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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1963-07-18, Page 2' Since 1860, Serving the Community First Published at SEAFO1tTl , ONTARIO, every Thursday morning by McLEAN BROS., Publishers ANDREW Y. McLEAN, Editor Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Audit Bureau of Circulation , Subscription Rates: Canada (in advance) $2.50 a Year Outside Canada (in advance) $4,00 a Year • A� SINGLE COPIES -- 10 CENTS EACH Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa. v:e4 The to SEAFORT1I, ONTARIO, JULY 18, 1968 Clamour Denies The •political clamour which follow- ed the presentation of the Gordon bud- get has had the effect of drowning out serious consideration of many of the features which the budget contained. This was probably one of the results the opposition had in mind, when it be- gan the attack. Any budget changes involving in- creases in taxation inevitably encourage howls of anguish. Faced as he was with the problem of raising revenue to meet the deficit and commitments which the Pearson Government had inherited, the Finance Minister had no alternative to increases at some point. In deciding on an extension of the tax on building materials, Mr. Gordon was of the opinion it would do less harm than any other levy that was feasible. After all, it was only extending to the building industry a tax already borne by most other industries and, in fact, reintroduced a tax that for many years had been in existence. There will be inequalities, true, and perhaps application of the tax will dis- close side effects that perhaps had not been contemplated. Certainly, one such result is that which concerns mobile homes, such as those manufactured by General Coach Works at Hensall. The new tax application ignores the fact that today a mobile home is in fact a home in every sense of the word, and comparable, and in many cases superior, , to the average modern home being built in town or •city. In the case of the mobile home the tax is applied to . the finished products, including wages and all the costs of overhead, rather than on the cost of the material entering in- to the construction. Among the new approaches which the budget introduced, and which has been lost sight of in the battle of words, is the provision under which the Gov- ernment will pay up to $75 a month for a period of 12 months, to employers for each new worker over 45 they engage between November 1, 1963, and Janu- ary 31, 1964, and who has been out of work for six months or more. Commenting on the matter, the To- ronto Star says : "The problem has been recognized and discussed for many years, but this is the first attempt by a Budget Discussion Canadian government to do anything about it. "The bonus program is an experi- ment and it is too early to predict how well it will work. Mr. Gordon himself noted in his budget speech that it will require careful administration and is 'not without difficulties or risks.' But it has two great points in its favor: "It should cost the taxpayer relative- ly little, as compared to other welfare measures. Nearly everyone who gets a job under the scheme will be taken from the ranks of those on relief, and the cost of the bonus will be offset by the ending of welfare payments. "If it succeeds, it may- have benefits far beyond the 12 -month period, and indeed beyond the number of those who are given jobs. It should serve as an education to employers in the employ- ment of older workers, and this help to break down the prejudice against these workers which has grown up in the last three or four decades." Slips Into Type There is always 'the possibility of error. It seems, however, that those engaged in the printing industry are more error prone than the average. Here, for example, are some slips that passed in the type: "Our paper carried the notice last week that Mr. is a defective in the police force. This was a typrogra- phical error. Mr. is really a de- tective in the police farce." "For Sale—Young dressed birds. Ab- solutely clean and ready for the roos- ter." "Piano for Sale—By Southern lady with carved mahogany legs. "Beauty rest mattress for sale by de- tached Government girl stuffed with feathers!' "English bull terrier for sale. Eats anythinganythinei Very fond of children." "The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of all kinds. They may be seen in the basement of the church on Thursday evening." "Other restaurants have increased their prices but our dinners are the shame as before." IN THE YEARS AGO'NE Interesting items gleaned from The Expositor of 25, 50 and 75 years ago. From The Huron Expositor July 15, 1938 The bulk tender of H. Edge, Seaforth contractor, for the ad- dition to the Seaforth. Colleg- iate Institute, was accepted at a special meeting of the board on Monday. Extensive changes in the present building are to be completed for school open- ing. The tender was $28,360. Left lying in a roadside ditch for nearly two -hours, the victim of a hit-and-run driver, Charlie Wood, 15 -year-old son of Mrs. Lottie Wood, Seaforth, found he escaped with only minor head injuries and a possible rib frac- ture. Hawkers and peddlers who canvass Seaforth residents may expect a summons in future, council decided on Monday eve- ning, when they Iearned the extent to which • the nuisance has grown. 