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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 1954-03-04, Page 1•Mbe Jtrt Column=== DIGGING INTO SOlVIE AN- cient lore brings to mind a bit of a find that merchant R. Fettia, trucefield made • some • months ago. . . He very kindly presented us with the information then and until now the matter rathet slip- . ped our mind. . . Mr. Fettis last year purchased the hardware bus- iness that had been operated by the late H. F. Berry, and in the process of remodelling the build- ing he came upon an ancient sign stuck to the wall . . . Apparently at one time a J. R. IVIcLaren had his office .in the building, for the sign reads as follows: * * "Mr. J. R. McLaren, B.A., B.C.L. . Advocate of the Bar of Lower Canada .. Barrister -at law of the bar ofUpper Canada . . Solicitor in Chancer, Attorney- at-law, Conveyancer, Notary Pub- lic . s . Commisaioner to take af- fidavits in the Superior Courts of Justice U.C., &C, &C. . . Clinton Centre, , Clinton, Co. Huron One of the United Counties a Huron and Bruce. . . N.B. Special Attention devoted to Chancery and Cenveyancing. , . Deeds and Agreements carefully drawn up, . Mortgages foreclosed, and Debts collected in any part of Can- ada. Unfortunately there is no date. included on the sign. . . and the only clue we have to the age is that it was printed by "Courier Print,, Clinton". . . However, even there We are at a loss. . . since we are not sure of the date at which that firm was in operation ` here. . . * * RATHER A HANDY MAN, though. . . That promise of debt collecting in any part of Canada • rnust have been a large order ev- en in those days. . . An individ- ual now would hardly undertake Barber Sells To "New Canadian" Melvin Crich has sold his barb- er -shop business to John Vantoo, who gained experience in hair- cutting ,in Holland, and who has been living in Canada for about six months. For the last four years Mr. Crich has operated the barbersifop in the basement of the H.otel Clinton. He intends to con- tinue working in the shop for some time, with Mr. VanLoo. A barber of many years exper- ience, Mr. Crich learned the trade in Seaforth in 1906, and came to Clinton the.nextyear-to work for John Medd in the store now oc- cupied by the T. Eaton order of- fice. After three years he was able to buy .out the business and continued to operate it for some years. In the spring of 1920 Mr. Crich moved onto the farm on Concession 2, Tuckersmith Town- ship, now operated by William Pepper. In 1936 he returned to the barbering trade in Clinton, this thne in the shop now operat- by Groves, and contin- ued there until moving to his pres- ent location, Deputy Reeve of the Town of Clinton, Mr. Crich has found time also to be very active in the work of the Barbers' Assiciation. He is secretary of the Huron County Association and is quite active in the work of the Ontario group. THE NEW ERA -89th YEAR eco THE• N EWS- RECO RD -73 rd YEAR 6 cents a copy --- $1.50 a year No. 9—The Home Paper With the News CLINTON, ONTARIO, THURDAY, MARCH 4, 1954 "And The Salvation Army Served Coffee" Clinton firemen turned out last Friday night when the alarm was turned in for the fire which destroyed the Huron Aunty Court House, Goderich, and kept firemen busy all night and cm into Saturday morning. Above, a group of Clinton smoke -eaters take a breather when two Goderich Salva. tion Army girls came by with hot coffee. From the left are Ken Cooke; Chief G. W. Rath; Lieut. Jessie Mayo; Mrs. Albert Wolff; Royce Frernlin; and Frank 1VIcEvvan. Auburn Couple Celebrates 59th Anniversary (By our Auburn correspondent) Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Philips, quietly observed their 59th wed- ding anniversary at their home in Auburn on Sattirday, February 27. Mr. and WS. Philips have a family of three, Robert J. Philips, Mrs. (Ellen) T. S. Johnston and Miss Laura Philips, all of Au- burn. During the afternoon and evening many friends and neigh- bours .called to offer congratula- tions and best wishes. Dainty re- freshments were served by their daughters and daughter-in-law. CDCI Teacher Heads Department J. L. Tierney who has been the efficient French teacher at Clin- ton District Collegiate Institute for the past three years has been appointed head of the Modern Language Department at the new Belleville Collegiate Institute which will be opened this Septem- ber, This is a well-deserved pro- motion and the best wishes of the staff and student i at CDCI go with Mr. and Mrs. Tierney, Clinton Council In Action Grants Considered