The Huron Expositor, 1978-07-06, Page 3NEW ZEALAND VISITORS - Marie Van Heuven sits next to brother Matt
Claessens with Frank, Van Heuven,' Martha Claessens and daughters Martha and
Sandra on the front steps of the Claessens 'home at R:R.2, Dublin. (Expositor Photo)
Dairy farmers visit here
from New Zealand
Sag' ar ond
by Bill Smiley
Young people
I don't receive many lettprs from young
people, with comments onl Illy ideas in this
quite naturally, are extremely self-centred. I
kconolulymn. 1 ,wTah.sa's .t to, bp expected. Young people,
They are becoming extremely Ware of their
own their individualism. They Are
extremely interestedin sex, love, sonic kind of
belief they can hahg' onto, some guru with all
the answers. And good luck to them, even
thotigh there ix no such thing.
They are not interested in the maudlin
meanderings of a middle-aged (ski) man who
doesn't seem-to know from one week to the
next what he really believes in.
It's not that I don't get along with young
people. From the age of about one to'
twenty-one, they and I are on the best of
terms. There's only one fly in the fun. I can't
help teasing them. It's a rotten quality and
I'm always sorry when I do, but some (lepton
urges me on. '
for example, MY older grandson hit back
when 'I'd needle him by saying. "Jolly
good!", when he'd try to make-a Tarzan leap
and land on his ear. He responded with;
- "Jolly bum-bum", to let me know he didn't
• like it. By saying a bad word, he put me in my
•
He underlined his individuality by such
remarks as, "No way", when I'd try to tease
him into something he didn't want to, •or
couldn't do, `Bugger off" when I'd pretend to
mock anger and threaten dire punishment. He
didn't learn these terms, null b_e_haupy to ,
-know, from his gran, grandad, mother or
father. He learned them from the other little
punks at day.care. •
Teenagers .. are just as easily teased, and
pretty vulnerable. After spending nine
months goofing off, they come up to you as
exam-time looms, with a tortured
expression, as though they • hacl,to go to the
bathroom, and could hardly wait, and '
whimper, "Sir could you tell tne if I have to
write the final exam?"
I reply to a freckled redhead, "Not unless -
you have freckles and red hair.' There are all
kinds of variations on this. If it's a boy, 'Might
say, "Not if you can take me to a trout stream •
and guarantee I catch my limit." You can see
the wheels spinning wildly in his motorcycle-
haunted mind, this boy who's, never caught a
trout in his life. They HATE me.
From,' about twenty-one for the next ten )
years, I can scarcely stand young people. They -
become pompous. They think their mildly
socialist ideas, so hackneyed you can't believe .
it, are freshminted. They want to change the
world and you: your religion, your ideas, your ,
life-style.,
After thatthey're not so bad, and they have •
acquired that rueful resignation that most
eiviliied people get after 'pounding their heads
against life long enough to' soften them
irredeemably. '
From about forty on. readers and I are on
the same set of rails, and though they can and
do attack me furiously, at least they know,
most of them, that there is more gray in the
world than there.is0black and white.
Their letters are much more interesting•
than those of young people: witty, astringent,
pejorative, sometimes brutal, often kindly,
perceptive, sympathetic, nagging. They have
lived, and they know that the world has them
by the tail, not vice versa.
In response to a recent column, half-joking,
asking if anyone had a job for my. daughter, I
received a great letter from A.R. Kirk; of
Renfrew.
"Yes, I have ,a job ..New job requirements
include a new baby in 1979, and another new
baby every two years until 1989, when she,and
her husband will be' the parents of eight
healthy children. That was an average family
in the early and best development years of
Canada,"
He goes on to explain that my daughter
would never be out of work. "She wl',1;rernodel
and make clothing for her children and herself
from the abundant supply of slightly used
clothing you can get at a rummage' sale for a
song."
"She will with he help of her husbands and
you her father, lind your wife her mother,
have a large fruit 'and vegetable garden: the
children will help."
Mr. Kirk goes on, seriously, and I'm half '
inclined to 'agree with him. But he doesn't
know a few things about our K im and her kids.
In the...first pl ce, they-already-look-as thongh-
hey d been dressed from a rummage sale,
without any re-modell.'ng.
In the second, where do they get the .land
for this big garden?•Young people today have
'very little chance of ever owning a home of
their own, let alone one with ,garden space.
