= Se a ee * A small low-cost geiger counter has been developed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to enable civilians to detect harmful radiations from an atomic explosion, and here it is being exhibited to senators, Civilians in this and other countries would feel far more secure, however, if the U.S. agreed to ban the A-bomb and H-bomb he B.C. Bill of Rights urged on cabinet, MLA’s —VICTORIA, B.C. A delegation from a conference for a B.C. Bill of Rights, spon- sored by Vancouver Labor Coun cil (CCL) Committee to Combat Racial Discrimination is interviewing cabinet ministers and MLA’s this week in an effort to have a fair employmen ptractices commission set-up. ss The delegation represents all ra- cial groups, many cultural organi- zations and trade unions, the Civil Liberties Union, UBC, and the In- ternational League for Peace and Freedom. Heading the delegation are Dar- win Chariton (VLC), Marney Oli- ver (CLU), Pearl Wedro (Fur and Leather), Dr. F. Katz (UJPO), Tosh Tanada (Japanese-Canadian Citizens' Association) and John Dubno (United Ukrainian-Canadi- ans). Telegrams and letters in support ef the delegation have been sent to Premier Byron Johnson by in- fluential church leaders and other | organizations supporting the con- ference resolution. Frank Calder, MLA, is scheduled to introduce a resolution calling for a B.C. Bill of Rights. Demand Ottawa help B. C. fruit growers B. C fruit growers are being charged more than $2,000,000 to cover expenses involved in a gift of apples to Great Britain, a Vernon farm delegate to the Labor Progressive Party provincial con- | vention last weekend charged. Delegates ‘unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the fe- |deral government “to subsidize growers of the tree fruits area to cover the costs involved, on the basis of the returns of the Said three years’ crops. — YOU CAN'T LIVE ON $9 A WEEK Why one girl will be at city jobless conference Mary Townsend—we'll call her that although that is not her real name—is unemployed. For three months now she hasn’t been able to get steady work. but she’s not illiterate either. ts No, Mary hasn’t got a college degree, You see, she is just a Canadian, born on the prairies, into a working class family whose troubles increased when the father died. That's one reason Mary is still in Van- couver. Her absence cuts down the family expenses. The factories where Mary work- ed when she did have a pay cheque didn’t pay much, You can’t roll up a bank account for a rainy day on 45 or 50 cents an hour, and on that pay you don’t get more than $9 a week unemployment insur- ance. So Mary never lived well when she worked — she got by. But on unemployment insurance, this is what happens. The landlord demands the rent. It’s $6 a week. Mary looks round" at the dingy room, its blackened ceiling, the paper coming in strips from the wall, the makeshift ward- robe cupboard. She'd like to ask for a reduction in rent, but she knows all landlords are waiting and hoping for the day when rent controls will be lifted. Besides, if she asks for a cut in rent, it might come out in the conversation that she has no job. So, she says, timid- ly — “The rent — the cost of liv- AE iw The argument is on. And it does come out that she’s lost her job. “Get a cheaper room,” the landw lord says practically.: That’s easy to say, but what prac- tical landlord wants a2 woman ten- ant who has no visible means of support? In our society the money minded have only one explanation for that. Mary knew this too; and her landlord, fortunately, under- stood, and cut the rent to $4.50. Mary was lucky. Not all landlords are like that. That left Mary $4.50 a week to keep her in food, clothes, carfare, soap, thread, needles, toilet articles, all the little things statisticians omit when they estimate how much or how little a human being can survive on.. But then, of course, as the gov- ernment. says, no one in Canada is out of a job for long; and on this theory unemployment benefits are not given from the time you lose a job until you find another one, put last only so long. * * * Mary, now, has been drawing un- employment insurance for three months. (Which shows that she had piled up a tidy eredit for her- CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING A charge of 50 cents for each msertion of five lines or less with {0 cents for each additional line s made for notices appearing in this column. No notices will be _,eeepted later than Monday noon ef the week of publication. WHAT'S DOING Tribune Social—Sunday, April 2, 8 p.m., at 1075 Victoria Drive. Whist, Bingo, Music.