like all fathers since the cave-days, I tried to come up with an answer. First, I explained that the government did a great deal to help less fortunate countries, with our taxes. When she cor- nered me on details I had to admit that it was a drop in the bucket with a lot of strings at- tached try that metaphor on for size). I further admitted that government could not do much more without creating a hue and cry among the taxpayers. In desperation, I looked around for someone else to Family Reunion At Farm Home WHITECHURCH—On Sunday a Crowston family picnic was held at the farm home at Lang- side before the keys are given to the new owner on July 1st, Present for the occasion were Mr. and Mrs. John Crowston of Lucknow and their family, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Crowston, Debbie and Dale of Chatham; Mr. and Mrs. Clayton (Lois) Alton and Anne of Ash field; Mr. and Mrs. Orland (Myrtle) Irwin, Stephen, Faye and Donald of Lucknow; Mr. and Mrs. Ivan (Cecelia) Laidlaw and Janet, Mr. and Mrs. Marlow Crowston and family of Kincardine were absent. Other relatives present were Mr. and Mrs. Bill Kennedy, Wingham; Mr. and Mrs. Bill Emmerton, Kincardine; Mr.and Mrs. Ward Walker, Jim, Sand- ra, Paul, David and Anne. All enjoyed the day, ramb- ling around the favorite haunts of their childhood and visiting with each other. A picnic luncheon brought to a close a day long to be remembered by all. blame. "The churches should take the lead, and start a nation wide campaign to help feed the hungry." My wife reminded me that we give a buck a week to missions, "Yes, and all these piddling church missions add up to a spit in the ocean," says I. "So what would you do, Mr. Smart Alex?" says she. "So I can probably think of something, Mrs. Wise Guy," says I. And I did. The result is Na- tional Tighten-Your-Belt Week. It's very simple. For one week a year, every Canadian family willing to help will live on a bare subsistence allowance, The difference between that and the normal cost of living goes into the pot. Every cent of this pot goes to buy food, clothing, con- traceptive pills and other neces- sities for the vast, poor, down- trodden masses of the world. It's hard to believe that this world-shaking concept took seed and blossomed right there in our living-room. But it did. Swiftly we did some figuring. It was rough, but close enough. The average family spends from $20 to $30 a week on food. One week a year we exist on $5 per family. It could be done, you know. Lots of rice, macaro- ni, porridge, bread, home-made soup. Water instead of coffee, tea, milk, beer. The same week we walk everywhere and save $3 on gas, We turn off the furnace and learn what it's like to be cold. We clean our teeth with salt. We avoid shaving and hair spray and deodorants and drugs and cigarets. We wear nylons with runs. We turn off the hy- dro, except for cooking, and use candles. The average family could kick about $30 into the kitty. Take a town of 10,000 population. Let's say a minimum of 1,000 families. That's $30,000, That will pay for a lot of wheat, penicillin, and birth-control pills. Multiply this modest token by all the families in Canada, and you could jack up India in about two years. I know, I know. Yuu's'* al- ready picked 84 holes ,- the plan. All the superniarkets would go broke if they lost a week's business. Well, there's no reason they couldn't tighten their belts, too, for a week. All the fruit and vegetables and meat would rot. Not if the producers knew such a week was coming, and planned for it. The provincial government would collapse, if it lost a week's taxes on booze and beer. I doubt it. A few miles of high- way might not be built. So what? Seriously, I think it would he fun. Many people would take part because it is something concrete, rather than a vague thing like foreign aid or mis- sions. And there'd be beneficial side effects. Slimmer waistlines. A new slant on our good life. And I can guarantee that, after three days of Macaroni, the squirrels in out attic would never be a problem again. They'd be stew. Reminiscing PUPILS AT U.S,S. 16, East and West Wa- wanosh in 1914, when Dave McClinchy, now deceased, was teacher, Back row: Lillian Anderson, Ada Johnston, May Snell (deceased), Aggie Johnston, Clarence Johnston, Wilmer Nicholson. Second row: Rae Andrew (deceased), Pearl Taylor, Everett Taylor, Eugene Dobie, Torn An- derson, Albert Nicholson, Charlie Scott, Charlie Flynn. Front: Jean Dobie, Anna Dobie, Dorothy and Oliver Anderson. The photo belongs to Charlie Scott. SUGAR AND - SPICE by Bill Smiley One Week Of Sacrifice If anyone has doubts about Wing- ham's rate of growth he has but to re- view the decisions which have been made by our public bodies within the past few months, The latest, of course, is approv- al of a $2 million plan for enlargement of the high school facilities. The need for increased space at the district school was brought into focus by the decision to close the Lucknow Dis- trict High School and amalgamate with the Wingham district school. A planned expansion to take care of something over 1200 students had to be revised and now calls for facilities to look after the edu- cation of over 1400. At the same time work has already started on a re-building program at the public school which will approach the half-million dollar mark. The hospital is undergoing the final phases of a building and renovation scheme which will reach close to one million, And all this on the heels of other improvement programs in the past ten years to schools, hospital, streets and sewers which would total sev- eral million dollars, It is true that the rate of growth, cal- culated in