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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1972-04-06, Page 9• 010 Chamber 5.hojtd Be the Air TWO Weeks ago the 440 speaker at /the Meetingof the Business Association Was a representative; from the Canadian ,Chamber of Commerce. So far we have not he0 an Op- portunity to seek the opilnion of ,gall those present, but we believe the organizationhe represents could provide the answer to a need which has been felt in thi'co„fnm.unity for 20 Veers. That opinion is justified by the support which the re -organized Business Association was accorded somewhat over a year ago when, under the presidency of .loth Brent, a determined effort was made ta seek wider membership for the local business group. For several months the meetings were, at- tended by members of the industrial and professional community, as well as the, re- tailers along the main street. It has not been the fault of the succeed- ing executive that attendance has dwindled since that time. Rather it has been the buga- boo of concentration on retail merchants' in- terests which has made -the association unin- teresting to other business people in the community. A Chamber of Commerce, by its very rules and regulations, seeks to steer groups of interested citizens into broader areas of service to the community. The retailers still have an opportunity to, thrash out their own prohigms, but they do so fn d' committee formed, for that purpose, and' their sum- marized decisions are brought to the central bodyfor ratification. The Chamber,, as.a whole, is permitted to devote its attention to matters of concern io all or any protects from which the community at large might benefit. An invitation will go out prior to the next meeting to every person who -might be inter- ested En the formation of a Chamber Of Com- merce and it is expected that the speaker will' be one whohaspersonal experience with what a Chamber can and dos do for a lively, ambitious community. , - To once more venture a personal opin- ion, we would predict that unless the .pusi- ness Association, moves toward the larger and broader . interests as represented by a Chamber of Commerce, attendance will con- tinue to dwindle as it has on numerous occa- sions in the past. It will be infinitely the poorer because it 'will lack the 'support of many community -minded business people in and about Wingham who,have a great deal to' contribute, but are not concerned personally, and solely with the problems of trade along the main street. The' Chamber of Commerce is supported by and speaks for businessmen all across the nation—and all business people here could benefit from its existence. NobQdy Is Happy ' It- is seldom that senior governments make any sweeping decisions without some outcry from the general public. There will always be some who object to change, re- gardless of the benefits that' particular alteration ih our way of doing things may bring about. It.takes the test of time to find out whether or not the change—or the result- ant outcry were justified. 'Public outcry over the withdrawal of rail passenger services in this part of the prov- ince was to be expected. Rather naturally 'the first protests and the strongest ones were • led by those whose jobs" were at stake—the railwaymen who Would have to move else - whereto maintain employment, or lose their I i vel ihoods if they happened to be the low men on the seniority totem pole. However, it has not been only the rail- way employees who have continued to object strenuously to the missing passenger trains. There has been a steady protest at every op- • portunity, chiefly because the alternative means of public transportation are not quite adequate in an area which prides itself on wry--modern—Services in almost everrpther regard. The bus companies,' for example, are no doubt providing a form of public transport which is as' good as the profit picture will permit and no one can blame them. for' lirnit- ing their services to that point. But buses have not measured up 'to the needs of those,, who have no private vehicles in which to travel. Not only are many 'of their routes roundabout and slow, but they do not provide toilets and some of -the other amenities which were available on rail passenger vehicles. One would shudder at the plight of the . mother of a small family, for example, travelling by bus from here to Toronto with her children. The same is true for older people who, Ican no longer drive their own cars and' who may be in indifferent health. Bus depots, in many places, do not pro- vide anything close to adequate service for incoming and outgoing' passengers. Many of them are not even open to the public at bus departure times. They are merely stopping places where the public has to wait in the open, whatever the weather may be. There are,of course, some exceptions, places at which full passenger service is provided, but most of the latter are in the larger cities. The fact -that the government realizes a- problem still exists was indicated by the hearings slated for several Western 'Ontario communities earlier this year. If the mem- bers of the committee were in any doubt about passenger services, theyshould have been convinced when bad weather conditions made travel to the smaller communities too difficult ul and the hes i re - e postponed. t nod. ti Were- , po po e 'Had