'in recent years. Council instructed Constable James V. Ryan to lay charges against two ransient fruit ped- dlers. Mr. John Elder, well-known Hensall contractor, had a nar- FIA6F�VAST 1'EEN TH/5 /5 ONE GATE WE ;WW1" HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MONEY. I HAVE/V'T ANY. rut tout row escape from fatal injury last meek when he fell 25 feet from a roof on the residence of R. Y. McLaren, south of .the village. From The Huron Expositor July 18, 1913 The Goderich Star, in refer- ring to the Union Sabbath School excursionists from Sea - forth last week, says: "They were a pretty good looking crowd." Of course they were! What eine did the Star expect considering where they came from? County Constable Whitesides of Hensall had a couple of Dub- lin merchants appear before Police Magistrate Holmsted on Monday to answer the charge of peddling in this county with- out a license. One of the mer- chants was convicted and the other was acquitted. The cadet corps of the Col- legiate Institute left on Mon- day for London to spend a week in camp. They are under the charge of Mr. Miller, their teacher. They looked fine in new uniforms. Mr. G. A. Reeves, the light- ning rod king, is a busy man these days protecting barns from lightning. -Mr. Reeves is an expert at the business and always makes a good job. From The Huron Expositor July 20, 1088 Much anxiety is now being felt on account of the growing crops. This anxiety is due to the exeeedingly dry weather which has prevailed for the past two months. On the farm of Mr. Alexan- der Stewart, 16th concession, Gfey Township, and near the banks of the creek, a large num- ber of Indian arrowheads have been found. They are neatly 4haped out of stone and will serve to .keep as Telles of the 1101'18 n*s handiSyntk "Blevins, what's this nonsense about you—think we • should air-condition the office?" J Some people are addicted to drugs, others to drink, some to the weed, others to women. Teachers are addicted to sum- mer courses. Why? . Ask a teacher and he'll tell you, "To improve my profes- sional competence." Ask the chairman of the school board and he'll tell you, "So he can demand more money?' Ask the teacher's wife, if you want the real truth: "So he can get down to the city there and have a big time running around and living it up while I'm stuck here at home with the kids." They're all equally right. That's why I've been taking a Refresher Course in English. And don't think it hasn't been 'refreshing. It started off in rip - snorting style and the pace hasn't let up for a minute. Girls, drink, bawdy conversation and wild reunions with old com- rades. I' hadn't really intended to get involved in anything beyond a few love affairs and half a dozen nights on the town. That's why I picked .out what I thought was a fairly quiet spot to stay. My illusions were dispelled ev- en before I got dressed in the morning. There was a surrep- tious tap on my door. I opened it and was confronted by two young ladies, both stark naked and grinning broadly. Talk about your Profumo af- fair. "Hi, Unca Bill!" chortled my nieces, JennS and Susie, ag- ed four and three. Well, that wasn't so bad. I'm used to bare - bottomed little girls, and these were the only ones I had any- thing to ,do with while I was away, so help me, Mom. , But the drink was another matter. I couldn't seem to stay off it, without the old Trouble 'n' Strife there to keep an eye on me. Morning, noon and night, I was into the stuff. I'm so sick of coffee it'll be a joy to get home, where a man can have an honest beer after a hard day's work watching the starlings decorating his new pie. nic table. - Then there was the shocking conversation I was exposed to. At home, the dialogue runs on pretty conventional lines. You know, stuff like, "When are you going to cut the grass? The place looks like The Petrified Forest." Or, "Hey, Dad, will ydu take us for a swim and play badminton with us and go bowl- ing with us and give us our allowance and buy some water- melon and ice cream and a boat so we can go waterskiing and can drive the car?" Petty tame stuff. But on the course, there were no restraints. Just a bunch of men, out for a good time, and no holds bar- red. You should have heard us throwing the bawdy talk around. Like, "Yeah, my old woman's the same. Sorta owIy." And, "Yup, t?fese modern kids are spoiled rotten." A n d, "Guess I godda gedda new car. Body's shot." And a lot of stimu- lating stuff like that. But this was nothing compar- ed to the wild times at night. That's when we really cut loose. I'll never forget the first, night I threw caution to the winds. Met a couple of the boys down- town in a bar and had a pretty raucous time, talking about how they had a hell of a time get- ting their kids to practise the piano, too. Well, sir, they just couldn't stay with me. They faded. There .1 was, :at 8:30 p.m., rar• ing ;to