The Seaforth News, 1943-02-11, Page 6NEW RAIL CA.R.
FOR WAR
THURSDAY,
i;BRUARY 11, 19,4a
CASUALTIES
e
AT OPENING OF ALASKA HIGHWAY
Hon. Ian A. Mackenzie, Minister of Pensions and National Health, is shown as he made his address during the
official opening of the new highway to Alaska. The historic ceremonies were held on a spot that a few months ago
was dense wilderness. Note the small tree in the background which has been utilized as a flag pole.
Plymouth Will
Be Waiting
What happens in bombed towns
when the hose pipes are turned off,
the dead buried and the debris heap-
ed on the municipal dumps? What
happens when these broken towns
fade outof the news and are left to
gather themselves up and get on with
the war?
Let me tell you about Plymouth.
Perhaps you landed there the first
time you came to Turope, or was its
gray outline your last impression of
England as your liner headed out for
home? If you were to come now and
have a look around, you might not
find your bearings very easily, for
the Luftwaffe has made some altera-
tions. Almost the first landmark you
would encounter would be the little
flight of steps down which the Pil-
grim Fathers stepped to board the
"Mayflower." Old, whitewashed
steps, with a modest little, memorial
arch above them—all in order and
as usual.
The area of ruin is enormous in
proportion to the town. Gaps, waste
and desolate nakedness appear ev-
erywhere. St. Andrew's, beautiful
fifteenth century church and a focal
point of Plymouth, is a hollowed -out
shell. The Guildhall is ruined and
the lovely Athenaeum broken up.
Everywhere radiating from this cen-
tral group of losses are more to
match them.
Whole streets and areas of Devon -
Port have just disappeared; great
gaps and heart-rending small ones
too, among the little streets of
Stonehouse; and wrecks and dust -
heaps down in the old town by the
water, the town that held out so
long in Cromwell's days for the Par-
liament when all the rest of the
West Country was for the King; the
town that feted and welcomed young
Catherine of Aragon, sent its ships
to the siege of Calais and its men to
fight the Black Prince at Poictiers;
the town that likes to remember its
send-off of the "Mayflower."
All of this went through eight
nights of blazing torture, which
might indeed have seemed a waste-
ful end to a long history.
But though St. Andrew's Church
is hollowed out, the perpendicular
tower still stands firm. Its bells are
sound and will ring again on the day
of victory. That is only the first in-
dication you pick up, amid the
ruins, of the true state of affairs hi
Plymouth now.
You will meet another sign on the
Hoe in the evening. You have heard
of the Hoe, where Drake finished his
game of bowls while the Spaniards
waited for him. IIt is a wide esplan-
ade now, green and gray, high up
over -looking the Sound. Drake's
statue stands on the Hoe, so does the
War Memorial of 3914-15. It is a
windy place. Below it in the harbor
camouflaged destroyers are forever
on the move, and the flying boats of
Coastal Command take off and land
with the ease and frequency of sea-
gulls, Engines roar perpetually from
Mount Batten airdrome, and far on
the horizon rises Eddystone Light-
house.
Here on this remarkable stage,
the Hoe, the people of Plymouth
dance now in the evenings. After the
blitz of April 1941, the people were
without a dance hall, It was Lady
Astor, their member of Parliament
for the Sutton Division, who said:
"Let's dance on the Hoe," So they
dance, night after night in the salty,
sharp air.
'T11 be waiting in'• apple -blossom
the "mike" for them the evening I
was there; and they sang with her,
gently and contentedly, as they
Just below them the destroyers mov-
ed in and out, steady and noiseless,
and at their backs the emptied, bro-
ken roofs of Plymouth stood up
against the sky, waiting for victory
and reconstruction,
This broken Plymouth swarms
with people, and is extraordinarily
alive and busy. However, though
many buildings niay have fallen
down, it continues to be an immense-
ly important service station and fort-
ress town, The greater number of its
own citizens must naturally carry
on, no natter how blitzed—and the
ordinary people of Plymouth are
managing to engage again in their
businesses and professions with con -
Most interesting of all the reasons
siderable patience and ingenuity.
for the great crowds of people to be
seen everywhere is that the natives
of this town, I am told, make bad
exiles from, it, and are reluctant,
homesick evacuees. This need to be
at home, to get back home, whatever
the cost, is strong, in the people of
Devon and Cornwall—and now in
Plymouth it is clear that however
many of its roofs may be gone, anil
whatever the complications or dan-
gers of its temporarily disrupted
life, its people prefer to stay where
they belong, to see life through at
home, for better or worse.
It is a touching and gallant quali-
ty. It makes large, immediate prob-
lems for the city authorities, natur-
ally. But they are sympathetic to it,
and realize that in time of trouble a
city needs its own people, and can
only revive in the warmth and vital-
ity they give it. So Plymouth has not
been cleared of those who desire to
stay in their hone town.