Requests to Town Council for grants received at Monday's meet- ing from the Clinton Citizens' Horticultural Society, the Central Agricultural SocietYt and the Hu- ron County Industrial Promotion Board, were referred to chairman of the finance committee, George Knights for consideration and pos- sible inclusion in the 1954 budget. Sell Lot Ori motion of Reeve 3. W. Nedi- ger,' seconded by Councillor S. Schoenhals, Council accepted an offer of $350 from L. D. Holland for the lot on Ontario Street, • across William Street, from the old Public School. • Bell Donated A request from the Public School Board for the bell in the old public school for use in a cairn to be erected on the new school •property was granted on rnotion of Nediger, seconded by Deputy Reeve M. Crich, provided costs of rennaval and erection of Sante are assumed by the board. Joins Federation Receipts of a second invitation from Mayor Allan J. Rush, Lon- don, zone chairman of the Canad- ian Federation of Mayors and Reeves of Rural Municipalities, to join that Federation, and follow- ing discussion of the merit of be- longing to the Federation, Council authorized payment of •the $35 membership fee. M. T. Corless spoke on behalf of a good many of Clinton' citi- sons, whom he felt were in favour of the town being represented at meetings such as this. He said that he had always, been of the opinion that representation there was a fine thing. Painting Job Awarded • Tenders for the job of painting the council chamber, the police office, vestibule, cells • and ent- rance to cells, were opened, and that of D. A. Kay and Son for $398.50 was accepted. Other tend- ers were from Gordon Lawson, • $422.55, and from Grant Rath, $375. • ganitoi- Tenders Tenders for the position of jan- itor were opened from E. C. Judd, ' X. VanRiesen, James A. Fletcher, • John Guetter, J. Start and J, G. Brown. No decision was made on the hiring of a janitor for the combined duties of caring for the town hall, library and ladies' rest room. The Weather 1954 1953 High LoW High Low Feb. 25 35 29 35 26 26 32 26 39 30 27 37 28 35 27 28 45 32 30 20 Mar. 1 33 • 26 23 9* 2 32 30 20 1* • 3 32 • 16 34 20 Rain: 1.18 Inc. RaM: .9 ins. Snow: fi ins. Snow: 6.5 ins. * Below Zero Building Permits Building permits totalling $20,000 were authorized as fol- lows: H. Glazier, residence North Street, $4,000; F. W. Andrews, chicken house, $6,000; H. D. Ball, residence, Raglan Street, $8,000; Harold Emmerson, residence, Maple Street, $2,000. Coun. Dr. H. A. McIntyre re- ported for the planning board and advised that a recommendation would likely be coming from the Board that building permits be given more thorough investiga- tion, end that none be issued Un- less the proposed building exceed or equal the average worth of buildings in the locality. He men- tioned the interest the Board was taking in seeing that certain areas be reserved for parks and recrea- tion areas. "Further growth of the town will make it necessary to include outside areas," said Dr. McIntyre. "Our children need play areas off the streets." Licence Granted Supported in his quest by a let- ter from a Goderich lawyer,' C. L. Stanley at Monday's Council meet- ing requested again a license for a fourth taxi, and was granted the license on a recorded vote of five in favour and Reeve Nediger, Councillors McIntyre and Shad - dick and Mayor Agnew against the motion. Need Tractor Reeve Nediger, reporting for the Public Works Committee, stated that the bill for plowing of side- walks in the town had been re- ceived in the amount of $227. In view of this cost he again suggest- ed the need for a tractor, Licadoes The report of the chief.. con- stable requested the authority to issue licences of certain types, Such • as those . for pin -ball ma- chines, tobaccoe, etc., since his job included the supervision of the men in possession of them. Custom has been for the chief constable to investigate applicants, make a report to council, and upon its ap- Prove], the cletk issues the lic- ense. .The.by-laws committee was asked, to investigate the practices of other towns in this tespect By -Laws Some discussion took place reL garding the need for a better filing system for the by-laws of the town, and a general teview of ex- isting by-laws. - Drainage Letters received from H. E Itorke and front Mrs. V. Lampman concerning the inconvenience and discomfort caused by sewerage back:pressure and excessive sur- face water were left in the hands of the public works committee to investigate. Personal requests from Joseph Murphy on behalf of