| ee ON HOUSE

©

“Week in the House

“Doukhobors not responsible

for all violeiice in Kootenays’

hobors,

€deavor to advance some of the
Rupert Haggen (CCF, Grand
orks-Greenwood) was prepared to
£0 even further than the Social
it government his fellow mem-
a Leo Nimsick (CCF, Cranbrook),
f°ndemned for its ‘‘procrastina-
Ae and bungling” in dealing with
HX Doukhobors.
te agen called for relentless sup-
“sion of what he chose to call
oF poreanized crime” of the radi-
Pade oer He described the
Eck TS of the Sons of Freedom
as “illiterate spellbinders”
as Worked their meetings into
*nzy, “taking the name of God,

bi Sees
Ut taking it in vain.” But not a

‘ Word about the Doukhobors’ just

3 Bes: not a protest against
their Icy that takes children from
got Poners. The closest Haggen
ineo 2 protest was in pointing out
Msistencies in the sentences
ved down by the courts.
vane spoke in a _ different
ment : e condemned the govern-
tribut; or laying charges of con-
coneag to juvenile delinquency
Outspok the Doukhobors, and his
A €n remarks so. disturbed
tone ’etBMent benches that At-

tried to pacer Robert Bonner
Of order. ead him off on a point
Tt

the peent be well, said Bonner, if
his re €mber considered whether
; ao were sub judice with
‘ee now before the courts.
Sider X TePlied that he had con-

temied te® question and he in-

“Dation the government had called
oUukh, ce” in dealing with the
ti Obors he called procrastina-
fai Me yo mlored the government’s
Doukhoh, act on the report of the
e, sate Consultative Commit-
Solution a ‘Our chances of a
Such banging set back by
en,

overny, Ooking straight at the

the €nt benches, he tossed
follows nought which, if it were
Thight wy, up .by an investigation,

ell create more of a furore

we Kee aaa themselves
that ple jn the Kootenays feel
by the 1S violence is not done
s Ons of Freedom,” he said.
Watchin the police are too busy
When rs the Sons of Freedom
Plage ‘ied should be looking some
The. Se for the culprits.”

Ut gi Point that Nimsick raised
shoulg not answer ig one that
all the Not be allowed to pass. If
Whi Tes and bombings through

tg .
daily" 28 Nimsick pointed out, the
the g Cwspapers have “inflamed
ot Bg lons. of the people,” are
dom Work of the Sons of Free-
Stange ,° Caused them? Who
and to benefit when bombing

2 a sae
hiting mmiting necessitate the
Toads ., “Med guards on rail-

from ree Doukhobors are driven
€mh i
Xe conn Of the legislature who

ni : é
to the uc in finding a solution

eee ee mien
ie se ;
Pain NED HARRIS

and Paperhangers’
Supplies
Worthy Wallpaper

HA. 2973

ancouver, B.C,

Proceed with his remarks»

By HAL GRIFFIN

During the past week the legislature has heard the viewpoints
of j And nothing could better have illustrate fe
_ its elected representatives who align themselves with policies they

principles of progress and social

of two CCF members on the Douk-

d the differences within the CCF today, between those

professedly oppose and those who
justice CCF voters associate with

‘House of horror’
find this a promising line of pur-
suit.
tk * *

The Doukhobor situation was not
the only question on which Nim-
sick had forceful opinions. He
joined with Vincent Segur (CCF,
Revelstoke) in denouncing condi-
tions at Colquitz Mental Hospital,
near Victoria.

Nimsick said the hospital was @
“sood example of a snake pit.”
Segur called it a ‘“‘place of horror.”
Conditions there, he reported to
the House, were ‘‘just as bad as
they were 10 years ago” when he
visited: the institution and felt
‘hysically unable to go back be-
cause the following morning I was
as sick as I have ever been in my
life.”

