Lp aL Kitimat rail link opened Kitimat was linked to the Canadian National’s transcontinental rail system on Friday last week when the first train arrived in the aluminum centre to inaugurate a twice-weekly service. The 43-mile spur line from Terrace cost more than $11 million to build. Here the train is seen crossing the seven-span steel bridge across the Skeena River. Canadian gives foast | Soviet writers guests at Burns celebration — . AYR, Scotland Attended by some 3,000 admir- ers of Robert Burns from all parts of the world, among them Samuel Marshak, famous Soviet translator of the Scottish national bard, the first International Burns Festival to be held in more than a century concluded here this week, The international Burns Supper, at which citizens of 10 countries clinked glasses in Billy Butlin’s Heads of Ayr Hotel under the blinding glare of television flood- lights, was described by Leonard Brockington, former chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corpo- ration, as “the mdst cheerful and harmonious United Nations As- sembly I have ever attended.” ~ Viewers in millions of British homes heard Brockington invite a _ toast from “the welcome and friendly scholars from Moscow .. . in a Scots accent to the rest of Jock Tamson’s bairns.” : Samuel Marshak replied with an appeal for international friendship. “Let this festival be a new token of the growing friendship among the peoples of all nations,” he said. Burns never forgot that an es- sential condition of international- ‘ism is that there are nations to inter-relate, he continued. ~ The author of the world’s great est song—“Auld Lang Syne’—also wrote “A man’s a man for a’ that?’ singing of the day when mankind would “be brithers yet for a’ that.” Earlier, in a. biting-cold wind, but against a sky of brilliant blue, Marshak had laid a wreath at the snow-fringed foot of the Burns statue here. After a few words in honor of the poet, Marshak then stood back and, with tears of emotion trickling down his face, listened to the sing- ing of “Scots wha hae,” by the Ayr}. Academy Choir. , With Marshak were his 37-year- old engineer son Emmanuel and two noted Soviet writers, Boris Polevoi and Anna Elistratova. Boris. Polevoi introduced Mar- shak to a press conference as “the man who has brought the magic . Burns poetry to the Soviet peo- p a” And Marshak did in fact bring the magic of Burns’ poetry in Rus- sian into the coffee-lounge of the Heads of Ayr Hotel. , Applause from the press greet- ed his lyrical rendering in soft- spoken Russian of “John Ander- son, my Jo” and “A man’s a man.” They were easily recognised. Marshak captivated everyone here by his modest manner and obvious love for Burns. Polevoi, too, captivated his hear- ers when, with gesticulating arms and flashing black eyes, he recited the lines of Burns: The deities that | adore, Are social Peace and Plenty, I’m better pleas’d to make one - more, Than be the death of twenty. “Tt will be hard to find a person, regardless of nationality or politics, who wouldn’t applaud these senti-| ments,” commented Polevoi. :| company.” -| there was not a quorum. day will go to the U.S. while 15 Rush challenges Cunningham BCE post prejudices alderman’s gas stand An attempt by B.C. Electric director Alderman George Cunningham to scuttle municipal distribution of natural gas was spiked Monday this week when LPP city secretary Maurice Rush appeared before Vancouver City Council to answer a state- ment written by Cunningham in reply to proposals made by the LPP to city council last December. In his statement Cunningham claimed, “There is no evidence to support the belief that a city oper- ated gas service would operate more efficiently than the private Rush challenged this statement, pointing out that Cunningham had 2 personal interest in the B.C. Elec- tric, and that under the city charter he could not vote on such a ques- tion. Rush pointed out to council that withtout (Cunningham’s vote “The B.C. Electric is carrying on as if it had the god-given right to distribute natural gas in Vancou- ver whereas the fact is that there exists no agreement whatsoever between the city and B.C. Electric for distribution of manufactured or natural gas,” said Rush. Pointing to the action of the Burnaby council in setting up a committee to study municipally- owned. distribution of natural gas, Rush proposed that Vancovu- ver convene a conference of all Lower Mainland municipalities to consider such a scheme. This proposal received favorable com- ment from two of the aldermen present. Rush urged council to ask for full details from the provincial gov- ernment about the proposed three- way deal between Westcoast Trans- mission, Pacific Northwest and El Paso companies. Under terms of the deal as announced in the press 300 million cubic feet of gas per million cubic feet will serve the lower mainland of B.C. on a branch line. Rush noted that at present the B.C. Electric manuiactures 12 mil- lion cubic feet of gas largely to service the Greater . Vancouver area. “Tf that is all the natural gas ear- marked for Vancouver then it is quite obvious that Vancouver will not benefit from development of Peace River gas to any extent it should,” he said. “The amount we are to receive