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Zurich Herald, 1940-09-12, Page 2Saving Ontario's Natural Resource .-,s (No. 7) By G. C. TONER LUTHER SWAMP The highest point in southern Ontario is the Dundalk plateau, situated in Wellington and Duf- •ferin counties. On the southern edge of the plateau, 1706 feet above sea level, is Luther Swamp, a great bog of more than 80,000 acres. This swamp is probably the greatest natural resource we have in southwestern Ontario for it is the storage basin from which all the great rivers receive their water. The Thames, the Grand, the Credit, the Humber, the Mait- land, the Saugeen, and the Not- tawasaga; all have their humble beginnings on the slopes of the Dundalk plateau. Some of them have direct surface flow from the swamp, others are fed by the underground springs and the deep seepage. The District Suffered About a generation ago Luther swamp was drained into the Grand river in the hopes that good farm land would be uncov- ered. The promoters of the drain- age scheme were disappointed, for the land, being a peat bog, has proven unsatisfactory for ag- riculture. But the worst loss was to the people of the Province for Nature's laws and schemes for flood control were set aside. This great swamp in its natural state was a barrier against floods. It held the water for deep seepage, preventing it from going down the rivers as wild, springtime in- undations. Springs, of course, are fed from the underground seep- age and Luther swamp helped to maintain these as well as the un- derground water table that fed 'the farmer's wells. Since the swamp was drained the whole district has suffered. At one time the wells were shal- low for the water table was close to the surfaee, now, the wells are being driven deeper and deeper each year as the water table drops. And in the spring time the Grand river, the prin- cipal stream to receive water from the swamp, goes on the rampage, destroying property and damaging the farmlands through- out its course. The Dam Will Help On the other hand this river has suffered tremendous shrink- age in the past generation. Fully fifty-five miles of its upper reaches dry up each summer as. a direct result of the draining of the swamp. Formerly, the upper Grand comprised one of the fin- est speckled trout waters in the region. Now, trout are virtually non-existent. Floods in the spring- time, droughts and low water in the summer and early fall, these have followed the unwise drain- age of the headwater swamp. However, there seems to be a determined effort at the present time to stop the damage from floods on the Grand River and the restoration of Luther swamp to its original condition is now being considered as an aid to this flood control. By building a dam across the outlet of the swamp, to hold back the water in the spring, a vast reservoir will be created that will do much towards replenishing the underground water of the distric. as well as help in flo; d control. King's Pigeons Have Enlisted Royal Birds Are To Be Used in Event of Emergency — Acting As Air Mail Pigeons from the King's loft at Sandringham have been added to apigeon post organized to operate In the event of a national emer- gency in Great Britain, The pigeon frost was inaugurated in July last year by the Duchess of Kent when she visited Port Dunlop and releas- ed the first flock of pigeons from their baskets. DISTANCE FLIERS On the eve of the outbreak of the war a pair of blue checks arrived from E. W. Steele, the King's pig- eon keeper. 'Phey are long distance birds, four or five years old, of the stack which has won the big races from Lerwick in $hetiaud and Bor- deaux. In addition to the pigeon loft at headquarters, lofts are being open. ed in other parts of the country for the service, which is the only or- ganized pigeon post in Great Bri- tain. MESSAGES ARE TINY By reducing messages to facsim- ile on a special thin film, the birds can take 85,000 words in an alumin- um carrier fixed to theft' leg. Eaclz centre has apparatus for reducing the messages and for magnifying them to a readable acidpt when re- ceivetl, VICE-REIGAL. PARTY VISITS ST. CATHARINES AND NIAGARA FALLS Continuing their tour of Central Ontario, the Earl and Countess of Athlone, accompanied by Princess Juliana of The Netherlands, inspected a munitions plant at St. Catharines and then continued on to visit Nieesara Falls. The Ccuntess of Athlone is pictured (left) as she was pre- sented with a bouquet during the trip. In the centre, His Excellency shave*s great interest in the work of the munitions plant. Princess Juliana is shown (right) getting a close-up view of the falls. T H E WAR -WEE t:—Commenfary on Current Events ti estryer Swap Gives r it a in War Advantage "The nasty shock for Hitler", recently foretold by the London Daly Mail, came last week with President