Oassenger i'alfns `bee' "in. operation 'the meetings would have been carried out as planned. It goes without saying that a serious problem exists. The rail lines were losing large sums of money by providing passenger service. But profitless government corpora- tions are hardly unique in Canada. We could mention the CBC and a fewdozen more gov- ernment-sponsored projects which . have never seen a nickel's' profit since the begin- ning of time. Don't Hamstring .the Auditor Snipping at governments,' particularlyin an election year, is a pastime which must be peculiar to every democratic ;nation on earth, but the, allegations about the hard- ships of the auditor -general's office appear to carry more than the customary weight of 'transient criticism. The federal government openly criticized Auditor -General Maxwell Henderson because his report to Parliament was late this year. Mr. Henderson responded 'with the claim that his staff has been harried and interferred with by government officials and that his work force has been cut so that the presentation of a full and proper report within the legal time limit was impossible. Perhaps no one outside the strictly- fi,guarded fence which surrounds the inner "`bailiwickon Parliament Hill will ever know' f'. +the exact truth, but one thing is certain: the 1� auditor=general is not an employee of the whruling party which happens to form the `}federal government at any given time. The .auditor -general's office is employed by the arliament of Canada—the people of this na- ion. His job is to bring in a totally independ- ent and unbiased report on the shortcomings to be found in government accounting and spending. fro goveraMent"whatever its party stripe, should have any right whatever to in- terfere with the function of the auditor-gen- eral'soffice or employees. To do so would be the same as having. the major 'shareholders in a corporation such as General Motors in- terfering with the firm's auditors so that the rest of the small sharehoiders,couad be kept in the dark about the financial health of the firm in which they had invested. The auditor -general's report to parlia- ment usually brings to light some pretty hor- rendous examples of government careless- ness and overspending --and it has' not' been unusual to have the whole report shelved and forgotten on a regular basis. But the voting public should never forget fort an instant that • the a itor-general is their employee and is doing his job on their behalf. Allegations this year that the government has interfered with the functions of that office deserve the most pressing demands for investigation. Should We Write a Bo�k A couple of weeks back R. E. "Mac" Mc- Kinney addressed a letter to the editor of this aper, for which we must express our appre- `i iation, for he was most kind in his com- , rents about this editorial column. It.was his Urgent suggestion that some of these edi- lorial, thoughts should be assembled in book form for the edification of future genera - Mons. >;. Much as we appreciate his faith in the isdom of our words,, we doubt that they are ufficiently wise or prop}ietic to merit the dist of reprinting and binding in permanent rm. However, don't ever doubt it, there lever was a country editor who did not arbor a secret ambition to write a book and we have often wondered what our particular tome should deal with. Strange as it may seem, the outstanding memories of nearly 40 years as a reporter and editor are the humorous incidents— those "oddball" events we have witnessed and those unconsciously funny people who have crossed our path. In all probability we will never get around to writing the book, but if it ever does get into print it will have to be about the' funny side of life—the recurring bits of non- sense which have made all the serious and distressing years ••worthwhile. But don't start saving money for your copy yet.►It's going to be a while in the writ- ing. THE WINGHAM ADVANCE -TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger I3ros. Limited. , Barry Wenger, President • Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer Member Audit Bureau of Circulations • Member Canadian and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Associations. Subscription Rate: Subscription $10.00 a year, $5.28 for six months, in United States $1260 in advance. Second -Class Il ail Registration No .0821 Return Postage Guaranteed Fo��wing 1.-••••• rain�. aa, .VICTORIA STREET, I'ookiing' Vest with the bridge on the extreme left of the picture. Sixteen families'hi Lodver Win jham had to leave thetir homes during the flood which was'termed.'