himself and Ur. Sheppard, and by A. , E. -Bond x:egarding troubles with drainage and surface water, were heard and left with the same committee, Huron County Court House Razed By Fire Last Friday Termed by some, "most opportune", fire last Friday evening consumed most of the contents of the 98 -year-old Huron County Court House in Goderich. The Goderich Fire Department was assisted by the Clinton Fire Brigade, and by pouring literally tons of water into the burning building, they were able to save the sheriff's, engineer's, crown attorney's and the clerk's office from total destruction, and by playing streams of water on the seven brick and steel vaults which contained invaluable papers, assisted in saving their contents. Of the upstairs (which housed the court room, jury room, law- yers' and judge's .chambers and the magistrate's office, nothing was saved, and tons of debris from the upper storey, crashed through into the centre offices on the ground floor, including. the clerk's treasurer's, judge's office and the law library. Contents of these rooms was totally destroyed. County Clerk A. H. Erskine gave the order to direct efforts to save the corner offices and their vaults. He. said later,. "I knew as soon , as I saw flames coming from the tower shaft, which runs up from the basement, that the building could not be saved. I thought immediately of all the records so I asked the chief to do what he could to save them. I had a personal reason too. All my own papers were in that vault in my office." A great number of the citizens of Goderich, and many from Clin- ton, as well as the surrounding rural district flocked to the county seat. Visible for some distance as they raged through the upper parts of the Court House, the flames were kept under control by members of the two fire brigades. The scene of the famous Court House Park resembled that of a gap picnic suddenly gone awry. People walked about rather aim- lessly stepping or stumbling over the snaky hoses leading from the edge of the square to the blaze. Small groups gathered for a fetv words, and then silently drifted apart to form other groups a few =lutes later. It was dark. It was wet. And it was cold. But many looked with friendly eyes upon the old building and took time out to mourn her passing. Small screams, and gasps could be heard through the crowd as beams and rafters gave way. When the tower and clock plunged into the interim beneath, a sound almost like a sigh, went over the crowd. None were there who were not familiar with the kindly fade of the old clock steadfastly keeping track of the hours. "Well, She's gone," was the re- mark heard from -more than one watcher. ' May Not Be Able Chairman of the finance com- mittee of the Town Council, George Knights, reported only a tentative budget set up, and owing to the fact that it was going to be extremely difficult to maintain the 74 -mill rate of lest year, he requested a meeting of the Coun- cil as a whole to go over the budget closely in an attempt to cut it as much as possible. Coun., Knights mentioned that word had been received regarding the percentage recoverable on the grant to the library, and that if the municipality paid 80 cents per capita or more, all that would be paid by the province would be 60 per cent. The finance chairman went, on to request strict adherence to the figures accepted in tenders in the future. So far expenses in the town hall repairs had amounted to $2,586.65, a figure niore than $500 in excess of estimated costs. Deputy Reeve Crich reported that after the council chamber and other stnall rooms were painted and the chairs in the council chamber were repaired that was all the expense to which his com- mittee intended to go this year. Councillor McIntyre suggested a complete listing of all work needed on the Town Hall, and estimates received, and the total cost spread over several years, so that no large burden would be felt in any one year. To Maintain 74 -Mill Tax Rate Papers in current use are the greatest loss experienced, since these had not been placed in the vaults. Engineer Peter Patterson made a last moment trip to his of- fice to save precious plans and a watcher reported in awed tones, "He had just come out of the of- fice when the roof fell in!" Perhaps one of the greatest losses is that of the old pictures of venerable judges, early corm - (continued on page 10) Brueeficld Man To Represent Huron Juniors Robert P. Allen, Brucefield, has been named by the Huron. County Junior Farmers to be interviewed in Toronto for the overseas trip scheduled