Roosevelt's dramatic announcement that the United States was handing over to Great Britain 50 destroyers for use in the war against Germany. In more than one way, this was bad news for the Axis. Hitler and Mussolini saw the British navy strengthened thereby; its forces bolstered for an early Near Eastern offensive; knew their own blockade of the Brit- ish Isles weakened; realized the extent of the co-operation be- tween Brtiain and the United States (for the U. S. came close to "an act of war" in implement- ing the deal). Atlantic "Sewed Up Played up less than any other angle was U. S. satisfaction at having pulled off a major diplo- matic and political coup. The securing of naval and air bases stretching up in a chain from South America to Newfoundland meant that the United States had the North Atlantic tied up in a bag, was on its way to .becoming quietly master of this whole hem- isphere. (A. major feature of the transaction with Britain was a concurrent pledge from Prime Minister Churchill to Secretary of State Hull that the British fleet would never be scuttled or surrendered and thus jeopardize U.S. security in the Atlantic). "They Can't Do It" Great Britain still had not been invaded last week. In sup- port of the theory that Germany never would be able to accom- plish it, Masanori Ito, one of Japan's best-known naval com- mentators, declared that Hitler could not land troops in Eng- land while the British commanded the sea—and the German Air Force was insufficient to win away that command. During the week the Germans were obviously concentrating on destroying all the important Brit- ish airfields in the southeast cor- ner of England, so that British fighters would be unable to de. fend London and hold the air over the southeast coast. Plans for an invasion could only then go forward. Grave disturbances in the Bal- kans, a new line-up in Africa (all the French colonies there went over to the side of Britain) worked from other quarters last week to give Hitler and Mussolini serious pause in their campaigns for world conquest. The embroil- ment of Rumania and Hungary meant the cutting -off of vtial productive activity (agricultural, industrial) in the Balkans, so badly needed in the German war effort. Would Russia March? Russia remained the big ques- tion mark in European politics. Evidence was abundant that Stalin had prevented any Italian move through Greece against Britain. Would he now act to stop Hitler's march through Russia? Would he step in himself and take over Carol's kingdom? A clash between Germany and the Soviet Union was seen as ine- vitable, sometime; would Stalin seize the moment when Hitler was engaged in the Battle of Britain, to catch his ideological opponent at a disadvantage and attack boldly in the east? Crisis in the East In the Far East loomed an- other crisis of international pro- portions. Over Indo-China. The. Japanese fleet was reported cruising outside Indo-China waters, blockading the entire northeast coast. . . The chief of the Japanese mission to French Indo-China had sent an ultimatum demanding the right to transport Jap troops across the French colony—which had been refused. . . The Chinese Government (against whom the Jap troops would be moving) had formally declared its determina- tion to act should the Japanese enter French Indo-China "under any pretext or under any condi- tions with a view to attacking China... . " U. S. Notifies Japan From Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull publicly no- tified Japan that any change in the status quo of French Indo- China and the Netherlands East Indies, due to Japanese military operations, would have "an un- fortunate effect upon public op- nion in the United Mates." . The first move of a new civil disobedience campaign against Britain for refusing to grant India independence was begun last week at Cawnpore, home of the Indian Nationalist leader, Nehru. Mohandas K. Gandhi bad previously declared that the Government of India was "invit- ing civil disobedience" by arrest- ing certain of its merrbers on charges of making seditious speeches. Enough 21 s At home the National War Services Department announced that the 21 year-old class of Canadian young men would pro- vide almost enough personnel for the first two drafts for military training ... Several million Can- adian youngsters started back to school; in Ontario, only twenty- eight of them were stricken by the dread infantile paralysis now raging across the border in Michigan .. . A salmon, tagged and released in Nova Scotia, was captured forty-two days later at Moisie River, Quebec. By the most dir- ect route this is a distance of 800 miles. There Are Plants That Kill Humans Several Are Known To Nat- uralists — Cannibal Tree of Australia Is Example Apart from plants that poison there are several known to natural- ists