However, he added, he had gone
back, and members were not in
the least surprised to hear that it

lwas the veteran CCF member for

Burnaby, E. E. Winch, who had
persuaded him. :

Segur said he did not particu-
larly blame this government for
conditions at the hospital. Rather
every government over the past 20
years was to blame. But he did
plead with this government to
improve conditions now. :

“Put a sane man there and he
would not remain sane long,” he
declared.

Describing conditions at Col-
quitz, Nimsick said 75 inmates
were housed in cell blocks 15 by 85
feet, with cells on one side of the
block and a blank wall on the
other. ‘The block was lighted by
windows set high in-the otherwise
blank wall. Along the wall ran a
bench and there the inmates sat,
shoulder to shoulder.

“All they have to look at -day
after day, month after month, year
in and year out, is a blank wall,
he said. :

Nimsick suggested that a com-
mittee be established to review
mental cases, expressing the opin-
ion that many were kept in hos-
pital when they could be treated
and released. Ee
_ The importance of the issue was
®mphasized this week when Pro-
vincial Secretary Wesley Black re-
ported to the House that there
are 6,000 people in B.c. mental
institutions today—more than the
total of patients in all B.C. gen-
eral hospitals.

The mitre Black presented was
not a bright one. Some 3,500
patients have been admitted to
mental hospitals since April, 1952,
and it is anticipated that the figure
will be 500 higher by April, 1954.
‘The estimated cost to the govern
ment over the next 10 years wil

llof Canadians,

be $80 million.

Black said his government was
determined to reduce the heavy
expenditure on mental care ‘“‘ex-
tending into perpetuity,” and it
hoped to do this by providing more
facilities for treatment of mental
patients in the early stages.

* * *

The House also heard from Mrs.
Lydia Arsens (Socred, Victoria),
its only woman member, and a
wonderfully confused woman she
is. If she omitted anything from
her 45-minute speech, it was only
for lack of time. She covered
everything from chewing gum to
hearing aids, at times making good
sense and at other times sheer non-
sense.

Among her sensible proposals
was one for an investigation into
the “outrageous telephone rates of
the B.C. Telephone Company.”

But as she passed rapidly from
education, religion, ‘communism
and liquor to arrive a little breath-
lessly. at fluoridation and food
more and more nonsense crept in-
to her remarks.

“Isn't it ridiculous to advocate
passing legislation to compel every-
one to take poison merely to save
the teeth of a few children?” she
demanded as she paused at fluori-
dation. Then common sense assert-
ed itself and she added, ‘‘Why
not pass regulations forbidding
the wholesale guzzling of cheap
candy, soft drinks and the use of
chewing gum?” ;

She wanted a campaign for the
manufacture of pure foods instead
of “poison,” asserting ‘inanely,
“We give the vitamins to the chick-
ens and we eat the trash our-
selves.” ‘

And her crowning piece of non-
sense for the day was a proposal
that would compel householders in
Victoria to keep three ‘garbage.
ecans—one for flattened tins, one
for papers and one for waste food.
‘The food, she proposed, should be
composted and used for fertilizer.
Lydia’s vegetable compost, as some
one (not in the House) unkindly

it.
aay pina who really believes
that other housewives, in this day
of high prices and stretched bud-
gets, throw away enough food to
fertilize Beacon Hill Park is in-
deed confused!

leaflets at

The right to communicate ideas
freely will be argued in County
Court on Monday, October 5, at
2.30 p.m. On the docket, the case
will be designated as Regina vs.
Donnelly. But the labor movement
in B.C. will be keenly interested
in the decision of the court, be-
cause it involves the right to give
out leaflets on the streets in Van-
couver.

Donnelly and another election
worker were arrested during the
last provincial election campaign
for handing out leaflets on the
street, under a city bylaw which
prohibits handbill distribution on
the ground that it could cause a
litter on the streets.

