Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-10-07, Page 15`GODERICI4 SIC3tvA r THYci"" OCTOBER 7, 91 AO a• Have you ever wondered just what the size of Noah's ark might have been? Or s, how tall was Goliath? , I mean.. it's not very informative to have such details explainedin terms• of "cubits" or "spans" or even "shekels of brass." The Good News Bible, which .has been billed as "today's English . version', depicts God as not- only working in wondrous ways, but in metrically wondrous ways,In the.new Bible, which goes on sale next month, the• Creator knows how many centimetres make a metre and the real weight of a kilogram, Instead of cubits, He instructs Noah to measure and build his ark "133 metres long,. 2,2 'metres wide and 13 meterstall. Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 44 centimeters between the roof and the sides." . • In the Book of Exodus He ,tellseAaron about the daily sacrifice of two lambs and says "with the first lamb offer one kilogram of fine wheat flour mixed with one litre of pure olive oil, Pour one litre of wine as an offering, • According to the publishers, The . - British and Foreign 'Bible Society, the new system of heavenly measurement is used because "we want it to last". The original translation from Hebrew . and • Greek (which is where the cubits and similar measurements originated) was 400 years old. The conversion "to the metric system . seemed the naturanhing to do for a modern society," the publishers ex- plained. • .Once theme Bible hits the book stores readers' will no longer have to puzzle over the height of Goliath, the cham`pion'. of the Philistines, In Bibles to date he was "six cubits and a. -span tall" and.h•is armor weighed "5,000 shekels of brass. Now he towers "nearly three, metres'* and wears "57 kilograms" of armor. • In" theory the change to modern systems of measurement seems to be a good one. We can picture With more accuracy Noah's ark being tossed on the waves of the flood and just what sort of a villain, David was, pitted against. Or Can. we? No one knew just how long a cubit was, granted,' but does anyone know how long a meter is? If you happen to be a "rockin' Tobin" in. Lakefield, Ontario, you had better cool it. In fact your noisy career is at an end unless you want to face ;down` a cop and a judge. The Lakefield . village council has passed . an interim anti -noise by Iaw • which limits the length of time birds can Sing and makes it illegal for any human to sing, whistle, repair amotor or drive'a clattering• .vehicle over . smooth pavement. . Birds can. sing .for less than half an hour between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. . • and less than 15 minutes between 10:00 p.m and -8:00 a.m. The by -lark was aimed • at, silencing noisy pets but lanek differentiate between the wild and tatr- variety of birds so they're alliin the saam+.. boat. Lakefield . Clerk Treasurer Earle Cuddie, who prepared the bylaw, ad- mits that some aspects are almost impassible to enforce and -suggests that sections dealing with motor repairs and musical intruments be eliminated for that reason. - The law also Prohibits the playing of musical instruments with the exceptloi • of military bands on"duty. - The village council is not as repressive as it may seem though, The village:has been having noise problemsand' only passed the•by-law as a stop -gap measure until. more precise legislation can be.. prepared; In the meantime, however, arty -bird who dares singduring the prohibited hours faces finesranging from $10 to $300. . F • ' Margie Whyte of Guelph"is presently seeking families in Huron County who would be interested in taking part in the. - programs of Canadian . Crossroads • International: • Canadian 'Crossroads... International " (C•CI)°• is a private,- voluntary charitable organizationbased in London working to foster •international 'co-operation and intercultural understanding by offering qualified:individuals the opportunity to participateindevelopment projects. in Canada and overseas. Lasting . frim three to four months, ' projects in education, agriculture, child care, youth leadership; clerical work HERE 1N and construction have been organized primarily in Canada, Africa, India and the West Indies. Ms. Whyte has been involved in an overseas placement in the Philippines in 1972 and in two Canadian placements • since then. -` • • She terms her activities an "enriching and learning experience to live and work with the, Filipinog whose, culture and lifestyle differ so much from our own." "It took me, as a white person, a while to adapt to being in a countryof a.dif- ferent~ race, and . yet, that barrier vanished as soon as I became friends with' my Filipino acquaintances, and INFORMATION,.' BA`e GROUND AND OPINION HLR'DN realized that deep down, ' we' were .:the same," she says. During the summer she hosted a St. Lucian girl at her home in Guelph. According to the organizers CCI offers „ challenges, the challenge to com-. municate andshare across barriers of race, language and culture:. For the summer of 1977, CCI plans to send 65- Canadians to placements in Africa, India and the West Indies and .to:bring 15. people from these: 'three areas • to placements in Canada. - , Anyone interested in -being '• a "Canadian Crossro'ader" going to an overseas placement . ifi '1977 should' contact Canadian Crossroads Inter- national • at 3.61 Windermere. Road, London before October 15 as the final selection is to' be completed by October 23. Ms. Whyte is responsible for finding five separate project placements ( and respective, host families) for. five Third World • participants in Ontario and • Quebec. She is, is trying to organize an .agricultural placement in Huron County • which . would • involve the Third World Crossroader living and working on three different fatms throughout