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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-07-03, Page 12►Pf'ifPH 410_,N.f% *STA , TUURSDA ', JULY 3,1969 Not so well done Following up on the editorial in the Signal -Stas last week (Well done, .June ±6), it has 'since been learned that a -" company that has been in Goderich for quite some time i.s moving out of town. Huron Railing is moving to larger premises at Sky. Harbour Airport — which• is located in Colborne Township. , There may have been attempts in the ° past to have a— building constructed at Industrial Park. If there were, they 'were • .,tutned down. Why? Who knows,, perhaps the people who make these negative decisions are more interested in what , taxes they pay now than what benefit the town Woald reap from new industry, ' It has been said there is no ' point building until a company has said it will come, but it should be obvious by now that industry prefers to locate in an existing building rather than construct • Now one or wait for one to be constructed. At least two companies have located elsewhere for that reason. This week we have two cases in point. . One company; fortunately, settled foxy.less space than it wanted and came to town. Another well-established company is, relocating because there isn't enough= room for it in Goderich. Major changes in Ontario's assessment laws and procedures were proposed in the Legislature recently by Municipal Affairs Minister Darcy McKeough. He introduced a new Assessment Act which he described as the most significant . revision in 65 years. In combination with the. transfer of assessment to. prow ince, wide administration next January, the chan9es are designed to create "the cornerstone of reform for our system and structures of local government." • These are •among the changes proposed: * Assessment of all properties in the province at market value by provincial assessors; . • * The creation of a new Assessment Review Court to consider appeals on assessment; * More time in whickproperty owners can question and check their; assessments, and improved procedures for appeal; * Assessment and taxation of smelters and concentrators. Technically these have been . exempt from local taxation in the past, amounting to several million dollars annually, although some companies have made payments in lieu of taxes. ' Changes in business assessment as the first step toward the development of a uniform system for business assessment and the elimination of the split mill rate. Mr. McKeough said the changes "are intended to simplify and to provide greater equity and fairness both .for municipalities and among taxpayers." Because of their. complexity, he was introducing the proposals now so that MPPs, municipalities and property owners mould have time to study.them before the Legislature gives their • detailed consideration' after the summer recess. ' Meetingsto discuss The Assessment Act and other aspects of municipal reform are being scheduled in various parts of the province this summer, to be attended by Mr. McKeough; Provincial Treasurer, Charles MacNaughton- and other cabinet ministers. The meetings were announced So one comes, one goes; the toVvn. is the loser. How many more companies will eventually relocate in the township or how many more companies will not locate in Goderich because -of. jaacic-- of accommodation, only time will tell. But if the town really wants to' gain industry — the right kind of industry — then something should be done to attract it. Make a nest.. and the birds will come to roost, bringing all the benefits with them. much? most of the' assessment functions previously handled by the ..Courts of Revision. -"It is our intention to retain Courts of• Revision only for certain focal appeal: purposes - other than assessment," including matters related to The Drainage Act and The Local Improvement Act , The Assessment Review, Court will sit in each of the 32 new assessment regions covering the province and the number of members will be determined by th volume of work to be handled. The chairman and vice-chairman will be members of the : bar of Ontario. "A further revision of benefit to appellants is the establishment of the clear right to the documents and information that are relevant to their case," he added. The revised Assessment Act contains two amendments that will have_particular significance in Northern Ontario and for the mining and smelt'ing`industry. Regarding • busi,ness 'assessment; Mr. McKeough said the Government is not prepared to introduce sweeping changes until more information is available. "The ultimate aim of the Government is to develop a system of business ;tax based on uniform - (assessment) rates. When . that is accomplished, it will be .possible to eliminate the split mill rate and thereby remove a tax- differential. which bears unfairly on business property and whose impact v„aries . among municipalities. "This is the first step of a long-range program to ,reform taxation which will probably take from five toseven years. The immediate aim of the _ present amendments is to rationalize the existing system by removing anomalies and anachronisms without disrupting local tax• bases unduly or imposing unwarranted burdens on particular groups of taxpayers.” 