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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1948-01-15, Page 2Leaps At The Idea—Helen Hatfield, aquamaid, attractively demonstrates a feature of 1948 that a lot of gals are thinking about—it's Leap Year! Tractor Drivers Face Many Perils In Frozen North Under the flickering northern lights, the caravan of the snows moves steadily forward on its path across the frozen lakes twisting along forest trails. The gleaming headlights of a red or yellow tractor search ont the way around the bends of the portage roads, seeming something more than mere machines, Lyn Har- rington writes in The Chrisian Science Monitor. Behind them in serried ranks come the sleighs, their runners squeaking over the frosty snow, or slipping along noiselessly over "sugar -snow." A series of tractors, each pulling its own group of sleighs, lurches 'and pitches through the night and all the long day. They carry tons of pro- visions, oil, kerosene, plaid wind - breakers, and dressed iumber into the distant posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the northern missions, to free-traders and to the Depart- ment of Indian Affairs. Leave Barrels Throughout the north of Canada tractors have taken over the freight- ing job, formerly done by horse- power. In those days freight swings carried as much food for the horses as pay load. Today they carry furl oil, leaving caches of steel barrels here and there along the route. The massive tractors transport infinitely more than horses could. And though the costs of such transportation arc high, they are still considerably less than freighting by air. Tractor trains are one of Plc most Important features of the pie.tecr life still being led in many parts of the country. Many tractor swings launch out into the wilderness, breaking their own trails as they go. Steadily they plow their way out across the fields of ice and snow and slush which are the numerous lakes of the north. They may carry in food anti goods, or may travel in light, return- ing with loads of mining concen- trates, furs, pulpwood or frozen fish for the markets of the world. December to April The season is brief, usually from mid-December until breakup in April, when the lakes are unsafe for travel- ing. But during that time of severe weather the life is perilous and hard. At any moment the ice may give way without warning, and the tractor drop straight down through the sur- face, hauling the sleighs after it. The northern lakes are not to he trifled with. Perhaps the most dangerous job is that of the driver of the snowplow. He must be able to recognize danger signals, a 4hreadlike crack in the snow which means an opening in the Ice five feet below. He must recog- nize an air hole long before he ap- proaches It, and give it a wide berth, not only for himself but for his com- panions who come later. He must keep his directions firmly in mind, so that in a blizzard he does not find himself driving toward the open mouth of a river where the ice is thin. Lakes Best Roads The lakes provide the hest roads in the north country, since they are flat. At the right season of the year they arc strongly enough frozen to bear tremendous weights of machines and heavily laden sleighs Large lakes are by all odds the safest. There the strong wind blows the snow away and the ice forms thick. Muskeg lakes are most dangerous for the brackish water does not freeze pro- perly,`but makes slush ice. Often a road has to be cut around some of these lakes. And sometimes the lakes must be risked, since a road can be even more risky. Roads can- not be made over rocky country or over muskeg, for the muskeg road which rises and falls.with the passing weight of a tractor can swallow that tractor with almost as little warning as the ice itself. Tractor freighting has little fun attached to it. It is a life of eight hours' driving, then eight hours of sleeping, and back to the job again. Day and night the tractors rumble on their broad treads through un- settled wilderness. From the begin- ning of the season until spring break, up silences them, the machines are never shut off. The beat of their powerful engines throbs through the air, a new song of the north, OUT OUR WAY By J. R. Williams NO,:1 AIN'T BOTHERIN' HIM WITH PRACTICIN' COWBOY