cgo, And .by sheer chance, SUGAR and SPICI3 By Bill Smiley I got into a terrific reunion with some old mates. It was the night of the premiere of The Great Escape, and I was pass- ing the movie house. I wander- ed into the lobby, told the door- man I was an old prisoner -of - war (what the film was about) and he told me to go on in. * 0 ,05 It was a thrilling 'show. At least that's what the critics said about it, in next day's papers. I snoozed. After the show, the old P.O.W.'s came out, grand in rented white dinner jackets and fat wives with borrowed mink stoles. And there was old EImer, large as life. In fact, twice as large. I hadn't seen old "El," as I called him„ since the day the Russians liberated our camp, back in May, 1945. He hadn't seen me since then, either. As you can imagine, it was a hil- arious reunion. Nothing would do but that I'd have a drink with him. We went off with our arms around each other's shoulders. At least, as far as they'd reach. Mine wouldn't go much past the nape of his neck. He had grown. Sideways. 05 0 '05 We were just getting nicely into our reunion., and swearing we'd reforge the strong bonds of those days behind• the wire, and bring our families to visit each other, when El asked if I'd gone straight back to Cal- gary when I was discharged from the air force. As I've nev- er been in Calgary in my life, I was rather taken aback. A few minutes later, it had been revealed that Elmer's name was Elwood Middlehouse, and that he thought'mine was Bill Wiley, who'd slept in the bunk above his in Stalag Luft 3. I was in Stalag Luft 1. We parted rather coolly, trying ,to out -fumble each other for the check. 05 0 There's nothing quite as re- freshing as a refresher course. At least, I can tell my wife that I led my class. Down to the cafeteria every day, for coffee break. A SMILE OR TWO "What do you mean," roared the politician, "by publicly in- sulting me in your rag of a paper? I will not stand for it and I demand an immediate apology." "Just a ' iinute," answered the editor. "Didn't the news ap- pear exactly ,as you gave it to us, namely that you had resign- ed as city treasurer?" "It did, but look where you put it ... right in the column under the heading, Public Im- provements." A student nurse had just broken her engagement to a re- cently graduated doctor. One day when she was talking about it, a friend was aghast. "You mean," the girl asked, "he ac- tually asked, you to give back all his presents?" "Not only that," said the nurse indignantly, "but he sent me a bill for 36 visits." "I'm suspicious of that fel- low in room 305," the hotel manager told the house detec- tive. , "You'd better go up and have a look around." When the detective came back downstairs the manager asked, 'Find any of our hotel towels Ili bis attitcase?" "NNo,» ansWeted the deteetive "but I found the chamborMai'�'• in his 'grip.' . ►ACDUFF OTTAWA IN THE BALANCE OTTAWA The future of Fi- nance Minister Walter Gordon hangs in the balance as mem- bers of Parliament and the pub- lic consider his alterations to the budget. Most Conservative members are convinced that Mr. Gordon is through as Finance Minister. They think that Mr. Gordon's great and good friend Prime Minister Pearson will quietly move him to another post be- fore the next budget, and many Liberals subscribe to this view. But there are others who say that Mr. Gordon should be giv- en another chance. They argue that he has an opportunity to rehabilitate himself because of the budget "improvements". Al- though prepared to abandon the Finance Minister on the basis of his first budget they now con- tend that he has a 50-50 chance to survive. Certainly his survival as Fi- nance Minister is by no means a sure thing, but his chances of hanging on may have been materially improved by the amended budget he introduced into the House July 8th. The first attempt was definitely a "bad budget"; the second at- tempt was a great improvement. How Mr. Gordon handles his amended budget resolutions in the House will undoubtedly play a major role in determin- ing whether or not he is to re- main as Minister. More so than any of the many highly -regarded persons who have come to Parliament, con- fident that they can easily make their mark in that big league, he has had a bad time. Mr. Gordon arrived in Ottawa with it generally accepted that he was to be Finance Minister. He was the man : who had the answers Or the country's econ- omic problems, the Liberals sug- gested as they campaigned for office. Never has a man taken the post of Finance Minister with a bigger billing. The Liberals had announced that within the first 60 days of taking office there would be more decisions taken • and more action than under any previous administration. That bo a s t made in the heat of the elec- tion campaign imposed a dead- line on the new Government that forced quick decisions. Mr Gordon found himself with a heavy load of work and decid- ed to bring in three experts from Toronto to help. Later as the deadline neared and it became necessary to get to work on the preparation of the budget, Mr. Gordon asked the experts