#he- worst since 1912. in r1141 iS W HIGHWAY 4, looking ,south, as it appeared in 1947. Water rose steadiija dur- ing a -heavy rainfall the first Saturday in April and by early Sunday morning the water had risen to a depth of four feet. • bb cal onto Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, April 6, 1972 SECOND SECTION Not too long ago, I- wrote» a column suggesting what would: happen if housewives went on strike. A long, intelligent and often witty letter from Mason: Bailey, President of the Hureli County Federation of Agriculture tells me bluntly that there is an- other 'species in our society which, if it went on strike, wbuldi make a housewives'. strike, 'look " like a box luncheon. , Naturally, he is talking about" farmers. Farmers are like the weather: everybody talks about them but nobody 'does anything. I'll quote bits from his letter, and make some comments. He ks tersely, "What if all the f rmers went on, strike?. . . Most' of society and the majority of columnists seem to have forgot~' ten that farmers continue to ex-, ist ., And that. is just 'what � arm f . er are doing! Existing! Net farm,in.. come in Ontario has dropped over thirty per cent in the last three years. In 1971, Canadian'farmers received less than ten per cent of the . money that Canadiancon- sumers spent 'on food. Well, Mr. Bailey, I'll accept your figures, for a start. And they certainly don't make me want to plunge into farming with a thirty thousand dollar mortgage and the prospect of working ten or twelve hours a day, six days a week. On the other hand, "rice all figures, they can be misleading. How many Canadian farmers grow coffee, tea, fish, sugar, pep- per, peanut butter, 'oranges, ban- anas and all the other items that beef up our food bills? Another of your points strikes a sympathetic chord in me. "I was in a restaurant last week. The menu said one egg, 50c. Do you know what farmers got for eggs last week? 22c a dozen for Grade A large;. 7c a'dozen for cracks." This is utterly ridiculous, and somebody, obviously the farmer, is being shafted. The only solu- tion I can see is to demand "cracks" in restaurants. 'Which is probably what we:get in some places anyway. I share completely your burn- ingwrath at restaurant owners, who are starving, to ,death. -The 'average one isn't, andworks long hours for a decent living. 'But' those room service prices in .hotels drive me right out of my skull. $1.65 for a sandwich. ,$1.50 for a pot of lukewarm coffee. You go back to the war, when sugar and butter were' rationed and otherwise honest, people would cheat, lie.or steal to get enough or more than enough. And you say it would happen again if farmers went on strike. I agree. Some would, but a minority, in my opinion. I think ,the farmers would get a good 'deal of sym=. patliy and support, just as the TODAY'S CHILD BY HELEN ALLEN Here is an I I year-old Avho w ants to be a big'brother. Ile is fond of younger boys and girls, and he hopes for a family where he will be the oldest. ' Edward is a healthy, sturdy li►►' of Anglo-Saxon descent with brown eyes, light brown hair. fair skin and the engaging smile of the picture. His academic record is not especially good because of irregular school attendance before he c.rmt• into the care .of the Children's Aid .Society. But he is considered a arc bright lad, certainly average and perhaps above. lie has a lively . inquisitive mind, always interested in new things or new experiences. Talkative, god -natured, mischievous, Edward is always willing to please. lie likes to be with people and loves the outdoors. He thinks he would like to live in the country. Ifis foster father is a forester and Edward 'Y'npily explores the woods with him, Edward is fond of making moue's of cars and planes., is interested in hooks and is a western music fan. - In seeking parents for Edward, the Children's. Aid Society is looking for an active young couple, consistent in discipline. They agree with him that be should be the oldest child in the family — or perhaps even only child. To inquire about adopting Edward' please write to Today's Child, Box 888, Station K, Toronto. For genclral adoption information, ask your Children's Aid Society. Cracked Eggs and Rich Farmers_ coal miners did in England, de- spite the hardships their strike imposed on millions. In such an event, you suggest that "Bootlegging food at 'inflated prices would become as common as drug peddling. The bootleg- ging farmers would start to show a profit. Some might even be able to hire help at the minimum wage." Surely, right there is one spot where goverment could help—by subsidizing farm wages. The government subsidizes practically everything else that even approaches work, or simply pays people not to work. Surely, -the next logical step would be to make farm work attractive, fi- nancially, rather than paying farmers not to grow grain, or spuds, or whatever. However, we mustn't mention government and logic in the same breath. ' You mention something that depresses me—that the average age of farmers in Ontario is about 55; that not many young men can start farming under today's con- ditions, and that even if they can, the liberated little woman has other ideas. And you also point - out rather pungently that if the average age of housewives "Was 55 and no replacements forth- coming, you would have some- . thing to scream about." You're,so right. The ' scream that would echo across the land would be apocalyptic. Another point in your argument is that corporations may take over food production. "If wealthy corporations ever replace the family farm and hire organized labor, there probably will. be food strikes." That is an appalling thought. Would that mean that I,couldn't buy one of those "chickens" that taste no more like . chicken than my old running. shoes, unless you, plaster' them with some ..synthetic flavoring? Would it mean that I. couldn't 'buy any of that enriched bread that tastes like Wet Veen - ex? Life just wouldn't be,,,Worth living. Howeve, I agree with your premise that the farmer has been left sucking the hind teat m these years of inflation. t think the' chief trouble is 'the same -as that of the housewives: farmers are too stubborn and individualistic to get ' really organized. They should, perhaps, set their own co-ops, processing, handling , and sales organizations. That, of course, would leave us with mobs of unemployed middle -men. But my heart is with you, chaps, and will be'even the next time I pick up a $1.49 a pound 'hunk of steak, look at it wistfully, replace it, and reach for the ha - burg. . .. .ns,- -t a;',:lk.