Instead, everything possible is be-
ing done to encourage all the natural
bravery and local patriotism of the
citizens. Hostels, clubs, social and
educational centers, day nurseries,
canteens, dance halls—all these are
being developed either from old
foundations or as fresh enterprises,
to meet every kind of need. Lord
Astor, Lord, Mayor of the town, and
Lady Astor work for Plymouth with
endless devotion and generosity.
So Plymouth lives, more busily
and responsibility than ever. It is
salvaging its ruins—the women of
Plymouth have proved to be magni-
ficent salvage workers—and turning
all its waste to ultimate great ac-
count.
in regard to waste and salvage,
here is a story I was told in Deven-
port. An elderly woman had a griev-
ance against her local authority. She
wanted bricks to build a shelter in
her garden. The authority had no
bricks to spare, and kept on regret-
fully telling her so. Then one night
in a raid the house carne down and
buried her: After seven hours :nide-
the ruins she was dug out, alive and
only -a little injured. When they lift-
ed her into what had been her street
she looked about her at the acres of
tumbled masonry, and said: "Now he
won't be able to say he has no
bricks."
No, Plymouth has bricks—plenty
of them, with which to build a future
as grave, steady and characteristic
as her past. She is more alive than
ever. It is a good symbol of her pre-
sent mood that flowers grow on the
rubble. It is a fine place to visit
now, It is fine to see the dancing on
the Hoe, to talk with the cheerful
people and hear them explain, so
simply, what they have been through
and how they are defeating their
time," a little girl was singing into catastrophe. It is fine to hear them
singing, sentimentally and simply—
"I'11 be waiting in apple -blossom
time."
Feeds for Horses
Working or Idle
For the idle horse in winter o rfor.
horses that merely require what may
be termed a maintenance ration, it is
recommended that for every hundred
pounds of the horse's weight one
pound of mixed hay, one pound of
clean straw, and one pound of turnips
be fed. To this might be added a
small feed daily of bran and oats in
equal parts. Ensilage, although some-
times used in place of turnips and
straw, is not a standard horse feed.
;Feeding mouldy ensilage, which some
authorities claim induces spinal men-
ingitis should be avoided.
For the farm horse at average work
the following mixtures and methods
of feeding have been found particul-
arly satisfactory: A grain mixture of
5 parts whole oats, 2 parts bran, at
the rate of one pound per hundred
pounds of the weight of the horse,
fed in conjunction with hay (either
clean timothy or mixed timothy and
clover) at the same rate.
For the horse on very heavy work,.
the above grain mixture should be
concentrated by using 5 pants of oats
to one part of bran, and fed at the
rate of 13/4 pounds per 100 pounds of
the weight of the horse, three times
a day.
Toprovide comfort in travel for
casualties of all branches of
the Canadian Active Services re-
turned 'from the overseas war
zones, officers of the Royal Cana-
dian Army Medical. Corps and
engineers, of the Canadian Na-
tional Railways have developed a
new model hospital oar designed
to accommodate twenty-eight bed
cases. The all -steel car was con-
verted in the Mortretal shops of
the National Railways and sent
to Ottawa 'for inspection by Hon.
J. L. Ralston, Minister of Defence,
and officers of the RCAMC and
the Quartermaster -General's de-
partment. Col. E. L. Stone, of
Ottawa, embarkation medical of-
ficer, designed the interior layout
in co-operation with Canadian Na-
tional Railways car experts. At
the inspection, Col. Ralston highly
praised the designers and the'
railwaymen for their fine work.
Below is a floor plan of the
car. The conventional berths have
been replaced by spring beds
slung in steel frames, upper and
lower, with safety webbing for
the protection of patients. The
ward section is clear, spacious
and airy and well -lighted. At one
end is a room to be used as dis-
pensary and diet kitchen, its
equipment including a . refriger-
ator. At the other end is a wash
zoom. The car has wide side doors
so that stretchers can be conveni-
ently Iifted in or out.
Left: Brig.' Lett, recently re-
turned from Overseas, tests the
ward beds and pronounces them
as being comfortable.
Right: The interior of the car
showing the "Ward". Standard
railway budding is used. Each bed
has 'a small hammock 'for the
patient's clothes with a holdall
for his small 'possessions.
A - WARD B -ADMITTING ROOM C- DIET KITCHEN & DISPENSARY D - UPPER & LOWER COTS
The larger proportion of the hay
should be fed at night. When the
horses are ,idle, reduce the grain to
one -ball. Bran; fed too liberally, when
horses are on very hard work, is too
laxative. However, bran mashes be-
fore idle days, particularly on Satur-
day nights, are necessary. Further
information will be found in the pub-
lication "The Feeding of Horses" and
may be obtained by writing to Pub-
licity and Extension Divison, Domn-
ion Department of Agriculture, Ot-
tawa.
"Do you like that cake, Mrs.
Smith?"
"Yes, my dear, very much."
"That's funny, 'cause mother said
you hadn't any taste."
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