The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-09-07, Page 9REMINISCING
SEPTEMBER 1918
Mr. Levi Lett has his new
house almost finished and it is
a neat residence. It is a red
brick cottage with splendid ce,
ment foundation and a dainty
verandah in front, and is situat0
ed beside his sale stables on
Victoria Street.
The following are arriong
the teachers who have left for
their respective schools; Miss
Christie Robertson is teaching at
School Section. No. 9, Turnber-
ry; Miss Mabel Isard in Del-
grave school; Miss Olive Rin-
tout in No. 5 Morris; Miss Ada
McGill at No. 3 Turnberry;
Miss Viola Isard in Gorrie; Miss.
Annie Williamson is teaching
in a school near Regina; Miss
Pearl McPherson at Sea forth;
Miss Metha McPherson to Wood-
stock, Miss Nellie Nicholls to
Priceville.
The staff of the Wingham
Public School, which re-open-
ed on Tuesday, Sept, 3 is:
Miss M. L. Brock, principal;
Miss Annie Barbour, Miss B. H.
Reynolds, Miss C. Farquharson;
Miss Florence Barber, Mrs. W,
Buchanan; Miss Lucy Barber,
Miss Perth Butler, kindergarten.
SEPTEMBER 1932
Oliver Fells returned Satur-
day after a three weeks' tour of
the Eastern Provinces, going by
way of Kingston, Montreal,
Quebec, Gaspe Penninsula,
Newcastle and Truro to Halifax.
The entire trip on an Ariel
motorcycle, covered 3500 miles,
and was made at the cost of 37
gal, of gas and 10 quarts of oil.
Jack Thynne, who lives near
Bluevale, popularly known as
"The Kansas Farmer" has re-
ceived word from the Canadian
National Exhibition authorities
that he has been engaged to
give his act of old time playing
and singing at the Exhibition
this year.
Messrs. Geo. T. Robertson
and W. J. Brown will take ov-
er the Robertson Garage on Sept.
1st, with Mr. Robt. Turnbull
of Teeswater as the mechanic.
Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. Ro-
bertson announce the engage-
ment of their daughter, Ger-
trude Helen, to William Wheel-
an, only son of Mr. and Mrs.
John A. Currie, all of Wing-
ham. The marriage will take
place in September.
SEPTEMBER 1942
About seventy-five friends
and relatives gathered at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Russel
Gaunt, on Friday evening in
honor of Mr. and Mrs. Eric El-
liott, (Jean Currie), who have
just returned from a wedding
trip.
The Public School will com-
mence the fall term on Tues-
day next, Sept. 8th. The new
head of the school is Mr. Stuart
Beattie, a native of Londesboro,
who came here from the posi-
tion of principal of the Flasher-
ton school. The other teachers
are Miss Agnes Williamson,
Miss. Phyllis Johns, Miss V. Mc-
Laughlin, Miss Velma Lennox,
Miss Norma Coutts, Miss D.
Howell, Miss Verne Walker.
Mr. J. H. Rogers has pur-
chased the Green house on Scott
St. It is his intention to re-
model this property.
There was a large number at
the Thames Valley Camp, near
London, on Sunday, it being
Visitors' dby. Those from here
were Mrs. W. B. McCool, Mrs.
Geo. Howson, Mrs. Walter Van-
Wyck and Ann, Mr. and Mrs.
Geo. Williams, Mrs. E. S.
Lewis, Mrs. Wm. Johnston and
Mrs. Howard Fuller.
SEPTEMBER 1953
Gladioli in rainbow shades
adorned St. James' Lutheran
Church in St. Jacobs, for the
wedding of Audrey Dara,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. El-
don E. VoelZing and Robert Pet-
er, son of Mr, and Mrs. Gordon
P. Ritter, all of St. Jacobs.
Mr. and Mrs. Ritter will reside
in Wingham, where Mr. Ritter
is on the staff of the Wingham
District High School.
Harry Merkley, proprietor of
the Red Front Grocery, and Bill
Young, formerly of Wingham,
have purchased the Crown Thea-
tre in Harriston, from the for-
mer owner, J. Wager, of that
town, They take possession of
the property on September 14.
Mr, Young, who is well known
in town and who formerly work*
ed for Mr. Merkley, will man-
age the theatre under its new
owners,
WINGHAM'S CENTENNIAL parade saw a large collection
of horses and pony riders entered, A few of the children
who joined the procession with their steeds are pictured
above.—A-T Photo.
