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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1941-01-16, Page 2Saving Ontario's Natural Resources G. C. TONER o(iteration of Ontario Anglers (NO. 25) fi USE 7M EXHIBITS in my article last week I told bow the Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology was developed with. the aid of the collections of the University of Toronto and the Normal School. Other institu- ttons and individuals contributed also to the growth of the R. O. M. Z. An important collection of Canadian material carne from Dr, J. H. Garnier, a naturalist - physician of Lucknow, Ontario, This collection, received by the 'University of Toronto Museum in 1891, was especially rick in amphibians and reptiles, but con- tained soni.e birds and mammals as well. Just last week I exam- ined some of the reptiles collect- ed by Dr. Garnier, in connection with work I am doing. This illus- trates bow important these old collections are to present day atudents for in his material are creatures now almost extinct in Ontario. Canadian Animals Preferred The Loyal Canadian Institute was another important contribu- tor to•the Royal Ontario Museum. This institution was founded in 1849 and built up a collection of natural history objects which were greatly increased in 1885 when the amalgamation of the Natural History Society of To- ronto occurred. This society had a considerable collection of birds and maninials that were added to the Museum of the Institute and the whole transferred to the R. 0. M. in 1924. In 1914 when the Royal On- tario Museum of Zoology was created the zoological collections were given a gallery on the top floor of the original museum building on Bloor street, Toron- to, and the staff started to build up the exhibits. In the selection of material, preference was given to Canadian animals, although many exotica such as parrots, birds of paradise and foreign game birds were included. The exhibit, as finally assembled, in- cluded a fairly representative collection of the birds of Cana- da, a much less adequate repre- sentation of Canadian mammals and a very poor collection of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. It was soon found that a public museum needed more exhibits so taxidermists were em- ployed to add many animals to the mounted groups. Dr. E. 3t. Walker, now head of the De- partment of Biology at the Uni- versity of Toronto, prepared a series of exhibits of the inverte- brates, the insects, worms, spid- ers and other creatures of the waters and soils. Air -Conditioned Doghouse Made Now comes the air-conditioned doghouse. Milton . Worth, Deal, N.J„ fire truck driver, spent $65 and three weeks of spare time building the canine cottage for a pair of hounds he expects to buy. Fea- tures et the house, which is four by three by four feet in dimen- sions, include plate glass wind- ows with eastern and northern exposure, a screened ventilator tower, walls insulated with rock wool, asbestoc shingles, and a porch. The windows can be tak- en out in summer and submitted for with screens and venetian blinds, says Mr. Worth. The Bok Shell "WORLD'S END" Sy Upton Sinclair "World's End" is the story of Lanny Budd, a young American, moving in the highest and most elangerous society in the Europe of only yesterday. The son of a beau- tiful and impulsive woman and a powerful munitions -king, he was privileged to live behind the ecene.s of world events — in: Riv- iera villas, feudal castles, Parisian salons, and Thames -side manors, His path crossed the threads of Sir Been Zaharoff's web; he took part in the Peace Conference and wathhed Woodrow Wilson try to remake the map of Europe; he talked with Lincoln Steffens and learned through him of Soviet (•s - The story of Lanny Budd mattes a novel In the great narrative tra- dition, but mere than that it sum- marizes an era. It is the intimate record --- told frequently in terns Of the real-life participants -- of as great world which fell victim to its own civilization and whose death march was the overture to ti isew world about to be born, l'Worfd'is End" . by Upton ►rlekale ... Toronto: MacMillan Comoony of Canada . , . $3,00, Canadian Engineers at Work hi Britain Canadian troops who rallied to the side of the motherland are shown here in training somewhere in England. At TOP, Canadian engineers are getting boats into position as the first step in the building of a bridge across a river. BELOW, outposts in pneumatic boat keep watch while the bridge -building operation is carried on by comrades. In the event of the long -threatened invasion becoming reality; almost every bridge in certain sections of England would be demolished im- mediately. ermommommormsterrimmossatimMeraYmonfter THE W AR -WEE K ---Commentary on Current Events Roosevelt Asks U. S. To Risk War For Democracies ''We Americans are vitally concerned In your defense of freedom . . . 