�Y.�h'R°�.D�✓!�y.�..;b�.�+.Yr� .4!e ...�•�r `':�C' .. Shades oi roneer� ' e BY ALICE MULVEY The shades of pioneer life, its triumphs and tragedies can often be traced through old church rec- ords. In those early days, com- munity life revolved around the church -and the church in turn re- corded its history. St. Paul's 'Ca- thedral, in London, Ontario, is unique in this instance, for it takes us back to the days of the colonists, those stalwart men and.. women who wrestled with a land anda climate that was physically hostile in' order to lay a solid foundation 'for coming genera- tions. Browsing through St. Paul's Cathedral, you notice the" many plaques that adorn the walls: These mark the triumphs 'and tragedies that befell the citizens of London during the past 130 years..It was in 1822 that,a travel ling missionary stopped by ,to conduct, divine service in a barn in London' Township. Twelve years elapsed before St. Paul's Church was built on land owned by the Diocese of Huron and for which they still pay the same ren- tal fee' of one peppercorn per, year. Ironically, one of the first tab- lets to be erected in St. Paul's was 'of Thomas Cronyn, the rec: tor's eldest son who died in tragic circumstances at the age of 21.. As the population of London rose, so did the prosperity and optimism until the year 1853 when the Crimean War broke out and the British regiments stationed in London made their departure. It was at the Battle of Alma that many gallant then from the Roy- al Welsh Fusiliers lost their lives and a plaque to their menory now adorns the wall in the cathedral. A depression followed in the wake of the Crimean War in 1857 and it seemed as if the elements too,' were against the people. Spring was later than usual as torrential rains continued' until May and farmers delayed their sowing. Temperatures, remained low and skies were gray during June. Then, after a slight im- provement in July; there came a killing . frost. Fields of wheat bowed their soggy kernels under the weight of the frost. Through- out the continent the crop failure was general and the few acres that survived the frost suc- cumbed to more rain at harvest time. London's prosperity fell with the failure of the wheat crop. Money was scarce and the ca- thedral too had its financial re- verses. By September 1861 it was decided to dispense with the serv- ices of the bell ringer and organ- ist. But in January 1862 an ar- rangement was made by the church wardens to have a .Mr. Luard play the organ. In return he would receive free funeral ex- penses and a quarter lot in the cemetery. For eighteen months,. Mr. Luard gave his services free, 'then in 1863 he was ordained but died a week later in his 26th year. A plaque to his memory can ' be found in the south transept. Nor did life run smoothly dur- ing the next decade as the Ameri- can Civil War erupted to cast a blight over the citizens of London. Once again it became a garrison city as two thousand troops ar- rived froth 'Britain and took up residence. Other alarms like the Fenian raids kept the citizens in a nervous state until the humdrum life 'of the 1870's was a welcome relief. As a garrison city, men in -uniform were' frequently called upon to support the nation. In 1837 it was the Mackenzie Rebellion followed by the Crimean in 1853, the Fenian raids in 1866, the North West Rebellion in 1870, the Riel Rebellion in 1885 and the' South African War in 1899. Just as Canadians everywhere in the Dominion liked to celebrate Victoria Day, so did Londoners. On May 24, 1881, they crowded on , to a steamer for a trip down the I • river Thames: Unfortunately, the boat overturned spilling 'the six hundred holiday makers into the river, This ' tragic disaster claimed the lives of over 200 peo- ple and this even is recorded by two memorials in St. Paul's Ca- thedral'. One,, a stained glass win- dow commemorates John W. Cooke Meredith as the eldest vic-' tim of the disaster and the father of a 'brilliant familyThe other memorial is a thankoffering from a survivor. It is an alms basin ..kept in the sanctuary and carries the following 'inscription: "A thank -offering to Almighty God by Marion Grace , Barker, saved from the wreck of the steamer Victoria, 24th May, 1881." Down through the century, bells at St. Paul's have tolled for the gentry and the criminal, for rejoicing and for mourning, for victory and in, times of calamity, for the famous and the infamous and more often than not in praise of God, The heroism of men has been recorded in the rough wood- en crosses or torn flags that abound in the cathedral. Wars, depressions and. disasters have affected the lives of many Lon- doners as history unfurls its pages: The triumphs and trage- dies that form part of any grow- ing city has been : preserved through the plaques and memor- ials in St. Paul's Cathedral. //41,161.> A WOW' HOW' COME YOU PPOPL. E NEED ME PSN&" EV 2Y77146"r HAVE some Impae7"AIVr &/S l -