Road neglect Entire stretches of the Island Highway can be negotiated only With considerable difficulty. Not a Single road leading into Vancou- ver ean be classified as a first- Class highway. pecctions of the Grandview and pane highways are rutted and ull of potholes and busses are ently breaking down on ae Kingsway is now carrying an full traffic load, the narrow Baty and poor paving , creating ditional traffic hazards. But be- oo filling the worst of the pot- mene the public works depart- Baca: has not touched the surface es use the government expects uS year to fulfil its perennial Promise to rebuild Kingsway. In the meantime, motorists Will be called upon to pay 10 Sents a gallon gas tax and a bercent higher license fee as aac of the government’s de- Gsion to aes the federal cents tax on gas ‘With its own basic seven cents catia to withdraw the license te given motorists during War years. eiatetum, motorists have the a ment’s promise, for what it worth, to spend the additional ene cents gas tax on road con- ction .and to undertake a cam- oe to encourage tourist travel ABs Panrign that will largely be sted unless a comprehensive road pragram is started immedi- ately. But repair of provincial high- ways is only part of the problem. Hard-pressed Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island municipalities are faced this year with stagger- ing costs because of damage done to roads during the past two months. Burnaby’s municipal engineer hag informed the council that* many roads aré beyond repair and must be. rebuilt enare Nr Surrey municipality | is a similar plight. In Langley last week popular Councillor . Jack Treliving, leading LPP member, was working on roads in his ward with a voluntary gang of residents in an effort to make them passable, and elsewhere in the municipality farmers were doing their own road work, Increased road grants to the municapalities “proposed by the Goldenberg Report are insuf- ficient to meet the emergency. Responsibility for financing extra- ordinary road work lies directly on the provincial government which has drawn millions of dol- lars in gas and license taxes dur- ing the past 10 years, at the same time neglecting the roads and failing to provide municipalities with adequate grants‘ for their own road. work. Ne Goldenberg report. hock British Columbia is one of ee last provinces to adopt. It will Ovide the municipalities with a Source of income in the least on-. Boks fashion because, in its gen- ee Principle, it is based on abil- ae to pay. But here again, the ae for a basic exemption to x tect small business men from ti eel blow is absolutely essen- o i ; mente a number of other recom- ~€ndations embodied in the re- ¥ eet, the tax on public utilities _ 28 proposed to the Goldenburg mmission last summer in a ‘cref presented by the Labor-Pro- _Bressive Party and it must be re- oe €d as a progressive feature of € recommendations. Ps Others of the recommendations “Te Short of meeting municipal puirements. The report does not Ot sufficient grants, particularly “er education, roads and social ervices, as ao the minimum salary ‘require- isn for teachers; set by the B.C. fachers’ Federation, are to be- Some reality then additional mil- ions are needed. However, the recommendation that the province Pay four-fifths of school building Costs will help to cope with certain | @ducational problems that are in- _ dicated today by over-crowded Classrooms, a chronic teacher Shortage and ramshackle school buildings, “Hospital facilities, likewise, are entirely inadequate, Vancouver alone having a hospital bed short- age in excess of 450. ; Measures for debt control, limit- ing interest rates on municipal loans to three percent and the time limit to 30 years, are good sound business procedure. . ‘Tt is disappointing that Gold- enberg omitted to make any recommendation on the already existing debt and we emphatically disagree with his praise of the handling of Vancouver finances in past years. Vancouver is paying 27 cents out of every dollar col- lected to pay interest on bonded indebtedness, which is a highly wasteful and spendthrift method of municipal financing which must come to an end—and soon, “The vast and unwieldy debt structure, which allows us to g0 on paying for wooden sidewalks years after they have rotted away, must be reduced and replaced with a modern and practical plan. “This question of municipal and provincial tax arrangements will be one of the major questions coming before the present legis- lative