to drop their work on legislation and turn their attention to the budget. They took the oath of secrecy and be- gan working, but it was over- looked that two of them were still on the payrolls of their" Bay Street firms,. No secret was made of the fact that there were three "out- side consultants" helping the Finiance Minister. In fact, there were rumblings • of resentment from within the Finance Depart- ment that these so-called ex- perts were proceeding with measures that the knowledge able people within the Depart- ment were afraid would lead to, all sorts of difficulties. Any protests that "might have been made were dismissed as prompt- ly by jealousy. It was an awk- ward situation and did not make Mr. Gordon's task any easier. Moat Liberals would have pre- ferred that the Finance Minis- ter be content with a relative- ly simple budget as a stand-by until the first 60 • days were passed.They would have liked to ,see the_Finance Minister put off innovations until his second budget. .But Mr. Gordon is not the kind of man who wants to stall. A man of action he faced up to the job of preparing his first budget. He now points out that it is the most complex and does more things and embraces more segments of the economy than any other budget in recent his- tory. That is one reason why the Finance Minister got into trouble. He attempted, to do too :touch too quickly. Members of the Liberal Gov- ernments were taken aback at the nature and content of Mr. Gordon's first budget. - It was far more sweeping than they had anticipated. It was daring and experimental. It backfired. As the impact of the budget-' ary measures became known across the country a howl of protest went up. It was picked up and echoed by the opposi- tion members. _ Already the Fi- nance Minister was in trouble in the House because of the evasive answers he had given to questions about the employ- ment of `outside consultants". There were charges that he had deliberately misled Parliament. It was a question of semantics. He was not frank and forthcom- ing in his replies. When the opposition sensed that he was holding back information they began howling for his scalp. As businessmen across the country began to realize that the budget was under heavy at- tack they joined the assault. Mr. Gorden was in deep trou- ble. Prime Minister Pearson put his Government on the line. He made it clear that there had been no violations of the secrecy and challenged the op- position to produce evidence of any wrong doings. Rumours circulated that Mr. Gordon had offered to resign. This was denied by the Prime Minister and Mr. Gordon. They had discussed the difficulties that had developed in the House and agreed to ride out• the storm. Mr. Gordon's resigna- tion was neither asked for nor offered. But will he stay in' his port- folio? His performance in handling the revised resolutions REPORT in the Hogs, e may provide a clue. If he fumbles the ball again he will definitely be on the way out. For the present Prime Minister Pearson turns aside any queries on Mr. Gor- don's future with the comment that the Finance Minister is in good health and should be able to stay on the job for years. The truth is that the Gordon affair is a complex of many fac- tors—of which twe are most important. First; the affair re- vealed clearly defects in Cana - adieu budget making proce- dures which were already ap- Parent—the Joint Committee of Lawyers and Chartered Account- ants had only a few months be- fore made a number of impor- tant recommendations to the previous Government for sub- stantial changes, which now seem quite likely to bear fruit. Second, the affair ' also re- vealed clearly that Mr. Gordon is not only a man of sizeable talents, but also one of sizeable defects. He chose as his three outside helpers men who were not, whatever else they were, mature men of the first rank in their own businesses, let alone professionals in the field of tax policy. His use of them as virtual replacements of ra- ther than subordinate assistants to senior and experienced Fi- nance Department officials pro- duced notonly the unworkable features of the Budget, but al- so produced a morale problem in the Department of Finance which will prove far more im- portant in the long run. Having thus relied on assist- ance of his own choosing for what was beyond their capacity, he' then committed the unfor- giveable sin in the world of af- fairs — he neither gained nor trfed hard enough, nor took time enough to gain ,the assent of the ,key groyips Who at least must acquiesce in a -Budget if it ,is to work—the senior Fi- nace officials, the Cabinet, Par- liament, the groups specially af- fected and the public at large. This was not by accident, but by design, for Walter Gordon has always been a man who de- cides rather than one who per- suades. Ultimately his political survival depends on whether ata the age of fifty-seven he can be- come a man of, persuasion. by. Tom Dorr - HE KNOWS PERFECTLN WELL T JUST GOT A NEW PERMANENT SPEED,- - PEEDI- __ STATEMENTS BINDERS CARBON,ROLLS MOORE REGISTER PLAT : ,PQRats BOOKS k ' HOLDERS REPAIR ORDERS, h -b