terms of personal income, has We would like to pay our respects to the foresight and ambition of a Wingham couple who have spent countless hours and a great deal of energy in recent months on a project which narrowly fail- ed to materialize. Some time ago Mr. and Mrs. Roger West read about the tentative plans which had been announced by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to sponsor a centennial hockey tournament in 1967. Since the location had not been finally decided, Mr. and Mrs. West, who have devoted the best years of their lives to minor hockey and the kids who play it, decided to secure the tournament for Wingham, They spent endless time preparing In all the long history of mankind no single factor had had more importance than the economic and social balances be- tween rural and urban life. As far back as the civilizations of Babylon and ancient Greece the state of the nation was often profoundly influenced by the status of the people who tilled the soil, or more par- ticularly, the forces which tended to make them abandon their tillage for life in the cities. The same sort of revolution has been taking place in North America for the past 50 years and the period since the Second World War has accentuated the problems. A scant 25 years ago 60% of Canada's population derived its living from the soil, Today that figure has shrunk to something much closer to 10 percent. In the light of these far-reaching de- velopments Agriculture Minister Stewart's announcement in the Legislature recently is of intense interest. Mr. Stewart un- veiled a plan whereby the federal and provincial authorities will jointly assume financial responsibility for correcting some of the basic shortcomings in agri- culture, The plan recognizes the fact that many Ontario farms are too small to be profitable in an age of high priced help and equipment. It proposes to permit ARDA (Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development) to purchase uneconomic farm units as they come on the market and later to lease them to nearby farm operators. Thus it is hoped that farm operations will be so enlarged as to re- move a large percentage of the unecono- mic holdings permanently. There will be no compulsion. No one not been nearly as spectacular in the north Huron area as it has, for instance, in the Kitchener -Waterloo complex, but on the whole we have a right to be proud of what has already been done here, The basis of our general economy in Huron County is still agriculture, and in this field we need take a back seat to no other locality in Canada. Founded on a broad base of general farming, with live- stock as the specialized product, our economy has a stability which does not fluctuate a great deal from year to year. The urban centres in this rich section re- flect the slower, but solid growth of the farming community. Without question our own economy and that of the province generally would be in better health if even a small part of the industrial development of the large cities were spread out in the smaller centres. However, until such time as more industries learn the very real bene- fits of semi-rural locations, we are build- ing up in our town those basic and neces- sary facilities without which no indus- trialist would dream of selecting a West- ern Ontario town for a manufacturing site, their brief, pointing out all the valid reasons why the big event should be held here—and we have learned that it was certainly one of the best briefs reviewed by the authorities. Disappointingly, the decision was fi- nally made to hold the centennial tourna- ment in Kingston, a large centre and the repository of a great deal of hockey his- tory. Mr, and Mrs. West realized what a tremendous thing it would be for the community to play host to teams from all of the provinces and so become a nation- al centre of attention. They are to be commended for the effort they put for- ward on behalf of their town. will be forced to sell, nor will expropri- ation proceedings be employed. In ad- dition, the income or potential earning capacity of the vendors of such small holdings will be studied and the govern- ments will step in to provide financial assistance where necessary. The basics of the plan were developed following a study of the poorer farming areas in Eastern Ontario. Just how much effect there will be in a higher level agri- cultural area such as Huron remains to be seen. It may, indeed, be 20 years before any very marked change in farm economics generally is evident, but un- questionably the plan is conceived as a thoughtful and practical means of circum- venting the tragic processes which will see many Ontario farmers penniless if nature takes its course. Such major readjustments are always painful to those who are directly involved. No doubt the man who has sweated out his best years in an effort to make some- thing of an unproductive 100 acres will be just as unhappy to give it up as the farmer in the next township who has been making $10,000 a year — perhaps more so. Nevertheless, such tremendous changes are taking place at such a fast pace that some redistribution of popu- lation and working forces is inevitable. Thank goodness, our planners are much better informed today than they were in the heyday of the Greeks. We need not be trapped by the same recurring cycles which have plagued all civilizations from the beginning of time. In strict truth we are doing something about our own destiny. Let's hope it works. 4, 4 • 1 A Growing Community Salute to A Good Try Toward Farm Prosperity THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert O. 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