What really hurts, though, is when he
suggests that such a life would interfere with
my vacation trips to exotic places. "Think of
the pleasure you• will, have, using vacation
money saved, to help arthe finatites of your
grandchildren in small sums where most
needed."
Dear Mr. Kirk: Those small " sums have
prevented me from having a decent vacation
for years. A penny 'saved is a penny earned,
but a dollar to my daughter is' a dollar I'll
never see again. 'Thanks anyway.
Mr. Kirk and his wife are 78 and 74
respectively, with seven of a family and
twenty-one grandchildren. He would like to
live to- be-•-100 years---old -'life is -so
interesting."
Bless you, sir. -May you' do so. May you be
, pinching your wife lovingly at 98, and she
responding.
But don't ask me to take on , six more
'randboys. I said to my wife the other night,
"I have a feeling in my bones, just a
premonition, that some disaster is about to
befall 'Me:-
She answered, "Oh, didn't I tell you'? The
boys are coming for the weekend."
•
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
Karl and the tennis ladies
THE HU ON EXPOSITOR! JULY 6, 1978
Something to say
by Susan White '
It i'S been a
busy week
"We might just as well have a
'-few friends in Friday night too,"
the better half suggested, "since
the bar's set up and the place is
half ,d7ent." :Sanity prevailed
howev r late and Friday after-
,noon after,I worked and he didn't
we went off to see some cousins
front Oio at the beach. They'd
been here for two weeks but up til
then yy,e hadn.'t had time to get
together.
The Family . •
Saturday the family arrived...
the first bunch 0. minutes 'early
while I .was having a little .rest.
The rest of the day is a jumble of
confused impressions, not because
over-indulged, but because
there was so much action.
The third generation were the
greatesfr''TheY swung in the
_hammock.and_serambied_over the
logs and ,most of the afternoon
--they- rehearsed-a -Sliticf. '"Wea ve'
ready " , they- egularly:sent-one-of
their number to tell the
"We think you need a bit more
practise yet," we'd say. "This
show has to be really good. After
supper maybe."
1. "Sooner or later we're gang to
have to ,watch this show'', one
adult cousin 'said. Sure enough we
did, in a long line of lawn chairs
assembled in the side yard. The
side steps were the "Stage."
The Show.did great credit to its
stars, three girl cousins from
Exeter and their numbers had
everyone else applauding, and/or
rolling -on the grass in hilarity. I
had to go into the house to get
-Something, .mid-Show and came
back out to find the whole family
solemnly standing and singing 0
Canada. The CBC Canada Day
.film crew should have been there.
The day ended with a bonfire to
toast marshmallows for the kids
a quiet session (well, one names-
less adult did end up , in the
playpen) in•the livingroom for the
rest of us, and the house a total
disaster. ,
Sunday we made token efforts
to dean up' and 'then headed 'for
Dublin to see what,we'd missed
_because of the. reunion. The
Centennial there was terrific and
the bed race brought out a good-
crowd, though' not nearly the
estimated 6,000 or so who saw the
parade. The main significance for
me, like most who attended, was
. seeing oldfriends.
• I ran into, a girl I washed pots.
with IS years ago-.at-Oakwpod
Inn :and several others ona tour
• down Main Street....and I was
. raised in Seaforth. 'Dublin hes ..
' must have had that pleasant
experience over and over again:'
After soaking up a bit of the
happy atmosphere that prevailed
'in Dublin we headed off to the
'grandparents' cottage for supper, -
got home at 11:30 and collapsed
into bed. Monday morning it was
back •to work.
And I'm still working- til my
week ends ' Wednesday, but
without much energy' or zip.
Thursday is• our tenth wedding
anniversary (Ten Lost Years,
someone quipped) and I'm taking
the whole day off. To do nothing,
absolutely sweet nothing.
Party honours
Henrietta Brown
I've got a very interesting
column in my head'this week. You
won't get to read it though
because it takes a bit of research
and a lot of thought and this week
I don't have time for, any of that.
Instead of some careful words
Of wisdom I'm going to take you
on a tour of my calendar over the
last week. Then you'll understand
why I'm hopping just to get the
regular week's work done, let
alone an interesting column.
Recreation
My column's my recreational
writing and this week.'..like many
Others-lifeguards. and Dublin
Centennial organizers come
immediately to mind...I don't
have time for recreation.