4 These proposed changes were released from, the office of the Department of Municipal Affairs this week. The changes, when- implemented; may - be of great • benefit to Goderich and the province as a by,Prime Minister John Robarts last week whole,- but the question that remains in to the Association of Ontario Mayors and one's mind is "How much?" Reeves. • We have seen what happened to the 'A number of revisions in The cost of education dnder the county .Assessment Act are concerned with the system. We all heard the outcry that went _.transfer of .assessment administration to up when the budgets were brought in • the province. across the province. Is, this going to "The new (provincial) administration happen with provincial assessment? We will be highly decentralized, with hope not. municipalities - being served by local This is';' no doubt, one of the necessary assessment per le in local offices. What it changes that will pave the way for means is that the province will pay the regional government, but where will this bills and shoulder the worries t of "regionalization end?" assessment and the municipalities will get baetterseri ice, Mr. McKeough said. _ Municipalities- are already concerned • •- The Mini' .er said assessment at market over the amount of governing the province is doing for municipalities and if value of SII propertiesis a basic the trend continues we•,no longer will be requirement of. assessment reform and the governed by people we know or who revisions are designed to establish a knows us and the needs of the town. practical basis for property valuation. We may not agree with the archaic Market value is defined as the amount attitude of members of Goderich town that real property might be expected to ' council, but we can at least vote them out realize if sold in the open market by a of office at the next election if we want willing seller to a_willing.buyer, ••.-.4,--to.-W-hat will we be able td do if we wind Mr. McKeough said the new up with no representation and are Assessment Review Court will_ assume governed from Toronto?r• R EST A 18 4SEDMgi (iru*gnia122nd'� nal-6tar ofYEA18r1iN � —p-- The County Town Newspaper of Huron ---D-- PUBLICATION Published at Goderich, Ontario every Thursday morning by - Signal -Star Publishing Limited ELDERLY COMPANIONS urgn History Corner... BEGINNINGS OF SETTLEMENT AT THE MENESETUNG RIVER OVER 100 YEARS AGO., By W. N. Johnston in The London Free Press o- ' • When we who have passed middle life and are rgow sliding down the hill towards the rich valleys of hope and beauty,.sit down to rest on the benches by the roadside and ruminate on the climbing to the • summit, we may. Well wish that many more had taken to heart the & old Scotchman's saying of„"Be aye writing a buik on. the days that are gone. 'Twill :bp music to those who come after." Surely that is what we can say of the book "In the Days of the • Canada Company.” But for it who . would know aught of the pioneers of the Huron Tract? This book preserves for us and will for, the.people of one hundred years hence the names and charicteristict of those pioneers. ' In writing of the county town of Huron,,,beaut'riful Goderich, we, are _happy to learn that the first white man to visit the site of the town was the great and chivalrous Samuel de Champlain, he who named the boundless Lake Huron, Mer Douce,meaning the:. Freshwater Sea, and in cruising around the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron spied the- opening in the forest where the Menesetung emptied into the lake, and who was so interested he- landed to explore. The first real settlers were Trader Gooding and Frank Deschamp, ,. a Frenchman, who had established a trading post and erected a log ° cabin near the water's edge. He had come.from the mouth of the Grand River on Lake Erie with a small vessel laden with supplies for the Indian trade: • Previousto this time, about 1826, Goderich was a calling place for the Jesuit missionaries and Hudson's Bay employees on their way to and from Detroit. In 1827 came Dr. Dunlop, Warden of the Forests, and his following of nearly thirty men, among whom were a number like himself, built in gigantic proportions and capable of performing feats of great strength and endurance. ' Among them were MacDonald, surveyor and draftsman, called Stout Mac, a Highlander; John Cameron; a Mohawk chief, Dogfish; and Indian. Louis Cadotte, and John Brant, a son of Tyendinaga, the Joseph Brant of history. Thelast two were such splendid -looking specimens of manhood that Major Strickland said he could well believe that when Benjamin West first saw the statue of Apollo Belvedere he said that it could best be compared to a Mohawk chief. ' When Dunlop built his house on top of the bank about 200 feet =� Wove thewaters edge, which was afterwards alwaysknown as "The Castle," it waa these men who carried the logs' to build it and laid • • Photo by Ron Price II t{IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII�IIIIIIIi1111IIIiII1111111111111111IIlIIIIIIIIII1111111111111111111111111111111IIIlH111111111111111111111II11111III11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111U' .