AtaianctZinve
Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Sept. 7, 1967
SECOND SECTION
SUGAR
AND SPICE
by Bill Smiley
Expo, Cies' magnifique!
AVgq1/07Y'AMe4;10;403,4*,-"A-`,,/..,:,
LETTERS T° Thl EDITOR
vee;V•e!..','.%
Dear Editor:
Many, many thanks for the
magnificent co-operation given
by The Advance-Times during
our Wing-Ding Week-end.Your
invaluable help did much to in-
sure the success of our venture.
May we, through you, also
thank the many organizations,
individuals and places of busi-
ness who contributed their time,
talent and assistance to this
community project? There
were so many that we hesitate
to name them individually as
was done at the Centennial
Dance. To you and to them,
our grateful appreciation and to
those who will organize similar
events in the future, goes our
assurance that it is a pleasure to
work with the people of Wing-
ham and the surrounding area.
Sincerely,
Anna Meyer, Chairman
Wingh am' s Wing Ding Week-end,
specializing in space-travel
equipment. My wife collapsed
into a chair on the third floor
and ,a number of people
thought she was haying a
stroke.
By sheer good luck, we
found our way home, and hur-
tled that Oone hour from
Expo" in only 21/2 hours, after
missing the turn-off to Alex
and wandering about the wilds
of Eastern Ontario for an hour.
Bed at 2 a.m.
According to Ontario Depart-
ment of Agriculture and Food
.statistics, in 1965 Ontario pro-
duced 6,896.7 million pounds
of milk - about 1000 pounds of
milk for every person living in
the province.
WHITECHURCH
Mr. and Mrs. Cameron
Simmons and Lonnie of London
spent the holiday week-end with
her father, Mr. Charles Martin
and his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Gordon Simmons of Wingham.
Earl Thompson returned
home on Sunday after spending
last week at the church camp at
Goderich.
Mrs. Macintosh of Brussels
visited Sunday with Mr. and
Mrs. Dave Gibb and family.
Fred Tiffin and Walter
Moore had the telephone in-
stalled in their homes last week,
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Walker re-
turned home last week after a
vacation in the west.
From the Imperial Oil Collection
We would like to salute the members
of the Wingham Centennial Committee who
conceived the idea of a Labor Day celebra-
tion in town and who, along with a good
Irmany helpers, carried out a highly success-
ful event. Of course, these planners had
the ready co-operation of a surprisingly
large and enthusiastic group of citizens,
not only from Wingham, but from the sur-
rounding communities as well, The parade
was one of the larger, if not the largest one
we have ever seen here, including the
famous 75th Anniversary celebration.
When the Labor Day events were first
announced we heard a good deal of pes-
Though this writer is somewhat past
the bloom of early youth, the fleeting years
have not yet erased our memories of sum-
mer's end. Labor Day was always a bitter-
sweet holiday. It was that last fling of
freedom before the deadly routine of the
classroom closed in upon us for another
ten months. We can still recall the sink-
ing sensation in the pit of the stomach
each time we thought of the return to dis-
cipline and duty.
Looking back on those days, however,
we would certainly be forced to admit
now that we were pretty good at self-
delusion, for the vast majority of young-
sters in our day were really far more con-
tented once they had settled down to
classes and regular hours. We believe
that the children today are not one whit
different.
They like to convince themselves that
school is horrible; that teachers are all
loathsome monsters and that the entire
educational system was devised for the sole
purpose of torturing the younger genera-
tion, Children, though, are much like
their parents: they won't admit it but they
are more contented when their waking
The Smith report on taxation in On-
tario, which was released last week, and
which is likely to have some far-reaching
consequences throughout the province,
promises some big changes in the methods
by which the provincial authorities will
raise necessary revenues in future. Cer-
tainly it is too early to make any predic-
tions about the long-time results of those
changes, but already several salient points
have become apparent.
The first one—and the one which will
be most interesting to the broad range of
voters (who are likely to go to the polls
this fall) is the recommendation that taxes
on private property owners should be re-
duced, Few home-owners and tenants will
fight that suggestion. But inherent in
every recommendation for a reduction of
taxes at one important level is the fact that
they must be raised somewhere else along
the line if the government is to stay in
business on its present scale of spending.
Who, then, is to become the victim of in-
creased taxation to maintain the balance?
