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SALMO, B.C.

Veteran trade unionist Pete
Larson, 72, working as a school
Watchman here after a 50-year
Career as a miner, told a Mine-
Mill Commentator reporter re-

cently that he had known Joe

Hill, IWW singing troubador
and poet.

“Sure, I knew Hillstrom, he

was a countryman of mine,”
Said Larson.

Larson left his native Swe-
| den in 1905 and the following
year, while working as a
miner in Butte, Montana, join-
ed the militant Western Fed-
€ration of Miners.

_ She was really organized
in them days,” he recalls. “If
you weren’t a WFM man you
Just didn’t get on the skip.”

Probing into Larson’s past
€ Commentator reporter
Ound that Pete moved to

th
&

Salmo union vet
remembers Joe Hill.

Canada in 1912 and worked
at the Centre Star and War
Eagle mines at Rossland. Dur-
ing the First World War he
worked at Anyox, Britannia
and Phoenix.

“T was also. a member of the
One Big Union when I worked
at Princeton for a while in
1919,” said Larson.

In 1920 he returned to the
Rossland and Grand Forks
districts and spent the next
44 years of his life working in
mines in the Kootenays., Up
until two years ago he was a
member of Local 901, Nelson
and District Mine-Mill Union
working at Canadian Explora-
tion Ltd. at Salmo.

Att 72, Larson still retains a
keen interest in the miners’
organization which he worked
for and helped to build during
the past half century.

Judiciary should not
Judge labor disputes

Labor disputes should not be judged by the judiciary, at
€ast in the opinion of Lloyd Whalen; president of Vancouver

fi Labor Council. Stepping down from the chair at last Tuesday’s

meeting,

} for 70,000 members, had held

yt @ special meeting and devised
rit’ Means to assist the strikers, he

14

pet said:

“As to the settlement, I look
Fi Upon it with a sceptical eye,

| 4! because three judges will be
nf @PPointed” to study the ques-

if tion of whether or not firemen

ta) te needed on all diesel en-

Bines, Perhaps the boys who
| burned their picket cards

ves Would have been well advised

i,
ie

oul.
/& Whalen stated he favored the

ee keep them for next Oc-
. tober.”

| riginal Canadian Labor Con-

af ®'€Ss proposal for a board
of ©°Mposed of two trade union

_ representatives, two company

— ‘epresentatives and a govern-

) the Marine Workers, council -

_ Ment representative,

Acting on a resolution from

Upon the federal government

| adopted a resolution calling
"

_ to encourage the building of a

P Steel mill in B.C. and the
_ adoption of a policy whereby

_™ore ships will be built in

~ Canada,
i

F

Campaign of UBC Alma
f Mater Society for increased
_ rants and better facilities was
/fndorsed and all affiliated

1 jorals were requested to assist

y helping the UBC signature

N ; Campaign,

J

f

he reported on the council’s efforts to help the striking
men. After describing how the council, which speaks

At least one alderman has
informed the council that he
supports its proposal to elim-
inate property qualifications
for candidates seeking munici-
pal office. Council secretary
Jamieson reported that Ald.
Frank Baker had written to
pledge his support. The coun-
cil’s brief on this, question will
be referred to a special com-
mittee to be appointed by the
mayor.

When the Union of B.C.
Municipalities applies to the
legislature to amend the Shop
Regulation and Weekly Holi-
day Act it will be opposed by
“an organized attempt by labor
to contact all MLA’s.” In
making this announcement,
Jamieson pointed out that at-
tempts were being made to
wipe out Section 23 of the
act which makes it mandatory
for all shops in a municipality
to.close for at least half a
day in the week.

Angered by Ottawa’s failure
to send a proper reply to its
protest in connection with
company sponsorship of Hun-
garian immigration, and its

proposal that food and cloth-
ing be sent to Hungary instead
of cash, delegates voted to ap-
point a committee to press the
issue. .

Victoria should pay taxes to

-municipalities, declares Rush

ah. proposal that the provincial government pay taxes to municipalities on provincial prop-
erties was made this week by the Vancouver Committee of the Labor-Progressive party in a
letter to Premier W. A. C. Bennett.