the summer, staying approximately one month on each farm. Anyone interested in "sharing your Canadian culture and_farm experience" with someone from -Africa, `India or' the West Indies, for. one month next: sum- mer, should contact Margie Whyte at 44 Victoria Road North in Guelph, "Because my family and I- have gained so much from our intercultural involvement," she says, "I just want to spread the word. "I want, to encourage other families to- do likewise. • It has •broadened our horizons immensely, making u"s :more aware and sensitive to the problems of • developing countries." The Crossroads programs attempt to. enable Canadians and Third World ' citizens to gain . an understanding of development in historical and social contexts, to involve Canadians in ac- tivities that relate Canada to the Tlird - - World, to stimulate greater mobilization of public support for international development within 'public education at the community level and to encourage a reallocation of the. world.resources to the greater benefit .' of.: lie developing countries. •Thefinal word is awaited daily on what must be one of the Most corn: •plicated political decisions that Premier William Davis' government has had to make since it went into . a minority position last year. Following 12 days of ;hearings the Ontrio Energy Board will. alfnost certainlyrecommend . the bjggest 411- crease increase in the price of electrical power:,,. ev er-faced-b-yOntar-ia-consum ers. Ontario Hydro had proposed to the .. loardp a„ rate increase to municipal, utifiti'es (local PU.C:.'s) of 31.9 per cent and 33.8 per cent to industries , served directly. The hearings could find no ' hidden ,sources of revenue or othermeans to cut down the spiralling costs of Ontario Hydro but did point out that the proposed increases violate federal anti-inflation ',guidelines which Ontario religiously supports: The, board also noted that the biggest impediment to lower . rate in- creases is a provincially irnppsed. bor'row'ing limit cif:$1.5jiillion. •. . In all liklihood;the=OEB will not ap prove the 31.9 and 33.8. per cent figures, .• but it is expected, they. will allow an in- crease of at leak28 per cent and possibly more. ' Faced with a similarly large increase The Canadian Labor Congress has come -out•' strongly in favor of more assistance to less• developed countries, especially aid that will reach the most disadvantaged part of the. population. At their biennial convention in Quebec City the CLC adopted a statement un international affairs policy which proposed "the. externa al• program o our government should be increased to' reach one per pf,our gross national product.", The present level is about half that and the Canadian Government's stated goal is 0.7 per, cent, The CLC declared that . assistance must also "be designed to aid • last year, the . Government ducked the issue by leaving it to a select committee of the Legislature to recommend an appropriate increase. That committee agreed to a jump of 22 peri cent which Hydro was forced to accept, much against their will. To the consumerthis means a much muchlarger electric bill. Local public utility -commissions are, unlikly to be in a position -±o -absorb that kiwi -of an in- crease, especially after large increases not se, long ago. • The consumer may not have to shell out the full 28' per cent, at least not im- mediately: The Goderich Public Utilities : CANADA !IJ the majority of people 'who live on the margin of the development process." The Congress restated its support for a more equitable distribution of the world's wealth, a position its umbrella organization, the International' . Con- federation of Free Trade Unions (IC - FTU), has made known- in • ast' at -'the even pecia ession . of the United Nations General Assembly, the North- South Dialogue and the Nairobisession of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The con at Quebec urged greater support for the International, Labor Organization, the host of the Apparently India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is discovering that the suspension • of democratic' rights in her cotintry,is not making her political road very much :smoother,;:.� Mrs. Gandhi may have managed to silence the opposition benches in parliament by throwing'most of her old foes in prision, and to silence the Indian press by imposing strict censorship on their news ,coverage backed up by more prison terms for, the editors and re rters who do, not comply, but there is er can do s ems little h Prime Mrn it t e e x bouth rl tewo world press. True, she has been -refusing visas to certain corre"spondents, or represen Commission, for example, hope they could hold the increase in rates to 15. to 20 per . cent Most of the Ontario Hydro increases will have to be passed on to the customer however. There is' just no way around it. The OEB is likely to.accept the view that hydro is claiming increased costsin 1977 at $30 million -higher -than is likely. But, in terms of a $1.3 biIlionbudget.this represents only two per centage points of the . requested increase, dropping .the increase in costs to local utility corn, mission to 30 per cent. Any small increase in rates would mean thatif the war against inflation is s World Employment Conference and had "support the churches •and others in harsh • words for .governments which • their efforts to see that Canadian have failed to support: that international multinationals accept and live up to organization. In past several govern- their social responsibilities." ments have paid lessthan expected and On the subject of the Law of the Sea now the United States is threatening• to the CLC stated "the seas and seabed, leave the organization. beyond the continental shelf are the .The meeting also urged -the- Canadian-lan--o,, n,mn„ heritge-of a-nki n8:-, government