We are fearful that the small businessman
may well become the sacrificial Iamb. He.
is a pretty handy fellow for this sort of
operation, because he does not speak with
the united voice of a labor union, nor can
he be included in the hapless class of the
"have-nots" for whom all the rest of us
are working so hard today.
The plain facts are that a tremendous
number of smaller businesses in this pro-
vince are not in any position to assume
In a gallant effort to alleviate the ef-
fects of unemployment in the area adjacent
to Georgian Bay the federal government
some months ago instituted what has since
become known as the "designated area"
plan. Under this scheme those industries
which established in the designated area
were able to secure grants of up to one-
third of their capital expenditures from
Ottawa—whether their financial position
indicated need or not. Even those indus-
tries which were already established in
that section benefited from similarly gen-
erous allowances for expansion and the
purchase of new equipment.
Apparently the scheme worked, for a
few weeks ago a delegation arrived in the
Owen Sound area from a desolated sec-
tion 9f Newfoundland because they had
1114•44
simistic talk around the main street about
time being too short, etc. The results,
however, would seem to indicate that when
people are pushed for time they really
do a better job.
Blessed by good weather, the events
right through from the water show on
Sunday afternoon to the dance in the arena
on Monday evening were all supported by
healthy crowds. They were a definite in-
dication that the public is still eager to
support those community efforts which
have the backing and co-operation of a
sizeable and enthusiastic group of planners.
hours are largely filled with tasks to be
completed and duties to be done. Few of
us, whether young or older, are capable of
spending endless days in nothing but those
pursuits which give us pleasure. The free-
dom soon begins to pall and tempers be-
come ragged, Boredom sets in and soon
the gold of summer sunshine dulls down to
nothing more than the unpleasant glare
of a hot day,
This particular inability of the average
human to amuse himself for any great
length of time may pose a grave problem
for mankind in the foreseeable future.
With ever increasing productivity civilized
man, in the Western world at least, is
able to afford more and more leisure time.
How well will man behave when he has
achieved his next goal—a 30-hour work-
ing week? What, precisely, will he do
with all his spare time?
Admittedly, some people of above-aver-
age intelligence and broad interests may
use the leisure hours to great advantage,
but we would predict that a surprising
number will become grumpy and ill-satis-
fied with their lot, Something to think
about, is it not?
added burdens of taxation. Already they
are loaded down with several extra mills
in every community so that the province
may point out its beneficence to the home
owners. In addition, the small business
man, who is usually short-staffed when it
comes to office help, is acting as tax col-
lector and insurance agent for several gov-
ernment departments—all under threat of
penalties should he fail to do their book-
keeping on time and send in their money
by the prescribed date.
When governments at any level an-
nounce that one of their new schemes will
be financed, even in part, by payments on
the part of the employer of labor, they are
fooling the public. It is a hoax of the first
magnitude. No small employer or busi-
ness man can afford to absorb 50% of the
cost of his employees' pension plan, or
half of his workers' unemployment insur-
ance. The smaller businessman doesn't
make that much more than the people who
work for him. He has no alternative but
to pass on the added costs in fhe form of
higher prices to his customers. Otherwise
he would not be able to continue in
business.
We hope that the Smith report will
actually bring about some badly-needed re-
forms in the provincial tax structure—but
any suggestion that it will take the load
from the shoulders of the downtrodden
worker leaves us more than a bit sus-
picious.
learned that the labor pool in the Georgian
Bay towns was exhausted.
Many businessmen and municipal lead-
ers in the other "undesignated" areas of
Western Ontario sought to have the bene-
fits of the scheme applied over a much
broader slice of the province. Still others
thought the whole scheme was ill-advised.
Without exception there was wonderment
that the Georgian Bay area was considered
so highly eligible when its economy was
so closely parallel with many other parts
of Western Ontario.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the
case, it seems fairly plain now that the
inducements should be shifted to some
other section where there is an existing
need for more industry and more employ-
ment.
Well, I scarcely know where
to start. Expo 67 is surely the
greatest display of human in-
genuity, imagination and or-
ganization that has ever been
assembled on the face of the
earth. It's absolutely magnifi-
cent in almost every respect.
All you need to enjoy the
big fair thoroughly is about
three weeks, $3,000 and a pair
of legs made of steel springs.