, First I know I'm crying the
blues and being a martyr and
you're,not supposed to do that in
public ., print. Sp I want. _to_
emphasize that I'm noticlahning
any sort of special status. _Others_
wh'o-worlc-here--ha-ve bed even.
busier and I'm sure lots'of yoe out
there have been. too. And ' any
newspaper reporter regul l i has
weeks like this one.
Just so there's -no misunder-
standing, I'll offer this space, free
of chage, to anyone who wants to
detail her or his busy week. And if
you could write it up and arrange
to take over this space next week,
when I also expect a fairly hectic
time...that wbuld be super.
In the newspaper . business
weeks don't start on Monday like
normal people's do.' Our week
starts Wednesday about 5, after
the paper's out of our hands,
Last week was especially heavy
because we closed off a 40 page
Dublin Centennial issue that we'd
been working on for many weeks.
So, after breathing a collective
,,sigh of relief a few of us started
planning this week.
Wednesday night I took hot off
the press Expositors and Dublin
Centennial issues with me when I
spoke to the Staffa W.I. What
Ifailed to take with me were the
notes for my talk! However, the
ladies were understanding, I
ad-libbed and we had a good
time.
Surprise
Thursday was a telatively'slow
day at work but 'a hectic one at
home. I left the office early to
tackle the house because it' was to
be the scene of a surprise party
that night. 211,odd (we' have to be
odd to stand the pace), Expositor
employees came o_yer to honour
our retiring typesetter who's been
an important part of this paper for
13 years:
'She ' thougth :she was
. accompanying her husband to
Brodhagen to deliver something.
When they came past our place
and he suggested dropping
she replied "I'm not going in
there. They've got company!" An
hour later she still had a_bemused
expression on her face, trying to
figure out'how we'd organized the
party for weeks, right under her
nose.
It was a good night and left the
house still in pretty good shape.
That's just as well because , I was
expecting 35 relatives Saturday
afternoon for, the family reunion.
Longtime Huron Expositor
employee Henrietta Brown of
Jarvis St. was guest of honour at a
surprise party Thursday night at
the home of Andy and Susan
White in McKillop Tonwship. .
Mrs. Brown, who for many
years typed every word which
appeared in the paper, is retiring
from full time work, and taking
the summer off.
Special ,guests at the party,
which was cr ganited by fellow
employees, were her husband,
Bill and children Carol and Don
Carter, of R.R.2, Seaforth and Bill
and Renate Brown of Guelph.
You're
invited
Seaforth Women's Institute
invites members and friends to
their picnic being held Tuesday
evening July 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the,
home of Mr. and Mrs. Earl
Papple. •
Open House - sponsored by
ARC Industries, Main Street,
Dashwood, will be held Thursday
June 29 and Friday. June 30,
from r p.m. to 4 p,m. both days.
Everyone is welcome.
Following an address by Carol
Hunt, Mrs. Brown was presented
with gifts 'from staff members and
from McLean Bros. Publishers
Ltd., publishers of the Expositor.
The party was attended by
about 30 people.
Sunday night's power failure in
the Seaforth-Blyth area was
caused by a cat on the wires of the
Seaforth transformer station.
The power outage, around
, midnight Sunday, lasted slightly
more than five minutes. -
A spokesman from Ontario
Hydro said the blackout was
attributed to a "cat in the bus
(transformer station) at the
Seaforth transformer station."
When the cat landed on the low
tension feeder, it shorted the line,
resulting in the blackout.
One of the employees had to
knock the cat off the lines with the
switch stick before power could
be restored.
-Cat cuts
ower
(
0
by Alice Gibb •
Twenty-five years ago, when Marie and
Frank Van Fleuven were considering going .
into the dairy 'business, a friend wrote to
Mrs. Van Heuven extolling the yirtees of
NeW Zealand's "winterless" climate.
The Van 'Heuvens decided to emmigrate
from their native Holland to the island of
New. Zealand while three of Mrs.. Van
Heuven's ,brothers decided to come. to
Canada instead.
Now., after 25 years of marriage: the Van
Heuvens arc combining a visit to their
Canadian relatives with a trip back home to
Holland.
• One, of Mrs. Vari Heuven's three
brothers is Matt Claessens, of the"Dublin
area. •
Since both the Van Heuvens and the
Claessens are in the business of farming, it
isn't surprising that at 'least part of their
visit has been spent comparing fanning in
the two countries.
• Climate .
Certainly some of the major differences
in styles of farming revolve . around the
differences in the two climates.