• ROBERT G. SHRIER President and Publisher r—r RONALD P. V. PRICE Managing Editor EDWARD J. BYRSKI Advertising Sales Subscription, Rites $6 a Year -- To U.S.A. $7.50 (in advance) Second class mail 'registration nul,Iber 0716 fp4 Remember When ? ? ? 56 YEARS AGO The nomination of candidates for the Centre Huron riding -was held in Cardno's .opera house, Seaforth, on Monday afternoon from 12 to two o'clock. Rumors have reached The Signal the last few days to the effect that certain young` school -boys of this town, names not mentioned, have .been caught "shoplifting," in other, words obtaining their luxuries of life, such as cigars, cigarettes, chocolates, etc., free of cost. It is much to be lamented that such deplorable tactics should be carried. on withih the limits of this town. Warning is here given to boys 'that if caught they will be handed over to the• law to do what it likes with them. • A warning to Turkey which fell little short of a 'formal declaration of hostilities was uttered on Friday by Premier,, Venizalos of Greece in the Chamber of Deputies. - He was speaking on the treatment of Greek subjects in Turkey. The Premier's attitude shows ' that the tension between Greece and Turkey was near the breaking point, and thatthe damage of war was imminent. The London police fear that the Suffragettes are planning to polute the water of the city reservoirs. Mr. W. Proudfoot, the Liberal candidate for Centre Huron, "finished a series of meetings tonight = starting with the nomination on Monday and' meetins in Walton and Cranbrook same evening, Londesboro on Tuesday, Clinton -on Wednesday, garden party 'at Mr. John Grieve's in McKillop of Thursday afternoon and opera house in Goderich. on Thursday night. Mr: ' Proudfoot reported _ meetings well attended ' and enthusiastic with a considerable number of temperance conservatives joining in the crusade to abolish the bar. The outlook for an increased majority is promising. 25 YEARS AGO Sky Harbor, ' events accompanying its closing as a training centre _ of the Commonwealth Plan, arid its ultimate future as an airport in post-war years, have ,been very much to the fore. in public interest in recent days. The most important development in this connection is the formation of a County - of- Huron Flying Club, its receipt • of a Federal charter and the.` appointment of provisional directors. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Howard, 10th concession of Ashfield; have received a letter of congratulations -from Hon. C. G. Powers, Air Minister, upon the honor and,distinction which has come ' to their son in the award of the Distinguished Flying •Cross "for great gallantry in the performance of his duty while serving with No. 405 'Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force." H o n. George Doucett, Ontario Minister of Highways, thinks Huron County roads are about the best in Ontario. A letter from G. L. Parsons, president of the Goderich Elevator and Transit Co., enclosed one sent by the Company to District Engineer Bennett, Federal Department of Public Works, at London, pointing out the necessity' of ir THAT S LIFE! By G. MacLeod Ross them in place in the walls. Then when the roof was . on and it was ready for occupation someone asked how they were "to get their supply of barrels of salt pork and flour in Gooding's store brought up the steep hillside. dredging and suggesting other Ach ,". said MacDonald, "a" ken tekk one up." This he did. In fact, works at Goderich harbor, and the Council was asked to he carried all the barrels up. Dogfish, equally big and strong, co-operate in these request's by performed marvels of strength with logs and stores. A really' large passing a resolution. : company in more ways than one occupied the Castle and were a The exodus of civilian happy and congenial household. workers from Sky Harbor has In 1828, John Galt, the commissioner of the Canada Company, begun, preparatory to the- following•°° the same course taken by Champlain around the Bruce closing of the airport for ;flying Peninsula, came in a vessel 'loaned him by the Govemment, but did training purposes on July 14th. not become a permanent citizen. ' Coun. Brown "noted withc.,.,n