will hardly look after our present needs let alone provide for expansion of industry.” Rush held that it was council’s + City women fo tour USSR Two city women, Mrs. Anne Sochasky (left) and Mrs. Kay Rankin, will leave next week for a three-week tour of the Soviet Union as delegates of the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society. The society is sponsoring a send-off gathering for them at the Russian People’s Home, 600 Campbell Avenue, here this coming Wednesday, February 2, at 8 p.m. responsibility to look after Van- couver’s interests in the natural gas development, and said that council should ask Victoria for full details of how Vancouver and the Lower Mainland will be serviced by natural gas. In the course of discussion, Cun- ningham admitted that he should not have had the report and re- gretted that he had taken the job on. Instead of adopting Cunning- ham’s report, council referred the whole matter to its Utilities Com- mittee for further study. Rush was asked to submit his proposals in writing for consideration by the committee. , Company town] status to end POWELL RIVER, B.C. The Powell River Company, which has controlled this “company town” since it was founded, is pre- paring to turn over the entire town- site to the people who live in it. A bill is being prepared for pres- entation to the legislature that will incorporate the community as a municipality. Since 1910 the development of the community has been under the complete control of the Powell River Company, one of the world’s largest producers of pulp products. The company. owns about 450 homes and 20 businesses, and maintains electricity, street light- ing, sidewalks and streets. The neighboring communities of Westview and Cranberry Lake will probably be incorporated with Powell River to form one large municipality. JOSEPH GERSHMAN Gershman to be _ banquet speaker Vancouver Youth Singers, a new- ly formed group under the direc- tion of Searle Friedman, will make their debut at the fourth birthday banquet for Champion, national progressive youth paper, this Sat- urday, January 29, at 6 p.m. in the Russian People’s Home, 600 Camp- bell Avenue. Guest speaker at the banquet will be Joseph Gershman, editor of the Canadian Jewish Weekly, who is visiting the city this week on a national tour. A week ago Vancouver Youth Singers gave a “sneak preview” at a Champion party organized by Kit- silano club of the National Federa- tion of Labor Youth, and received warm applause for their rendition of six popular folk songs. Each member of the group does solo work. Their version of the popular “Puttin’ on the Style,” with June Phillips, Don Savien, Jim Thomas and Perry Friedman all taking verses, proved to be the most popular number, with the audience demanding an encore. Following the Champion ban- quet the Vancouver Youth Sing- ers will appear in Victoria Feb- ruary 5 and Nanaimo February 6 on behalf of the youth paper’s current financial campaign. “We hope our tour will inspire the development of similar song groups in these places, just as the recent visit of Pete Seeger en- couraged us to start our group,” said Searle Friedman. Labor merger could : come first in Canada NIAGARA FALLS A merger vf CIO and AFL trade union centres in Canada may take place before one in the United States, Claude Jodoin, president of the .| 600,000-member Trades and Labor Congress of Canada, told delegates attending the recent Ontario Provincial Federation of Labor convention here. “I hope and pray organic unity will come soon and things are moving very nicely in that direc- tion,’ he added. Unity of the TLC with the 400,000-member Canadian Congress of Labor would create a one million-member organization. Earlier the TLC president said in a CBC broadeast that once TLC- CCL unity was achieved an ap- proach would be made to include the Canadian and Catholic Con- federation of Labor. : He pledged to delegates that neither he nor TLC secretary Gor- don Cushing would place personali- ties ahead of an eventual fusion of the two bodies. “Organizing the unorganized is our aim, rather than enticing members from _ each other,’ he pointed out. . The theme of unity was also sounded by Ontario Federation President A. F. MacArthur urging organic ynity of both centres. He called upon both bodies to “work unceasingly” to make 1955 a ban- ner year for labor. take MacArthur’s keynote speech rap- ped Ottawa for increasing unem- ployment, charging that the gov- ernment was “showing little fore- sight in endeavoring to meet this growing problem.” He empha- sized that ‘jobs in gainful employ- ment” is what was wanted, not im- provements: in unemployment in- surance alone. Delegates in a resolution called for an immediate three level meet- ing of federal, provincial and civic . governments to tackle the issue of mounting unemployment. Surpris- ingly there was very little debate on the resolution. Veteran trade unionist J. W. Buckley, former TLC secretary and a longtime leader in the Toronto area, was given hearty applause for his strong denunciation of Ottawa’s: “15-minute legislation” on unem- ployment, one of the gravest issues confronting Canadian workers. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 28, 1955 — PAGE 2