In New Zealand, the Van 'Heuvens have
only a hay' barn and milking shed, rather
than the -large barns found . on the'
Claessens farm. Since the climate is mild,
even during the winter, the cows stay out
on pasture all year round. •
The Man Heuvens have also noticed that
farmers in this part of Ontario tend to grow
a lot more -crops than their New Zealand
counterparts where most of a farm is left in •
pasture. •
Since farmers here are cropping. their
land, they require much heavier machinery
than the Van Heuvens have on their farm,
Although smaller farmers were once the
norm in New' Zealand. 19day farms are at
least 100 acres in site, and often larger.
The Van Heuvens farm 120 acres, and
have 45 cows milking at present.
. Unlike Canadian dairy farmers, the Van
Heuvens don't have to work within a milk
quota: As much milk as they can produce is
sold, either for butter, cheese and milk
powder or else to make a by-produce called
caseine.
New Zealaed, which used to market
many of their dairy products to Great
Britain, before that country joined the
European Common Market, has had to -find
other ways • to utilize the milk it once
'eXported.
The result is using the milk to
manufacture caseine which is used in
manufacturing nylon, plastics and other
byproducts.
AlthOuglrthe Van Heuvens don't. have a
quota to contend with, the town supply
,farmers (comparable to our fluid milk
farmers) do operate on set quotas.
10 Cents a Quart
Mts. Van Hetrven said presently milk in
New Zealand sells for 10 cents a quart and
• butter for 53 tents a pound. Since the milk
prices are so low, most farmers don't
bother keeping their own milk.
The two months each year when the Van
,I-letiven's cows are dry allow the couple to,
'get away ibn a holiday:" •
The Van Heuven's only other visit to
Canada was trine years ago when their
plane Witched down in Montreal for a few
haft arid they had a quick mu/rift with
the Canadian branch of the Claessens
family,
This time the couple has had a longer
stay-they' already seen.'Los Angeles and
PISneyland,
ve
haVe visited relativeS in
Ontario for three weeks, and will return
home via Holland, where Mrs. Van Heuven
will visit her 84-year old father.
But the differences in farming
techniques aren't the only things the Van
Heuvens have noticed during their visit.
Style of Homes
Another difference is in the 'style of
homes. In New Zealand, 'most homes are
eungalows and few have either basements
or a second storey. Although the homes do
have heating to cdhthat cool winter nights,
they don't have storm or double windows.
Also, despite the country's warm temper-
attires, air conditioning is usually found
only in the large office buildings.
Mrs. Van Heuven added when homes in
New Zealand are carpeted, it's with pure
wool, carpeting, since wool is one of the'
country's major products and synthetic
blends are still a rarity.
The wool carpet sells for less than many
of our synthetic blends.
Twice as Much
But while carpeting may be less, cars in
New Zealand cost almost twice as much as
they do here. The reason is the cars must
beimpOrted from -Great Britain or Japan
and then assembled in New Zealand. Also,
driving on the islands is a little more costly
since gas now sells for $1.48 a gallon.
Although New Zealand doesn't • face
quite the same problem with urban 'sprawl
eating up valuable farmland that we find in
Canada, Mr, Van Heuven saidthe number
of farmers decreaSes each year.
The' reason is amalgamation--it's no
longer economically feasible to farm
stualler acreages to farmers have to expand
if "they want to keep their heads above
water"
Sheen farmers in particular are sufferin•g
from changing farm practises. Ne‘v
Zealand sheep farmers. now receive only
about one third of the selling price for their
animals- and the middlemen receives two
thirds. The decreasing prices have forced
many sheep farmers to switch to, growing
clops such as corn. , .
Although unemployment isn't quite as
serious in New Zealand as it is here, the'
country is now facing over a seven per cent
'rate of unemployment.,
Mr. Van Heuven said many of the
unemployed are "school leavers who can't
find work/"
Illegally
The country's labour situation is also
influenced by' the influx • of Polynesian
laborers from the neighbouring islands of
Tonga__Cook..Island-and-Samoa. Althou-glr-
casual hi:borers are granted work permits
for only Six months at a time, many stay on
illegally since they can earn much better
wages in their adopted country.
Finally, the Van Heuvens are impressed
with the multiplicity of nationalities in
Canada.
In New Zealand, most immigrants came
either from the British Isles or YUgoslavia
or Holland.
On a visit to Ontario Place, the Van
Heuvens noted the variety of languages
they - heard spoken around them--
languages such teas Italian, German and
French which are rarely heard in New
Zealand.