for May, June and July. If chosen, he will be one of four Juniors to make the trip as the guests of the British organization of Junior Farmers. Meeting here in Clinton the executive of the Huron County Juniors set the date for the annual meeting on Thursday, March 18, in the Clinton District Collegiate Institute. The annual At Home will be held on Thursday, April 22 in either Exeter, or Clinton. Inter -County field day will be held at the Seaforth Lions Park on Saturday, June 12 and the an- nual Junior Farmers' livestock competition will be held on . Sat- urday, May 22. A junior Farmer leadership training school for the 1954 ex- ecutive for the purpose of assisting in better program planning and stressing parliament y procedure will be held in C1lntd March 31. Carnival ied By Kinsmen Club The Kinsmen Club of Clinton began their plans for their annual KIN-Karnival on Labour Day, at their regular bi-monthly meeting held at Hotel Clinton on Tuesday evening, Members of the club ap- pointed a committee to bring in a full report on the cost of a 1954 car, as well as other prizes, which Will be raffled on that date. It is eXpected that this year's carnival will be a much bigger event with programmes possibly both /after- noon and evening. . • Another plan discussed was a "Scotch -lite safety campaign." Kin Bill Nediger was instructed to in- vestigate the possibilities of this suggestion. Guests at the meeting were Earl Reynolds and Edwin Heaths The latter is at present conducting a show in the Town Hall which the club is sponsoring,' Coming Events 40 a word, minhnum 75e Friday, March 5 —Educational films, Clinton Public School, 8.00 p.m. Auspices Cub and Scout Lad- ies' Auxiliary. Silver collection. ' Monday, March 5 — Ply, Maina's Baby Boy" presented by Seaforth Junior Farmers in Bay- field Town Hall. Auspices Hay- field Agricultural Society. Admis- sion 50c and 25c. • 9-b Thursday, March 11—Don't miss it! Play, / "Deacon Dubbs" at Brucefield United Church at 8.15 p.m. An enjoyable evening is as- sured. Postponed from March 2. 9-b "An invitation is sent to all to come and enjoy dancing at the Crystal Palace Ballroom, Mitchell, every Friday night to the music of Clarence Petrie and the Night Hawks." • 9-12-b Saturday, March 13 — St. Pats, ricks Tea. Booths: candy, home - baking, novelties. Delicious menu. 'Further announcement. Auspices: WA of Wesley -Willis Church. Seventh Seed Fair Here; March 5-6 The Seventh Annual Huron County Seed Fair is bentg held tomorrow and Saturday in the Auditorium sponsored by the Hur- on County Soil and Crop Improve- ment Association. PIarined with the express purpose of stinturat- ing interest in better seed the Seed Fair has been growing with each successive year of its exist- "ee Special educational exhibits bas- ed around "Farm Management and Cost of Production" are being displayed by each of the five high schools in the County. Last year these -students displays gained a good deal of attention, and were inspected eagerly by farm and ur- ban dwellers alike. The program begins on Friday with judging of all closes during the afternoon, and awards pres- ented that evening, inspection of the exhibiteqn the evening open- ed to the public from 7.30 on, and coMments on the schools eichibits by R.• IT.: Wallace, High School Inspector, Department of Educa- tion, Toronto. The junior seed judging com- petition will be held Saturday morning, and in the afternoon a panel discussion on farm manage - merit: Prof. D. R. Campbell, Prof. A. C. Robertson, Dr. H. L. Patter- son, E. H. Strong and Stewart Strong, Gorrie; William R. Cruick- shank, Wingham; Elgin Rowclif- fe, Henson and George Robertson, Goderich, will be followed by an auction sale of ten -bushel lots' of grain. EDWIN IfEATII, HYPNOTIST, GIVES HILARIOUS SHOW TO CLINTON AUDIENCES One of the most amazing stage shows ever to come to Clinton is currently playing in the Town Hall under the sponsorship of the Kinsmen Club of Clinton, Edwin Heath, M.B.H., proves to one and all that the_science of hypnotisln can be employed to give the most hilarious form of entertainment ever produced. His show is a fast two-hour program with appeal to both young and old, it is exciting, amusing, fascinating and it cert- ainly must be seen to be believed. This show was witnessed by a large audience on Tuesday even- ing andit is unfortunate that the inclement weather has forced the cancellation of Monday's and Wed- nesday's performance Council To Ask Advice Of HEPC Chairman egarding The Tovvn Council will com- municate with Robert H. Saund- ers, Chairman