When the arresting officer was
cross-examined by the defense at
the police court trial, he was ask-
ed, “You were interested in stop-
ping them giving out these leaf-

Right to distribute

in city. court case

stake

lets?” He replied in one word,
“Yes.” Then he added, “I read
it out of the city bylaw they
weren't allowed to _ distribute
handbills.”

The men were convicted, but
launched an appeal.

Harold Dean, of Stanton, Munroe
and Dean, is acting as counsel for
Donnelly.

Jack Phillips, executive secre-
tary of the Vancouver Branch of
the League for Democratic Rights,
has announced that his organiza-
tion is prepared to assist in meet-
ing the costs arising from the ap-
peal. ‘‘Any citizen who wishes to
make a financial contribution in
this fight for freedom of expres-
sion should write to the League
for Democratic Rights, 339 West
Pender, Vancouver, B.C.,” said
Phillips:

Chetwynd

some ‘soft spots’,
ducks trade issue

admits

VICTORIA, B:C.

Trade Minister Ralph Chetwynd tossed around some big figures
in the legislature Monday this week to prove the rapid growth of
industry in this province, but after he had run out of glowing words
and phrases he admitted that there were several “soft spots” in the
economic condition of B.C. at the present time.

RALFH CHETWYND

Shipyards are in a bad state,
there’s a drop in the canning and
fish curing industry, retail trade
is having its ups and downs, and
manufacturing is down slightly in
the production of iron and steel
products, transportation equip-
ment and chemical products.

While touching on these prob-

lems, Chetwynd shied away from
the looming crisis in the lumber
industry and skipped the question
of barter trade with the United
Kingdom and People’s China, the
key to the solution of this prov-
ince’s economic wellbeing,

(Federal fisheries minister James
Sinclair left Ottawa this week for
London in an effort to persuade
the British ministry of food to buy
part of British Columbia’s 1953
salmon pack. Loss of export mar-
kets created a huge stockpile of
canned salmon in Canada earlier
this year.) : ‘

for

The Vancouver branch
an int

rship concurren’ :
re ot McCarthyism in
Canada is real,” said Phillips.
“Only by creating a strong organ-
ization dedicated to the protection
and extension of our ceria
rights can we undertake the Pe
of arousing the people to the
dangers around us.”
The Vancouver branch will dis-
tribute some 5,000 copies of a new
four-page pamphlet by the eae
entitled It’s a Free Country, Isn
i deals with the
ew pamphlet deals wit)
eee feats to -Canadian asin
ties and carries the full text o

i Declaration of the Rights
te en prepared by the

nsive campaign to win suppo
Tack Phillips, well known Vanco a
In a statement after his appointment, Ph ; \
t with the campaign for a Bill of Rights.

LDR to launch drive in B.C.
Canadian Bill of Rights

of the League For Democratic Rights has announced it will shortly launch
rt for a Canadian Bill of Rights.
uver trade unionist, has been appointed executive secretary.

ps announced that the league will conduct a drive

league in order to stimulate dis-
cussion around a positive approach
to the problem of democratic lib-
erties. a

The branch has also set up an
anti-discrimination committee to
investigate and compile informa-
tion on discrimination in’ the fields
of employment, catering and serv-
ices. This committee will cooperate
with all groups and citizens inter-
ested in combatting discrimination.

A membership meeting open to
the public will be held in Hastings
Auditorium, 828 Hastings East,
Tuesday, October 27. The meet-
ing will feature a dramatic record-
ing made at one of the Smith Act

trials in the U.S:, which will be
introduced by a Vancouver citizen
who recently attended the trials
in Seattle.

In addition, a panel of lawyers
will discuss the Declaration of the
Rights of Canadians and answer
all questions from the floor.

Any person interested in further
information about the League for
Democratic Rights, or in arrang-
ing’ a private or public gathering
to hear the dramatic recording of
one of the Smith Act trials, can

make the necessary arrangements —

by contacting Jack Phillips at 339
West Pender, or by phoning
PAcific 4548.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 2, 1953 — PAGE 7

ae a

balboa il led

a