which can kill a man who comes within their clutches. One horror of this kind is the Cannibal Tree of Australia, the powerful leaves of which can close in like a trap and crush out the life of the unwary investigator. Another un- pleasant forest fiend is the Tele- graph Tree of India, which has leaves that move about curiously; but anyone who touches them is liable to get a severe electric shock — quite enough to kill a man with a weak heart. The worst of these killing plants is the vegetable octopus that grows near Lake Titicaca, in South Amer- ica, This was discovered by an ex- plorer who, hearing the agonized cries of a dog, found the animal en- veloped in a network of rope -like fibres He managed to free it — but not before man and dog had been blistered and blood-stained by the monster growth. VOICE PRESS ON THE RIGHT TRACK Anyway, those railway -car con- versations between Prime Minister King and President Roosevelt were along the right track. —Stratford Beacon -Herald. • —o- - ADMIRE ONTARIO Her Royal Highness, Princess Alice, expressed amazement at the beauty she was finding in Ontario. Evidently we have been failing down in failing to stress the beau- ty and grandeur to be found among our hills and valleys, along our rivets and on the -shores of our lakes. Niagara Falls Review. NO THOROUGHFARE The fact that Canadians desiring to cross Canada by motor cannot do so except by securing a pass- port fa enter the 'United States to overcome the Lake Superior shore gap emphasizes the, value that would attach to a completed Trans- Canada Highway. —Sault Daily Star, —0— CAN YOU MILK? Surprising it is how many people know nothing at all about the milk- ing of a cow. They can play a good game of golf; they boa.st at times of their knowledge of bridge; they can bring home prizes from bowl- ing tournaments. At tennis they are good and in'swimming and div- ing,they are expert. They play the piano and at times may be inclin- ed to sing; they discuss politics and world events; on occasion they may mate speches. But they can- not milk a cow. Perhaps some of them have rather turned up their nose at the thought -of working on a farm, but they can tell the milk- man off in a hurry when things look a little thin and the cream line finds its point of registration too close to the top of the bottle. But they cannot milk a cow and there have been cows in the world for a long, long time. Even longer than that. —Peterborough Examiner. The gok Shell e . "THE MINGLING OF THE CANADIAN AND AMERICAN PEOPLES" By Marcus Lee Hansen No more timely work than this first volume of a series being pre- pared under athe Carnegie En- dowment for International Peace could appear at such a moment in the history of the North Am- erican continent, when, after the epoch-making talks at Ogdens- burg, the United States and Can- ada have joined in a mutual de- fense agreement, climaxing long years of good neighborliness and tentative co-operation. In this book .Professor Hansen undertook the difficult task of filling the great gap -in our knowledge of how the peoples of the United States and Canada working in unison have woven the new pattern of North Ana ercian culture. He does it by trac- ing the exchanges' in populations between the two countries since 1700, pointing out that there are millions of North Americans whose families have branches on both sides of the boundary. "The Mingling of the Canadian and American Peoples," Vol. 1 . by Marcus Lee Hansen . . . Toronto; The Ryerson Press . . $3.00. T hansrivi,, g Acis Set for Oct. 14 Thanksgiving Day this year has been fixed for October 14, the second Monday in that month, the Department of the Secretary of State has an- nounced. A Proclamation ap- pointing that day as a day of general thanksgiving would be issued shortly, the announce- ment added last week. Double Theatre's Double Feature West Coast Movie Housn Has Twin Auditoriums Patrons niay take their choice of one picture or two at a new theatre just opened in Alhambra, Calif, The Alhambra Theatre has, un- like others, two auditoriums. A dif- ferent picture is shown in each. After each showing, the films then change auditoriums. Those who like "double bills" just stay in their seats. But those who like only one fea- ture at a time are, if they haven't seen the full picture, obliged to move to the other auditorium. Manager James Edwards, Jr., whose idea the experiment is, says the admission price, for one or two pictures, is the same. Swordfish are taken in Canad- ian waters off the Atlantic Coast. The fishing season opened in June and will continue until Septemb- er. b'CJ, CerecsE sia Bee Hive Syrup A Grand Sweetener for the LIFE'S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher "He got hold of some buttermilk Iast night and tib e4A7 a par €y. " HEG'LAR FELLERS -- Good -Night By GENE YRNES