After 25 years in New Zealand, the Van
Heuvens are more than content with Mein
their. adopted home. As Mrs, Van Heuven
said, "there's nothing wrong With Canada
at all, but .the winters are so long and
etild-t "
Now that women's liberation is in full '
swing, a man has to take care what he says.
It's not just the words, of course. You can run
amuck there alright, but you can really foul
things upgif you 'choose the wrong subject
matter.
I think that was my first mistake when I
started to rove about with my tape recorder at
tennis camp. I promised CBC radio 15 edited
minutes of tennis interviews. .
With over half of the tennis camp packed
with women, I figured the story angle was
obvious. What a natural! Women and tennis. I
had there-at camp living proof that more and
more women arg getting into active sports,
They're part of the revolution that's taking
place in sports. Women are the revolution.
They're in--on every playing team and field in
the country.
So I beamed my interviews toward the
ladies. Oops. That's the wrong word. It's not
acceptable to call Women, 'ladies. 'It's
so...well...1 don't know. The-libbers don't like
that word ladies.
It sounds like a darn good word to me, but I
guess it's a holdover from other years when a
lady acted like a lady-demure, polite, decent-,
sweet mouthed andall those other things gone
by the boards.
Anyway. My story concentrated on why so
many women came to camp. I wanted to'find
cut all about tennis from a woman's point of
view. See the differences from a male tennis
game.
I-thought-that fair pine. And tO compre
yOu have to point out differences. But pointing
out differences between male and female isn't
the thing to do in our day.
Only a chauvinist goes around asking
what's the difference betweena man and a
woman playing tennis. Don't I realize? Tennis
is a sport for human beings. For persons. For
people. Why start making sexual distinctions?
That's perpetuating an error the women
libbers are determined, to erase.
Oops.. Libbers is no-no name too.
But I had plenty of help in my f011y. The
head male tennis teacher joined me. He was
chauvinist enough to say a good woman tennis
player looks like poetry in motion. Her
perfectly coordinated body is art in Motion. He
said a well stacked woman-ahem...he
rephrased -,the word...a well designed
vibman-Set? he was trying to choose his
words with• care. But they all wound up
dorifying the female body. When you do that,
mere on the road tornaking.her a sex object.
At least that's what the liberated women
say. They insist any human body--male or
female--well foaled and coordinated-:moves
in fluid and graceful motion. Why single out
v'romen?
But then that tennis pro gave the final insult,
to women. He said women dress so
fashionably on the court. And he pointed out
one beauty in brown halter top and hot,
flourescent peach pants. She was playing
right in front of us and he wondered if he
should get out his sunglasses and shield his
eyes from such dazzle. He left no doubt about
it. Those women in wow clothes--where have
all the sacred white togs gone?--those clothes'
catch every mans eye and sear every man's
soul.
It's statements like these that can send a
man off to a judge's court on a libel charge,
I had other chauvinist helpers too. Women,
no less. One said women are better losers.
They're used to)osing in life more than men.
They take losses better. Another said women
are less aggressive. They don't always go for
„the killer shot. They tend to keep the ball in
play more. They don't move in with a killer
smash shot as often. They don't rush the net
as often as the men. They're content to win a
game by the other player's error, not by their
aggressive attacks.
Someone else said women play for fun, men
for keeps. Women may be competitive, but
not aggressive. •Another one thought women
psyched out faster. If they make one mistake,
they get flustered and they're on to more.
Women aloe more concerned with how they
look on the court rather than if they win.
I recorded yards and yards of this- male
chauvinist nonsense on my tape. But the
tennis pro ,saved me" with two basic facts.
Facts, he said. These are physical facts, and a
unman libber can't dispute them. One: men
have more brute strength than women. Two:,
Women' have a lower center of gravity than
men. That is, their weight is concentrated in,
the hip area and not in the chest area as the
than. •
So woman are more stable on their feet than
men, but they're not as mobile. It's a simple
fact i he said,men can run faster than women.
Fact. Proven fact, he insisted.
When I took all my tapes - into CBC, I
trembled. Leta woman Morningside producer
get hold of this and she'd cut doWp my tape to
a memory. Cut this, Take out that. Edit out.
Throw out. Keep it all out.
Here, I had promised CBC 15 whole
minutes of tennis camp. If I'm lucky, I may
have five. Seeonds i th at is. 49