'We shall send you, in ever-increasing num- bers, ships, planes, tanks, guns. This is our purpose and our pledge." At a moment "unprecedented in the history of the Union," Presi- dent Roosevelt last week made his initial address to the new seventy- seventh Congress of .the United States in which he caked tor full material aid to the embattled de- mocracies (Britain, Greece, China —but chiefly Britain), asked for "authority and funds" to produce more munitions and war supplies to be "leased -lent" to countries fighting the Axis. U. S. Involvement Likely The face of the United States was now set in the direction of war. It Congress should grant the President's pleas, the U. S. rapidly would find itself on a war footing wlth increased chances of the na- tion becoming a belligerent. Speaking at the University of North Carolina, former U. S. Am- bassador to France William C. Bull- itt declared that the United States in aiding Britain, Greece and China would be taking the risk of war, but, he said, "we know what the consequences of totalitarian vic- tory would be for us" -- there would be a tougher war to fight later. Sea Power, The Hub Sea power would continue to be the hub upon which the British cause revolved. Obviously active steps would have to be taken very soon to protect transport to Bri- tain of American production. The United States would have, in some way, to furnish more trans-Atlantic shipping aid, — most likely through American naval escorts for con- 'eoys. in all likelihood it would be accomplished by the division of the Th S. Navy into three fleets—At- lantic, pacific and Asiatic --only one ot whieh would be int; olved directly in aiding Britain. Long War Likely The possibility strengthened dur- ing the week that the war would develop into a long one, A quick decision, an early end to the con- flict could come in only. two ways: through a successful invasion • of England by Hitler — but neutral military experts believed the odds were too heavily against like; through a negotiated peace — but President Roosevelt -categorized such an eventuality. as "nonsense." * s Germany Takes Over As a potent factor in the war, Italy, by virtue of the sweeping British victories in North Africa and the Greek counter-attacks in Albania, would soon be 'out,' it was believed In most quarters last week. But quickly as. Italian military power was fading in the Mediter- ranean, just as swiftly were Ger- man strategists, diplomats, tech- nicians preparing to take over: Italy's job of cleaning up on the Balkans, driving towards the Near East and Suez. Putting On The Screws First, the Nazis set going a gi- gentio propaganda movement In southeastern Europe, designed, ac- cording to New York Times' cor- respondent Gedye, to keep the populations of the Balkan states in a state of jitters. Then they sent troops by the hundreds of thousands to line practically every Balkan border — from the Black Sea along the Bulgarian border; up the Yugoslav frontier and con- centrated in the southern prov- inces of Rustria; along the Rus- sian frontiers of Rumania and in Hungary. Then they re -opened with increasing force their diplomatic offensive against Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, to draw them into signing a pact with the Axis and permitting passage of troops doWh into Greece. Simultaneously, the Germans sent tanks into Albania to stem the Greek advance; poured thous- ands of troops into Italy to be ready to take over should the Fas- cist regime ot Mussolini fall. • * * Farmers Meet The eyes of the people of Ontario were fixed during the week upon two events of major political im- • portance in the Dominion --- the Conference In Ottawa on the Row- e11-Sirois Report; and the meeting in London, Ontario, of Federal Mir:- ister of Agriculture Gardiner with Ontario farm representatives to confer on n minimum. price tor but- ter. The formation of a non-partisan farmers' union under provincial government auspices was expected at an early date. (The. Gov- ernment is alarmed about the situ- ation in Ontario, where farmers, resentful over the reduction of prie- es for hogs, butter, milk, cream.. and other products, are liquidating their herds and selling their breed- ing stock). No New Provincial Taxes Good news for Ontarioans: In. a New Year's message to The Wind- sor Star, Premier Mitchell F. Hep- burn declared that the best con- tribution to the war effort the province could make was to main- tain Ontario's sound financial posi- tion. At the same time he pledged that his budget for the fiscal year commencing April 1 next, would include no new taxes, no increas- es in present taxation and no low ening of existing taxation exemp- tions. Ontari -Born Artists' Show Paintings of Torn Thomson and Horatio Walker Are Being Shown in a Special Exhibition at the Art Gal- lery of Toronto in January The Art Gallery of Toronto is featuring during the month of January special exhibitions of the paintings of Tom Thomson and Horatio Walker. These two men, both born in Ontario small towns, had very different careers.. Both started in commercial art houses in To- ronto and left them to devote all their time to painting. Walk- er travelled in Europe and the United States: Thomson stuck to Algonquin Park and the north country. Walker settled on the Island of Orleans and painted the life of the habitants: Thomson . did not bring people into his pic- tures but was always completely absorbed in nature, expressing the brilliant colour and forceful impact he felt in the Canadian wilderness. Both were self- taught but the influences affect - them, the friends they made, the artistic forces which moulded them, were completely unrelated. Walker painted in the tradition of the Barbizon school , while Thomson worked out a highly decorative and stylized form of expression all his own. Walker was one of the most successful painters in America and his can- vasses, many of them purchased in his lifetime, come to the ex- hibition from different sources, from public, and private collect- ions in Washington, New York, Pittsburg, St. Louis and various Canadian cities. He died at the age of 82 in 1938. Before his untimely death in 191'7 Thomson was known only to a few artists, but his reputation has continued to grow until now there is no Canadian painter who is more universally admired. City: .of Caverns Old London; in these times, would be fortunate if the city - were constructed as Paris iss :for the French capital is built largely of stone brought, not from far distant provinces, but from under the very ground on which it stands. Because