session. Satisfactory adjust- ments, adoption of long-needed re- form, and elimination of the in- iquitous and vicious tax burden born by ,those in. the small and moderate income group, must be carried through without any fur- A charge of 50 cents for each insertion _ Of five lines or less with 10 cents for each additional Tine is made for notices appearing ‘n this column, No notices will be accepted later than Monday noon of the week of Publication, : e eeepc NOTICES : Oldtime Dancing fo ALP, CARLSON’S ORCHESTRA Every Wednesday and Saturday Hastings Auditorium 828 East Hastings Phone HAst. 3248 — «a MODERATE RENTAL RATES for socials, weddings, meetings, etc. (OK. Hair Restorer— Cure for falling hair depends upon removing cause. O.K. Hair Restoring method re- Moves the cause of baldness, greyness, falling hair, etc., al- lowing your hair to grow. to _ Normal, Hair restored from _ the weakest roots or fuzz. Each case must be diagnosed Separately. Results obtained _ from first free trial.. No mail orders accepted. Urko Anton- « FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1947 ther delay. ©6669 6OOO5O5 OOO OOOOOSE Meetings— Swedish Finnish Workers’ Club meets last Friddy every month, 7:30 p.m., Clinton Hall. : Croatian Hall— Available for Dances, Socials, Weddings, Banquets, Meetings, Reasonable rates. 600 Camp-_ bell Avenue, HAstings 0687. ASH BROS. CARTAGE Moving — Transfer Dump Trucks 2239 Cambie ‘any comprehensive proposal for Noranda strike ends, gains made NORANDA, Que—The 80-day- old strike of 600 copper and gold miners at Noranda Mines here ended this week in a. partial vic- tory for Local 688 of the Inter- national Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (CCL-CIO). The union won an hourly pay boost of 13 cents instead of the 16 cents originally asked. The settlement however did not result in grant- ing of the union dues checkoff, although union representatives will now be granted permission to interview new employees, be- fore they start work. ~ The Noranda strike was mark- ed by provocative attempts by Premier Duplessis’ Quebec police to smash the strike by the use of tear gas. Strikers were com- pelled to picket the huge Nor- anda monopoly in bitter 40 below zero weather. Noranda Mines is Canada’s largest copper andq gold producer. Red-baiting designed to weaken union effort, says IWA leader “The communist bogey, the hue and cry. about communists in labor organizations and the disastrous effects their participation in the labor movement has on trade: unionism is a falsification of the whole labor. picture,’ Harold Pritchett, District President of Inter- national Woodworkers of America, said this week. pea ee “The bourgeiose press attempts to portray the communists as self-interested interferers in the affairs of labor, Nothing could be further from the truth!” Pritchett made the statement to the Pacific Tribune after several reporters from daily papers had interviewed him about communist influences in the labor movement. It is true, of course, that there are communists -in leading posi- tions in the IWA, Pritchett de- clared, but this a fact to be proud of, not something to hide. i “Under leadership of many LPP members who are trade unionists the IWA has become the coast’s biggest and strongest union,” said Pritchett. “We have taken the lead in establishing the first in- dustry-wide contracts, we have fought consistently for safety conditions, better wage: rates, de- cent working conditions. And the confidence of the union. members in their leaders is shown time and again as LPP members are elec- ted to positions of trust and re- sponsibility in the union.” It is no accident that: LPP members are active in union af- fairs, Pritchett maintained. Com- munists recognize that working- class interests can best be served by leaders who have courage, in- tegrity and foresight, d who have a sound understanding of labor’s historical. role. No little credit for the growth of unionism among B.C.’s basic industries goes to. the .communists,. who have fought. consistently for Jabor and against reaction. See ; “To, put it .simply, communists who are active in: unions: believe - that even under capitalism many improvements can -be made in the working . man’s . lot. But we: be- lieve too that the day will come when labor’s: struggles: will extend to the political life of. the nation, to. action on both political and economic frents. And needless to. say, all communists are working towards the ultimate goal of so- cialism. .. « : ; re “The efforts of the employers through rumors’ and high power- ed press propaganda ‘is’ ‘to create the impression that the IWA_ is split into many factions, that the membership is -not behind the executive... Nothing could -be : fur- ther from the truth. The mem- ° bership have shown ‘their support of their elected leaders who have led the fight for wage . increases ang better working.’ conditions throughout the history of the union’s existence.” ; opens in Regina. of a lengthy recitation of the some over-emphasized, some quite illusory. Significantly absent was provincial government action to cope with the depressed condi- tions looming on the horizon for this province. On the burning’ is- sue of housing only this is said: “Housing which is primarily the responsibility of the Dominion Government has received the at- ally as it relates to the needs of the veteran. During the last two years, approximately six hundred living units in all, have been con- structed, and further building is planned.” Six hundred living to tackle the emergency. features of the housing problem. that the government will soon’ put into effect any program for the electrification of Sashatchewan farms, fact that it is well known that STANDARD Cleaners & Dyers 4097 E. Hastings St. GLenburn 0168 FRASER CAFE JUST GOOD FOOD , New Westminster Phone FAir, 0469 _ Uck, 671 Smythe St., Vancouver. | Dance, Clinton Hall— 2605 East Pender, Dance every Saturday night. Modern and Old-Time. Viking’s Orchestra. Hall is available for rent. HAstings 3277. : : WAND STUDIO “Anything With a Camera” . 8 E- Hastings St. — PAc. 7644 Vancouver, B.C. er The Speech from the Throne was a very long doc tention of my government especi- units in Saskatchewan doesn’t go: very far towards even beginning ae promised. Not a word is said to suggest. long-range |e to our people. despite the’ excellent plans for rural electrifi-| By NELSON CLARK Socialist objectives absent in Saskatchewan CCF throne speech ‘REGINA—Hopes and struggles of the people of Saskatchewan are finding no clear voice in the legislature of this province, as the fourth session of the CCF-controlled .assembly ument consisting almost. entirely achievements of the. CCF government to date, some real, cation are gathering dust in partmental offices. A vague reference is made to the reduction of the hours of work in certain types- of busi- nesses. de- province, who were promised a comprehensive Hours of Work Act a year ago, and were. told that the only reason it was not then enacteqd was because of Fed- eral Wage Control orders which are now lifted. ‘ Some positive proposals appear in the .spéech. The promise is made of extensive road building in 1947. This will be most : wels come, ee er A provincial bill of rights is It will be necessary to wait for the actual legislation to determine of how much prac- tical ue these measures will On the whole, the impression is confirmed that. the government has no clear cut policy for the This will not satisfy the ‘|trade union movement of this difficult ‘future years—that. they are. riding on their laurels, hop- ing that the reforms they have enacted will be sufficiently impres- sive to..guarantee their return to power. ; ; ; : But there are many ominous signs suggesting that such a policy of drift may prove fatal. : The Liberals revived by Walter — Tucker’s demagogic leadership, are returning, to the attack — anq the attack consists of vicious tir ades against. socialism which is freely linked up with totalitar~ ianism and. fascism. — - 7 o The Liberal: house leader, -W. J. Patterson ranted: in: the House- about the espionage trials, accus- ing the CCF of having had com- munist “fellow travellers” in, their employ. 3 Dyson Carter was singled out for attention because the Depart- ment of Adult ‘Education had published a study outline on atomic energy ‘which had been prepared by the Winnipeg author, UNIVER * SAL NEWS STAND | 112 EAST HASTINGS ‘ os a ee * ... features’... Language and Home ‘own Newspapers and Progressive Literature HM! IF WE DON’T STOCK IT, WE CAN GET.IT . net ge 782 Columbia Street $| An Address by 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARXISM — 18474947 CONCERT — MEETING — DANCE > OLYMPIA HALL _ Garden Drive and Hastings THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27 — AT 8:30. PM. + . featuring We : “The Power of Marxism” ‘ SILVER COLLECTION ts Auspices | Hasti ngs East Branch, Labor-Progressive i Minerva Miller PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 7