of the Ontario Hydro Electric Power Commission to ask his advice. concerning the petition signed by 438 ratepayers, asking in effect for the retirement of E. R. Rumball, now assistant superintendent of the PUC. Following the compromise by the PUC in which that body lower- ed Mr, Ftumball's salary to $3,300 per year, and transferred the du- ties of treasurer of the commisSion to the hands of Frank Mutch, the councillors felt that the request of the petitioners had not been suf- ficiently met, and they would need outside advice in the matter. Mayor Agnew—If council dis- solves the commission then I want five volunteers right now for the job. The council will have to ad- minister the work- if we have no PUC. Perhaps we would» reach the same end just as soon if we waited until the next municipal election for the, people's decision. Coun, Dr. H. A. McIntyre — Your worship, you are a repre- sentative on the PUC. Mr. Rurn- ball has run this thing for some years, but is it compulsory to give him a pension? Mayor Agnew—No. Completely out of order. I take exception to Petition the petition because it asks for reversion to that motion of the 1953 PUC, I do not agree with that thing: Reeve Nediger—Well, it may not be legal to give Mr. Rurnball a pension, but it is certainly just as legal as hiring him for $3,300. Corm. S. Schoenhals—I'd sug- gest we write the H.E.P,C, for advice on thiS thing. They seem to have quite . a bit of influence with the PUC. Reeve Nediger mentioned an ex - councillor, who with,a member of the commission had called on one, of the head men in the HEPC and had received his support in the matter of the action taken by the 1953 Commissions - Mayor Agnew—They say a lot, but they don't put it in writing. Reeve Nediger--Well, here we have -438 signatures on something, but we don't seem to be doing much about it. I do feel that we cannot ignore them. My sole int- erest in this thing is for the 438 ratepayers and their wishes. . Deputy Reeve Crich mentioned that Mayor A. E. McMaster, Sea - forth, was unable to understand how the Tciwn of Clinton, could afford to pay a combined salary of $6,800 for the work done by the superintendent and his assistant. Clinton Offers Building Sites For New County Offices • The Council of the TOWYL of Clinton is prepared to offer any one of three sites to the County of Huron for the erection of a new County Court House here at Clin- ton. A resolution to this effect has been circulated to each of the municipalities in the county, and the support of each has been solicited. Worst Storm OF Some Hydro and Winter Hits Areal Telephones Out Sleet storm on Monday, follow- ed byheavy wet snow Tuesday, and the driving storm of yester- day, have turned last week's sum- mer climate into the wintryeat yet experienced, Hydro and tele- phone crews have been working desperately trying to repair dam- age and restore service to areas affected. According to A. M. Knight, manager of the rural office of the HEPC here, the &Linage to hydro lines has been mainly in the Brus- sels and Walton Area. Crews have been working in East Waw - nosh Township, and around Win- throp and Walton, as well as near Brussels, where the damage to lines was heaviest. However, with the exception of 25 or 30 custom- ers out of the 4,000 in the district, all service was in operation last night. Crews were called out as early as five o'clock Tuesday morning, and worked until midnight, only to be upand out yesterday morn- ing again at seven, and they worked until well after six last evening. Greatest worry accord- ing to one of the crew members was to save the lives of thousands of baby chicks on farms where hydro is used for heating. Lost on one poultry farm was estima- ted at about $600 owing' to the death of the young chicks. In town little damage was rep- orted, except Tuesday afternoon when 'a limb weighted with ice broke some wires. Yesterday, however, Clinton was i practically solated. Out of eight telephones lines to London, only three were in use, and these were not dependable, It was impossible to reach Winghant, Toronto, Strat- ford or Kitchener, and there was only one line into Goderich. W. W. Haysom, manager of the Bell Telephone Company for this area stated that apparently the storm took a path leading through Chatham, up to Lucan, then through Stratford and Vs/Ingham. Areas within this path were badly hit. The Tuckersmith and, Sea - forth lines and especially at Brus- sels and Myth were bad, Trouble began Monday after- noon, when limbs weighted with Me began to break. In some plea - es :two or three inches of ice on the limbs and wires was reported, Telegraph lines as well are out There was no indication of when service would be restored, Mr. Haysorn regretted. He indicated that the linemen were doing a good. job on repair, and the girls on the exchange were doing an exceptionally courteous job of ex- plaining the difficulties to custom- ers, Fire Chief Grant Rath With water streaming down his petch-cOat Fire Chief Grant Rath looks up at the blazing Court House, as he and other mem- bers of Clinton Fire Brigade assisted last.Friclay night in a vain attempt to save the old building. The alarm went off in Clinton at about 8.30 p.m. and nine, members of the brigade were soon on their way to Goderich. ` Though they arrived on the scene before the tower and clock went crashing into the centre of the structure, and began at once, to combat the blaze, there was little hope that any of the building would be saved. Other men who took part at the fire were K. C. Cooke, Royce Fremlin, Frank M. McEwan, Dennis Bisback, Hector Kings- well, Joseph Murphy, George Hanley and Tom Twyford. , The rest of the members remained in Clinton. as a safeguard in case of a second alarm being turned in. • • "Whereas the Huron County Court House at Goderich has been destroyed by fire; and whereas the county jail and registry office are two seperately housed depart- ments of the county similar to the County Horne; and whereas a by-law could be passed to allow the moneys already raised to be used on a building in another municipality; and whereas it is desired to house the County Health Unit in the new building; "And whereas the various muni- cipalities in Huron County can be more easily and quickly reached if the new building was located in the town of Clinton; "Now therefore be it resolved and it is hereby resolved— "1. that the new Huron County Court House be situated in the town of Clinton; "2., that this resolution be for- warded to all municipalities with- in the county and ask for their support by ratifying the same and returning to this council." Mayor M. J. Agnew—It is the people of the County. of Huron that are paying for the building of a new Court House, not the reeves and deputy reeves. Reeve Nediger—When this mat- ter came before the County Coun Cil to be debated clause by clause, as was customary the Warden had to ask someone to take the chair during the discussion. Wardell Dale asked me to do the job, Therefore I could not say anything in the discussion. Debentures have been issued to build a new build- ing, but I do not recall mention that the location should be in Goderich. Mayor Agnew—A central loca- tion would help in the matter of financing over a period of 50 years. The saving in miles cover- ed by reeves, jurors, judges, etc., in that time would mean quite a lot. Deputy Reeve Crich -- Last month the bill for transportation for the Health 'Unit alone was over $400. That would probably be doubled if the Unit were in Gode- rich. Mayor Agnew—We in our local municipality have to consider cut- ting costs. Why not the County Councillors? Reeve Nediger — This win no doubt cause discussion, There will be a meeting of County Council shortly. At the fire the other night I offered them the use of our old Public School We would only need to fill the boilers and put on the +fire to make it ready for extra. office space. However, they already have the use of the collegiate in goderich, llullett Laves Building Site To County Council Members of the Hullett, Town- ship Council, meeting On Monday afternoon in the CoMmunity Hall at Londesboro, paSsed a motion to the effect that "we in the Town- ship of Hulled consider that the Huron County Council being the Body hi authority in Huron County are competent to make all decisions with regards to, the Building and situation of tyle Hu- ron County Court House end we therefore take no action on the Resolution proposed by the Clin- ton Town Council." Tenders for crushing and ,haul - Mg approximately 12,000 yards of , gravel for the roads in the,town- ship were opened and that of George Radford, Blyth, at 66 cents • a ethic yard was accepted. One other tender from Levis Contract- ing, Clinton, at 69 cents were re- ceived. A grant df $50 each was auth- orized for the Huron Central Ag- riculturai Society, the Blyth Fair Board and the Seaforth Fair Board, The township will donate a shield for the school which ob- tains the most points in the Hul- lett Township Music Festival this The auditors report for 1953 was accepted, and payment ,of $300 for it was authorized,