afterwardsa� came Sproat, MacDonald and McGregor from satisfaction that the town clock had mended its ways and was keeping better time.. "There are only two kinds of time," he said — "the right time and the wrong time." 10 YEARS AGO Charlie 1VIacNaughton's victory - parade ' through Huron riding had a. rousing wind-up in Goderich where voters gave him a local majority of 821. Parking meters were rejected by Town Council at a special , , on the river while skating and was drowned: meeting. last week:Council also, • turned thumbs ..down on an alternative proposal that a two-hour parking limit be. enforced in the business section. Authorization, in the form of a motion, was given `the airport committee of Huron county council on Wednesday of • last week to continue negotiations with the Crown Assets Disposal Corporation of Ottawa for purchase of the Sky Harbor Airport holdings owned by the Government. . Tempers were edgy . as two Ontario Hydro officials tried to convince Town Council Tuesday that the town should, pay the "local PUC a special sum of $20,900 because . of "bum estimating" on street lighting in years long past. ' _ Zorra, bringing a yoke of oxen, the latter being useful in the clearing of the land. Others followed them and presently there was ,a rather lively settlement on the hilltop above and below the harbor. Gooding, coming originally from Onondaga, 'N.Y., was a British subject and United Empire. Loyalist. His three sons, William, Jasper and; Edwin, joined him later' in business. Ronald Goode, from Ayrshire, was an eaaly settler and had four daughters. The three Gooding young men made love to these daughters. William married Jane, Jasper won Mary and Edwin, Nannie. Some years afterwards two of these brothers were- drowned from the same canoe. Theirs was not the first death in the community, as James Hales, who had arrived with his brother, Benjamin, before 1833, fell through the ice COOLY! COOLEY! COOLY!. _ It came as something of a surprise to Dr. Denton Cooley, the eminent heart transplant specialist of Texas, when a patient paid him in kind. On leaving his office one day he found a Tennessee walking mare cooly awaiting him outside. ' .PUB SIGNS The "bush" of the "Bull and Bush", dates from the Middle Ages - no When- bush !! At Pompe, the Rowas �m�ans,signe used a pig for a wine shop. Good wine needs over the door to indicate a wine shop. Mangy signs are corruptions:, e.g. The Pig and Whistle - was the Peg and Wassail Bowl originally. 'Coeixr Tore became The Queen Door. Bacchanals was changed tO the -Bag of Nails. The o pawnbroker's three gold balls were the arms of the Medici and Lombardy, while the barber's pole used tO hold a wig at its end. Its parti-coloured ribands indicated . the blond and bandages used to bind the patients wounds after blood-letting. The Crusades brought us such signs as The Saracen's Head; The Turks Head and The Golden Cross, The White Hart is pecixliar to Richard II. The Blue Boar to Richard III. The Red Dragon was the Tudor sign. Foolscap comes from Folio-Capo. Cap a Pie has become "Apple-pie order." Wellington's Hougoumont - was really misheard for it is in fact Chateau Goumont. OLD RUSSIANS FADE AWAY TOO! ' Several news commentators have seen something sinister, even Stalinesque irithe deaths of a succession of Russian Generals of late. However .,the number of ageing Russian Generals is enormous. In 1945 thea were 11,000 generals for the 20 million man armies. Most, of these generals have now retired and are well over 60 years of age. Last year 37 died in May and this y ar 33 more have died. So most of them, like all old soldiers, just fa c ed away. Rev. Fred Jewell, of London, came back to _Goderich Sunday to preach at the church which he attended as a teen-ager. This week there's activity both inside ' and outside of Goderich District : Collegiate Institute: Inside, pupils are busy writing examinations. Outside work started Monday on the building on the new addition to the Collegiateeh Ball Bros., of Kitchener, t3emng the general contractors. ONE YEAR AGO Swimming against the Liberal tide which engulfed the rest of Canada Tuesday, voters in Huron riding re-elected Progressive Conservative Robert E. McKinley, with an increased majority _over __ his Liberal - opponent in the last two elections. Goderich bid a respectful farewell to one of her most prominent citizens, Air Vice Marshall ' John A. Sully, yesterday. Clusters of townspeople lined Victoria Street after' funeral service was conducted in Knox Presbyterian Church by the Rev. G. L. Royal, assisted by Major F. P. Delong, protestant padre at Canadian Forces Base, Clinton. Many heads were bowed in silent tribute as the pageantry of a funeral with full military honors unfolded. • • • 0 8 TTO- 10. LBS. - OVEN READY ESH ..TURKEYS Ib. SWEET PICKLED .TTAGE ROLL Ib. MADE FRESH DAILY COUNTRY STYLE USAOE • • 21b. 89d • 1 1. M 4