ROPIN' AGIN-- I'M MAKIN' DOUGHNUTS AN' THEY STRETeIi'BE- FORETKINGrr ro TH' STOVE ANY HE GOT HISSELF CAUGHT IN ONE OF 'EM! WELL, CUT our N,11 11-1' DOUGHNUT MAKIN' AN' GO YTO 'LOBO' -- I YOU'LL BOTHER HIM LESS; TH6 WORRY WAiZT 40041.M ktn,oFv�r% A Perfect Allbi By ANN HARRIS sergeant," Gilson insisted, last night at midnight I was . vine in bed. kle-" pointing to a pompous individual sitting near, "he didn't see me at that hotir.'He couldn't, unlesshe was up in my room," The other sneered, "Yeah," he said, "you were hone in bed, Your ghost, 1 suppose, was walking about at mid- night." The sergeant raised his hand for silence. ;1 -le had known Prank Gil- son, who he was questioning with regard to a burglary of the night be- fore, as a quiet family man, employ- ed as a mill accountant for a number of years, and always honest and trust- worthy. He was loath to believe that Gilson had now turned to burglary, breaking into a hardware store, cracking the safe and robbing it of $2,000. The mills, however, had been closed for nearly six month, and Gilson may have been driven to theft through need. He had a fanny to provide for. Although Howard Crossley, the pompous one who claimed to have seen Gilson fleeing from the vicinity of the store at midnight, was a new- comer to the town, yet he was re- spected by all who know him. The sergeant knitted his brows, It was a case of mistaken identity he felt sure. 'Maybe," Gilson spoke up, "May- be he robbed the safe himself." "What!" Crossley shouted. "How dare you intimate that I would do such a thing?" "Why did you say that?" the ser- geant asked Gilson. "Web," Gilson replied slowly, "one day last week I saw him ex- amining the back windows of the store. He noticed, too, that I was watching him. That is why he is now accusing me. It was through the back windows you say the bur- glars got in." Crossley spran6 to his feet. "You lie," he cried hoarsley, "you never saw me near the windows." THE sergeant told him to be quiet. Crossley apologized. "Now the man you saw near the store," .the sergeant asked Crossley, "you arc sure was Gilson? Perhaps you made a mistalce." "I made no mistakes," Crossley replied firmly. "It was he." Deanna Sings In Seven Languages Although she doesn't speak any foreign language, Deanna Durbin has sung in seven languages while making -multi-lingual versions of her pictures during her ten-year screen career. In her recent film, "I'll Be Yours," in which she re- turns to singing parts, Deanna had to sing in English, Spanish and German. Her method of learning a foreign language song is to have the lyrics spelled out phonetically. Then, with the aid of music, she learns the correct pronunciations very quickly. "But," she says, "if it weren't for the English version. I shouldn't have the faintest idea what I was singing about." Listed in the order of difficulty she exeperienced in learning them, the languages in which she has aunt,' to date are Chinese, Russian, German, French, Latin, Italian and Spanish. "English is not a good singing language because it has so many hard sounds." Deanna de- clares. I always have trouble learn- ing to sing "English lyrics cor- rectly." Not a Marked Copy The newlyweds were giving their first turkey dinner. Since her husband was a novice at carving Mrs. Newlywed insisted on his learning to carve from her new cook book, lest he display his ig- norance before the guests. The turkey was later placed be- fore the inexperienced host, who was plainly at a loss to know how to begin. "Go on, dear, carve it. You know exactly how to do it," whispered the loyal young wife. "Of course I do, but I can't find any of the dotted lines," came back the troubled answer. "Tell us again just how you came to be there at the time, and saw Gil- son coining away." "As 1 said before," he began, "1 had been at my office all evening. It was nearly midnight when I left. 