of this, there is a ready- made underground city about one-tenth the size of Paris. One section of this cave contains the. Catacombs, where rest the bones of some six million. Another zone consists of vast layers of gypsum or plaster stone. The Quarry Service has cut into this sector tunnels which 'follow ac- curately the courses of the aven- ues above. Ordanee ,naps have been made of this system, show- ing springs, galleries, rooms, arches, pillars and reinforcements. Had the government of France decided to defend the city, the people could have occupied this underground fortress and defied Hitler's bombers till Doomsday. VOICE OF THE PRESS GRIM HUMOR Perhaps it was a grim seuse of humor which led the Department of National Revenue to choose Christmas Day for a statement about the 1941 income tax, and vice on how to meet its higher schedules, -Ottawa Journal, —o— AGE LIMIT. FOR GUNS Two boys aged 13 were out hunt- ing near Sudbury, and one of them, who thought his rifle was empty, accidentally shot the other dead. There should be an age limit for carrying guns, just as there is an ago limit for driving cars. —Stratford Beacon-Iderald. _o— SHOULD DRESS FOR IT The arrival of sub -Arctic spells each Winter would not mean a thing to us if we only had a little more foresight. For it is a simpler matter to be comfortable in ex- tremes •. of cold than in extremes of heat, because heat is harder to get away from, As someone once put it—it is easier to warm one- self up than to cool oneself down. One reason why we do not ex- actly welcome our annual spells of below -zero weather is that we have not yet learned to dress properly. in the Northwest Ter- ritories and in Siberia 50 below is not uncommon. Yet travelers tell us that people in those places suf- fer far less discomfort than we do when it is a mere five below. That is because they dress for it. Walking down the main street of any Canadian city with the then- ammeter registering minus 30, the .average city -bred Canadian looks pretty much like the average Lon- doner or New Yorker. Following the fashions set elsewhere we wear clothes never designed to ward off the extrembs of frigidity we know we must expect. —Winnipeg Tribune. Sleep for Months if you want to sleep all through tke winter, run along to a sliecial- ist and have your pituitary glands cut out. Men who have made glands their life study say _that it is mere- ly a. lack of pituitary secretion which causes certain animals to. hibernate through the dark months, and that if they are given injec- tions of pituitary extract they would wake up and become live- ly. All experiments so far have been conducted on hibernating ani- mals, and it is not known for cer- tain whether the same effect would be produced on human beings suf- fering • from sleepy sickness. It is thought unlikely, for this sickness is the result of a germ. Pituitary extracts, however, have worked wonders for people who are un- nat..rally sluggish and find it ddf- ficult to concentrate. Cate:Canada's Nom 1 Athlete Quebec Marathon , Runner Wins Official Award Made By Board of Preeminent Sportsmen -- Norah Mc- Carthy, Figure Skater, Seo' and Gerard Cote, one of the great., est marathon runners ever de- veloped in North America, was • announced as winner of the Lou P. Marsh Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the .out- standing Canadian athlete, male or female, picked by a board of prominent Canadian sportsmen. NOT CANADIAN CHAMPION The 27 -year-old St, .Hyacinthe, Que., runner was only beaten once in 1940 and his other vic- tories over -balanced that 'one de- feat — in the Canadian cham- pionship marathon at Torrento. His -methods' of training, his al- most unparallelled stamina and, through all his triumphs, his mo- desty made him almost unani- 'mous choice of the board of Se- lection. Runner-up was Norah McCar- thy of North Bay, • Ont., and Ot- tawa, who early this year de- throned Mary, Rose Thacker of Winnipeg as Canadian figure- skating champion. So Cote joins that illustrious group of Canadian athletes who each year since 1936 have been chosen as recipients of the award commemorating the late Lou E. Marsh, former Toronto Star sports editor and widely -read columnist. • WEIGHS ONLY 125 POUNDS First winner, in 1936, was Dr. Phil Edwards, Canadian Olympic runner in 1932 and 1936. Other winners were: Bob Pearce, Ham- ilton, Ont., sculIer, 1937; Marshal Cleland, Toronto horseman and equine authority, 1938; and Bob Pirie, swimmer, formerly of To- ronto, 1939. The little French-Canadian— he is Iess than five feet, five inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds—was known mainly by name only when he won the Bos- ton Marathon early last summer. Snake Tannery Snakes from many parts of the world go,,up the Thames in Eng- land to a tannery near London Bridge as a raw material for a bus- iness which is thriving in spite of r• -r•. Reptile skins, tanned, dyed and polished, sail across the North Sea and eventually become hand- bags, shoes and belts for the fash- ionable women of Sweden and her neutral neighbor gauntries. More than 1,000,000 snake and lizard skins reach the factory In a year, Germany, one of the chief reptile skin tanning countries, has been cut off from supplies, and the Bri- tish business with Scandanavian countries has notably Increased. LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher f.a (adP?rrtkf, 123s, ti» ?red Networ) "If 1 let you on with this load will you pay if it breaks? ! !" for the spring REG'LAR FELLERS -- For Emergencies Only By GENE BYRNES NOW Z WANT YOU BOYS T BEHAVE YOURSELVES/ THIS Ig A VERY STYLISH R TAURANT WHERE '"FOR LUf4C-1 31-1-H.14-1-1-1 i NOT SO LOUD,. `t'"DUMBBEII-pL�?p'�THEY I E IS PARKS/ IN CASE T'E'REAl< ONEt eeni