not 'to extend bilateral - "However," they also said, "all assistance to the Chilean government coastal states should; exercise rights headed by General Augusto Pinochet over the whole of ,the continental shelf Corporate support of the regime was including the continental slope and rise... also criticized, 'which led to a call for as well." greater control over the actions of multinational companies. The Congress announced . it would At present the CLC is involved in an international project in co-operation with. the Canadian international WORLDWEEK tatives of certain newspapers' and magazines, but needless;to say this' ha$ had no effect on the editors ofthose • publications. • • •Recently Mrs. Gandhi accused the Western press of launching a campaign of "calumny, hatred and falsehood" against her following India's declaration' of a state of emergency last year; The Prime Minister made the' statement during a news conference. after signing, a joint pledge with Com- munist Party chief Leonid •Brezhnev tri: strengthen nI g ndo-Soviet friendship and, co-operation, • The Indian leader was. in Moscow for a long 'postponed offical,'' visit and was • given the most lavish treatment af- forded a,- foreign leader since former American president Richard Nixon toured Russia in 1972. She later flew 'to Yerevan the capital* of Soviet Armenia, for two days before' returning home. During her visit, the official Soviet news agency Tess, stepped up attacks on the role or China in the Third World. But Mrs. Gandhi said Soviet leaders'had not criticized her recent naives to -:Mend relations with She said she thought Kremlin leaders uamnderstoodbassadors Indiawith'sChinadecision, to exchan e In the past, border relations between India and the Chinesehave been strained and have reached .thepoint of exchanges of fire across the frontier. Asked by a .Soviet journalist if she could explain what he called a campaign in the Western Press liver '.the past year againet India , Mrs. Gandhi said she felt she was in good company because the Western commentators now• attacking her were the same as. those who had attacked •" Indian independence move merit leader Mahatma G rid' a rat"�d .her father, Jawaharlal Nehru. "Now they are carrying on the campaign of calumny, : hatred and falsehood against me," Mrs, Gandhi to go on', Hydro's, borrowing limit would, have to be increased. ; Hydro witnesses et the OEB :hearing admitted that a rate -smoothing technique employed in previous 'years would have produced an increase of -only 22.3 per cent. However Hydro wants the big jump in 1977 and small :• increases of 11..7 'per cent in 1978_and 10:5 per cent •in. 1979. Under the "smoothing" Hydro Would get the same revenue over the three years. The only difference would be that: in the first yea ./(1977) the corporation would have x!o borrow another $140 million. The borrowing limit stands in Development Agency. The $260,000 project, run in conjunction with the Brussels based ICFTU, will train Africans in,union skills. Twenty fivestudents will be •selected -from :'10 African countries and will receive a one week course, the• Fran- eophon *s in the Ivory a an he Anglophones in Liberia.' Iniaddition, four people will be chosen from each of the countries to take a four week course in •• Liberia or the Ivory Coast. On returning to their home. countries they Will' undergo a further three month course preparing.them•for training others in union organization and said, •. Mrs. Gandhi may, see a certain similarity ther'2; and like to place herself in a league with Nehru and the Mahatma, but she apparently fails tb see any parallel between _ herself and the British during . India's struggle for in- dependence. Her opposition is now languishing in the same jails those op- posing the British found themselves in. , For twenty' years India • stood as a' shining example of a free democracy in the league ue of former colDri . While other new nations fell into the hands cif military regimes • and dictators, India agave hope that freedom of government and dissent was possible. • • Athe way of that, and besides,: borrowing Money costs money. . There is little chance that it the Davis Government approves. a 28 per cent increase, which they are expected to do, the AIB will force a roll back. 'Hydro's rates are not subject to review by -the AIBalthough the province had asked the. corporation to comply with the spirit and intent of the anti-inflation.progr.am- The government is now faced with two possibilities. Permit a rate -rncrease:that would hurt the war on inflation, or roll back the increase and lift the limit on borrowing: • management, The. costs of the program are shared by the ICFTU ($80,000), -the, CLC ($50,000) and CIDA_ ($130,000) and are. already underway. . The congress alsonoted that although the need for • slowing population is ob- vices, it will never happen withou companying economic growth and a distribution of the benefits of that growth, throughout the population. "The stability of population growth is thus totally intertwined with the full • development of the economy with= -the participation•. of all the people," the C.C• position 'statement noted, - But, at the. hands of Mrs. Gandhi, all that is gone. The opposition has been silenced arida new: dictatorship is born. What is worse is that the Indian Prima.' Minister's view of right, wrong and the - meaning of freedom is so twisted' that she can associate her plight with that of. Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi, was in, prison: many tirnee wring his struggle on India's behalf, but nearer war; it because he had refused to listen to the amercef o the o osr i on ' In fact he listened so often; and so in= ' ' tently to the British position that he and. Lord' Louis Mountbatten became close... friends despite their opposing. views. ,4