LPP city secretary Maurice Rush wrote the premier as follows:
“We urge your government during the coming session of the legislature to provide addition-

al financial assistance to Van-
couver. Specifically we pro-
pose that the provincial gov-
ernment follow the recent ex-

ample of the federal govern-
ment in agreeing to pay taxes
to municipalities on _ their
properties. :

“This matter assumes par-
ticular importance at this time
when assessments in Vancou-
ver have been raised $100 mil-
lion, and when indications are
that homeowners may face an-
other tax boost when the city
budget comes down this spring
unless something is done
quickly.

“In fact, the $28 tax rebate
promised by your government

‘for the coming session may be

completely eaten up by the
projected tax increases unless
senior governments face up to
their overall responsibilities
to the municipalities. The re-
bate -would merely pass
through the hands of home-
owners to the civic govern-
ments,

“I would like to draw to
your attention that provincial
government property in Van-
couver amounts to $9,750,000.
At present Victoria only pays
a grant of $15,000 on Liquor
Control Board properties,
while the rest is tax free.

“The injustice of this situa-
tion is added to by ‘the fact
that homeowners must pay
taxes to provide these proper-
ties with street lighting, sew-
age disposal, police protection,
sidewalks, roads, etc. It is time
the provincial government un-
derstood ‘that homeowners in
Vancouver are in no position

vincial government property
in Vancouver.

“The justice of the claim by
municipalities that senior gov-
ernments pay taxes on their
property is recognized in such

Labor mourns.

John Matich

Following a long _ illness,
John Matich, prominent in
B.C. labor circles for many
years and an active member
of the Federation of Yugoslav-
Canadians, passed away two
weeks ago. He was in his
70th year.

John Matich emigrated from
his native Yugoslavia to the
U.S. in 1904 and from there
to Africa in 1915. During the
First World War, Matich vol-
unteered to serve in a Serbian
section of the South African
Expeditionary Forces, and won
the Cara George Cross, Serbia’s
highest decoration. _

In 1926 John Matich came to
Canada, working in logging
camps, mines and on construc-
tion jobs. He leaves a wife
and two sons, both officers in
the Yugoslav army, and one
daughter, all in Yugoslavia.

He was a member of the old
Communist party, and a foun-
dation member of the LPP.

Funeral services were held
at Camphbell’s Funeral Parlors,
with interment following in
Oceanview cemetery. Maurice
Rush, Mike Stanich and-Walter
Gawryki paid tributes at the

to continue to subsidise pro-graveside.

%

James Nesbitt,

e Vancouver Sun’s

polical reporter at

a province as Ontario, for ex-
ample, where the provincial
government pays 90 percent
of the regular municipal tax
on all its holdings. Certainly
it is time B.C. did the same.

“Another field in which the
provincial government should
come to the aid of Vancouver
is road costs. Each year Van-
couver taxpayers are requir-
ed to carry on increasingly
heavy load to maintain roads
in decent shape.

“In the next-20 years Van-
couver taxpayers will have to
raise $55 million for roads
which serve not only Vancou-
ver but the whole Lower Main~-
land and which will be re-
quired to carry additional pro-
vincial traffic when the high-
way system is extended on the
North Shore. Last year Vic-
toria contributed only $23,625
for our roads, a mere pittance
compared to the overall cost.

“The Labor - Progressive
party recognizes that the fin-
ancial plight of the municipal-
ities will only be finally solved
by a fundamental change in
division of income between
‘the three levels of government
—federal, provincial and muni-
cipal. We have in the past and
will continue in the future to
press for an early conference
to tackle this problem.

“However, we feel that the
present proposals for aid from
the provincial government for
Vancouver would help stave
off another increase in taxes
on homes this year, and help
lessen the load on homes while
a more lasting solution to the
problems of civic government
are worked through.”

“Moria, stirred up a contro-

versy this week when he complained: “MA’s spend too much time asleep.” He com-

mented that “

.. . MLAs do their utmost to g 2t elected ... They dearly love to make

long speeches themselves, but if anyone else t ks more than 10 minutes they yawn and slip
out of the chamber for a snooze, a cup of tea 0F some convival conversation in a back room.”
This picture of Highways Minister P. A. Gag‘ardi and Labor Minister Lyle Wicks sleeping
peacefully in the chamber at Victoria seems to bear him out. In all fairness, however, it
must be pointed out that it was taken during a late night session last year.

JANUARY 18, 1957 —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 5