'I walked down Main street, intending to gb to the restaurant, "At the corner of Alain and Pine streets, ttwhere the store is, I turned into Pine. The .restaurant where I usually lunch at the other end. When about in the middle of the block 1 noticed a man slinking close to the building, occasionally looking back- wards over his shoulder. When he. caught sight of me he jerked his arm up and polled his hat down over the side of his face, the side closest to me — the right side. I had already recognized him,` though.' it was Gil- son." "What did you do after that?" the sergeant asked. Crossley continued, "From the man's action I suspected that some- thing was wrong and started to hunt for the constable." "You positively identify Gilson as the person you saw?" "I do, I saw his face clearly be- fore he pulled his hat down." 411 the while Crossley was speak- ing, Gilson was listening attentively. 'Yon say," he asked finally, "that I pulled my hat doeon over my face and ren back! How could I see where' to run with,my /ace covered?" "I didn't say you covered your whole face," Crossley snapped.. "T said the right side. Your left eye was open :and I guess youcould see with that," "What are you laughting at, Gil- son?" the, sergeant broke in. "Un- less" you Can prove where you were last night, it may go hard.with you." Gilson made no reply but took off his spectacles and wiped them care- fully. Suddenly he pulled his left ' eye oett of its socket and handed it to the sergenat. ' The eye was glass. "He was slinking' close to the building." Drivers Warned Pall and Winter "Danger" Periods Of the 688 persons killed ht traffic accidents in Ontario in 1446, more than one-third lost their . lives in the last three months of the year, according to a survey made by the Ontario Department of highways. Urban accidents in Ontario start upward in autumn and rise untilafter the year-end. The last quarter of the year is the worst period for, traffic accidents in the cities ,'ltd towns. Motorists and pedestrians are urged to use every precaution to meet -the extra traf- fic hazards imposed by the fall and winter months. Though there is les; travel in the last, quarter of the year than in the summer months, this condition is offset by bad weather and poor visi- bility. Darkness comes sooner and the rush hour finds thousands of employees homeward bound in the twilight. Slippery streets caused by frost, ice, rain or fog are addi- tional hazards, and the first freeze-up in Ontario each year al- ways results in a sharp increase in accid tits. Training of homing pigeons starts when they are about four weeks old. -i THE R, r,�� BAS "".�tlw: ' r n� , `` .{ d D A , „tr General Statement, 29th November, 1947 ASSETS Notes of and deposits with Bank of Canada ....., ... , .. $ 162,276,927.93 Other cash andbank balances 169,001,082.93 Notes of and cheques on other banks 70,779,865.93 Government and other public securities 875,847,469.18 Other bonds, debentures and stocks 116,509,788.71 Call and short loans fully secured 42,512,791.49 $1,436,927,926.17 Commercial loans in Canada . 435,872,162.46 Loans to provincial governments 4,331,251.20 Loans to cities, towns, municipalities and school districts8,117,482.00 Commercial loans—foreign 118,717,442.19 Bank premises 10,631,002.53 Liabilities of customers under acceptances and letters of credit 72,190,306.81 . Other assets 6,853,645.25 Total Assets $2,093,641,218.61 e LIABILITIES Notes in circulation $ 4, 760, 709.72 Dominion and provincial government deposits 88,980,316.16 Other deposits 1,845,205,532.97 Acceptances and letters of credit outstanding 72,190,306.81 Other liabilities 3,095,547.02 Capital 35,000,000.00 Reserve fund 40,000,000.00 Unpaid dividends 934 559.38 Balance of Profit and Loss Account 3,474,246.55 Total Liabilities $2,093,641,218.61 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT Profits for the year ended 29th November, 1947, before Dominion and Pro- vincial Government taxes, but after contributions to Staff Pension Fund, and after appropriations to Contingency Reserves, out of which Reserves provision for all bad and doubtful debts has been made $8,724,519.48 Less provision for Dominion and Provincial Government taxes $2,850,000.00 Less provision for depreciation of Bank Premises 892,687.01 3, 742, 687.01 $4,981,832.47 Dividends: No. 238 at 8% per annum $700,000,00 No. 239 at 8% per annum 700,000.00 No. 240 at 8% per annum 700,000,00 No. 241 at 10% per annum 875,000.00 2,975,000.00, Amount carried forward $2,006,832.47 Balance of Profit and Lose Account, 30th November, 1946 .. 1,467,414.08 Balance of Profit and Loss Account, 29th November, 1947 $3,474,246.55 SYDNEY G. 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