We did it in three clays, on
$150, with legs that rapidly
turned to putty, if it is possible
for putty to ache like a bad
tooth,
We took off right after
church last Sunday. As usual,
"right-after-church" gradually
turned into 3 p.m. Drove 150
miles. Stayed with sister-
in-law. Long time no see. Big
palaver until 3 a.m.
Bogged another 200
through the heat to Alexan-
dria, near Montreal, where old
buddy, The Man from Glengar-
ry, generous, joyous Gene Mac-
donald, had offered, free, two
motel rooms for as long as we
wanted. Swift tour of ancient,
interesting town, drink at golf
club, dinner at the Macdon-
aids'. Same story: long-
time-no-see, etc. Overflowing
hospitality, even to tall, dark
and handsome 16-year-old son
Neil to entertain our Kim. Es-
timated departure time: 10
p.m. Actual departing time:
2.30 a.m.
Up bright and early and off
at the crack of noon, Fortu-
nately, as Gene had promised,
it was only an hour's drive
from Expo. Became biggest
joke of trip, He obviously
meant by jet, or straight
across-country. My car goes
better on highways.
"Just follow the Expo
signs," it said, We did. We
completely surrounded the city
of Montreal and wound up in a
parking lot which was a
30-minute ferry ride from
Expo. The regular lots are five
to ten minutes from the
grounds. The ferry cost $1.50
a person. The other lots pro-
vide a free bus. The ferry
dumped us at the wrong end of
Expo, just, ten miles from
where we wanted to he. At
3.30 p.m. we were at Expo.
Never mind, we finally
picked up my press pass. The
press building was a little bit
of heaven: air-conditioned;
food and drink reasonable.
Slightly revived, and just
about the time I had thought
we'd be heading for home, we
started out to "do" Expo.
As always with our family,
there were no plans, no organi-
zation. We went into the first
building we saw. It was the
International Broadcasting
Building, Fascinating, perhaps,
for an engineer. For us, it was
slightly less absorbing than a
visit to the local library.
The fighting began here.
Kim is at the age when she
abhors being dragged around
by her parents, Her first pro-
posal was, "Let's split arid
meet somewhere." Would you
turn look ythir 16-year-old
chick in a crowd of 300,000,
in an area the size of A large
city, when none of us had a,
clue about how to get back to
the ferry?
So we sulked our way
through the telephone build-
ing. It's a dandy show. And it
was here that I first discovered
that my press pass made Alad-
din's Lamp look like an old
candle butt. (I just took it out
and kissed it as I write.)
See, there are these 7,000
people lined up, about four
abreast, for a quarter-mile.
With a press pass, you walk to
the head of the line, flash the
pass, and your party is admit-
ted at the "reserved" entrance,
immediately, along with people
in wheel-chairs, and comas and
other conditions.
The first time we did it, we
felt like real skunks. I expect-
ed the enraged types in the
line-up to scream and rave or
threaten to tear us to pieces.
Nothing happened. The second
time, I felt like Chai les de
Gaulle. After that, I lost all
compunction for the standees,
and began looking for pavi-
lions with the longest line-ups.
for the sheer pleasure of
gate-crashing. Such is man.
Russian pavilion next. Beau-
tiful line-up. Pavilion was rath-
er like a vast department store
Battle of Lake Erie, 1813, By 1813,
the second year of the American invasion
of Canada, attention was focussed on the
Great Lakes. In 1812 the invader had been
beaten back and by the beginning of 1813
no British territory was in the hands of
the Americans. Now the Americans real-
ized that by gaining control of the lakes
they could prevent supplies from reaching
the British forces.
The Americans fitted out their ships
well and sent nine of them, under Captain
Oliver Perry, against Captain Robert Bar-
clay, a Trafalgar veteran, and his six Bri-
tish ships on Lake Erie. For two hours the
battle raged until every one of Barclay's
ships had been disabled arid he was forced
to surrender.
On Lake Ontario naval encounters
were light, but the Americans dispatched
fourteen vessels and two thousand men
from Sackett's Harbor, the American
naval headquarters on Lake Ontario, to
York where they took over the town and
burned the provincial buildings. While
this was going on the British naval forces
had an opportunity to capture the lightly
defended Sackett's Harbor, but failed.
The 'British suffered another severe de.
feat when they attempted to secure com-
mand of Lake Champlain in 1814. There
again the superior American naval force
routed the British ships. •
Congratulations to The Planners
Busy and Happy
Not all Roses
Time For A Move
THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES
Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros, Limited,
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