PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Tuesday, June 28, 1977 (the herald) \ ) Terrace - 635-6357 Kitimat - 632-5706 Circulation - 635-2877 PUBLISHER.,. GORDON W. HAMILTON MANAGING EDITOR... ALLAN KRASNICK KITIMAT MANAGER... W.5, ‘KIM’ KIMBLE CIRCULATION MANAGER... JACK JEANNEAU Published every weekday at 32712 Kalum St. Terrace B.C, A _™member of Varlfled Circulation. Authorized as second class mall. Registration number 1201. Postage pald In cash, return oostage guaranteed. Published by Sterling Pubtishers Utd. NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright In any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or photographic content published In the Herald. Reproduction Is fot permitted without the written permission of the sher, _Wrong time to give funds The debate over public funding for independent schools has been an emotional and drawn-out discussion, one that has been going on since the Vancauver Island colonial legislature passed the province’s first Public Schools Act in 1865. At that time, the province’s founding fathers articulated a philosophy that guided the government approach to education for 112 years: “Weare not disposed to be concerned with the imperfections of the bill so long as two great principles - free schools and non-sectarian systems . of education - are enunciated. in this province.”' . With legislation now before the provincial legislature to provide public money to separate schools, the government is declaring its clear intention to change this commitment. Education dollars may now be diverted to independent institutions, an important and dramatic move that will have long-term repercussions on education. Unfortunately, the results may he negative. It has been said that government should concern itself with doing the greatest good for the greatest number. An extension of this argument would suggest that providing money to help both public and _ private schools achieves that very end. More people would be helped. The worry, however, is that funds will be diverted from needs of the larger, public education community. There are enormous drains on the education ministry and calls for public funds increase annually. British Columbia schooling is lacking in a number of areas: English-language training for immigrants, | programs for students with learning disabilities, community projects to help deaf children rather than having them sent to Lower Mainland institutions, vocational training. It seems, also, that whenever inroads are made into handling the tough problems of better educzting our young people , the price tag rises, Yet, if we are to raise our children to meet the problems of a highly-competitive society, we must provide a proper education system. But the limits on education are obvious. Many are financial. Already, close to $1 billion in public funds is spent on educating British Columbians, Ta properly provide facilities in remote or rural areas, like the northwest, means a substantial outlay of capital, Even with the restrictions the government placed on separate funding, there will be a substantial outlay of capital from the start. Public money for unindependent schools could clear the path for a proliferation of new institutions, all legitimate, all run by sincere groups wihwith precepts they hold to be genuinely important. But nonetheless, all potentially undermining the ability of Victoria to provide for the public system. Under the proposed act, separate schools will be able to establish their own admission policies. There will not be open accessibility to these publicly-funded schools. Is that a wise way to administer the provincial purse? We think not. We believe that a government so committed to budgetary restraint and financial lightness may, in future, make tough decisions about education that will include sharp cutbacks. But with the new necessity to provide basic support to private school, there will be even more taken from the public system. This is not meant to argue the right of separate schools to exist nor to suggest the quality of education offered by the independent system is in any way inferior. Rather, we feel that providing public dollars at this time it would be a step backward in that it wiil add an unnecessary strain to the province’s already staggering education budget. Traditionally, the separate school system has been just that -- separate. For the time being at least, it should remain so in funding as well as educat onal emphasis. TOPPIX 197? ty Gticagy Tnbune- NY News Synd ine AN Aig ita Avgerver f , with the idea of interests into a ro alon Coe all your financia blind trust, Morton?” “tease would you Multinationals come under WASHINGTON (CP) — The world’s current dependence on Middle East oil and the acts of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have diverted attention from the growing influence of multinational petroleum corporations. But as OPEC dominance fades with development of other energy sources, the power of the corporations likely will become more apparent. The multinationals are involved in almost every aspect of energy development, buying control of new oil and gas sources, gaining a major share in ther reborn coal industry and moving into uranium fuel. As their power grows, the corporations may be moving beyond the influence of governments, ator Frank Church (Dem. Idaho) says the acts of the corporations during the 1973 OPEC embargo illustrate “the fact that multinational oil companies were not really susceptible to the direction of their home governments.”’ - Interpreting the news a During the OPEC embargo, Britain worked out arrangements for special supplies of OPEC oil. CUT SUPPLIES Supplies of non-OPEC oil, however, were cut accordingly by BP and Shell, which allocated the non- scrutiny Petroleum companies also control 52 per cent of U.S. uraniun reserve and 62 per cent of uranium milling capacity. Some also have been full partici uranium cartel, ostensibly under the direction of Canadian and other governments. ts ina world OPEC oil elsewhere. The petroleum giants may be joined in their control of Church, chairman of the us. Senate subcommittee on energy by a re stake. aoe Us. railroads, which i j licy, writes in a sue 0! ve a eee ee rey mhabeaiie . minerals, also are buying into gas, oodl and uraniun pro-~ Fore ign Policy magazine that the corporations did a fair job of allocating oil during ‘the embargo. Since 1973, the corporations have continued to acquire energy sources, raising speculation that their long-term goal is to contro] all energy supplies. In the U.S., oil and gas companies make up 14 of the top 2 holders of U.S. coal reserves. Federal Energ duction. This Administration forecasts indicate that the companies su control more than half the coal production over the next10 = ea years. industries. penetrate the com ly arrangemen with subsidiaries in dozens of countries an The possibility emerges that the continulng growth of the multinational ener, beyond the control of growth may make it less easy for governments to plexity of multinational pricing and corporations may place them yotedt national b ae involving 10 to 20 giant corporations, ozens of NOT LEGAL UNTIL AGE 14 OK Eemontan Teepnal Business spotlight Higher oil price means sands use EDMONTON (CP) — Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (GCOS) requires world-level oil prices if it is to finance a 30-per-cent increase in production, says W. L. Oliver, the company’s vice-president of corporate affairs. ‘OS, which started Canada’s first commercial oil- sands extraction plant in the Athabasca oil sands of northeastern Alberta 10 years ago, has government approval to increase its daily production to 65,000 barrels from 50,000. . But financing the expansion is impossible unless GCOS receives world-level oil prices, Oliver said In an interview. ; ; Last year GCOS had a $67-million debt on its $330- million investment and achieved a $12-million profit only by having $31 million in royalties and interests forgiven by its major shareholder, Sun Oil Co. Ltd. Oliver said the coking and processing facilities required to increase production to 65,000 barrels would cost between $100 million and $150 million. SAVE $76 MILLION Onthe other hand, the additional 15,000 barrels of daily production would save Canada $76million annually in the cost of importing oil at current world prices. Oliver said since Syncrude Canada Ltd. has been promised world-level prices when its oilsands plant starts production next year GCOS should also be given the same treatment. ; ; He said world-level oil prices, after adjustments for transportation, would give GCOS $60 million in additional annual revenue, needed to finance expanded production. Oliver said Sun Oil, which owns 95 cent of outstanding stock, has poured substantial funds into GCOS without a return. . He said that although GCOS had a debt of $67 million ” last year, it still had to pay.$63 million in royalties to the , Alberta government. Oliver said that in 1972, prior to the sharp increase in international oil prices and the inflation that followed, GCOS had general operating costs of $64 million, but by 1976 these costs had increased to $150 million. In Hong Kong, child labor persists HONG KONG (Reuter) — The Hong Kong government has fonneoh ‘ fines for actories caught employing children under 14 ag cheap labor. . But policing clothing and gadget factories is a giant task for the 100 labor inspectors in this British colony. Their realm covers 37,000 factories and most of them employ jess than 100 workers each. Labor Commissioner Ian Price, who raised the maximum penalty to about $2,195 said the social evil exists here, but not on a large scale. He said that child labor provoked foreign criticism and hampered Hong Kong trade negotiators ‘‘because it is used as a basis for the fallacious argument that Hong Kong uses cheap labor to achieve competitive prices.”’ ; In 1969, 1,700 factories were raided and 600 children found. A raid on 6,230 factories last November uncovered 31 children. In doubling the fines, Price called on courts to impose stiffer penalties on convicted employers. He also has written to 90 trade unions asking for their support in weeding out offenders. He said, ‘In terms they work eneral ecause they want to and because . their parents have no objection.” Urban councillor Elsie Elliott has attacked the’ government on the issue of child labor. She said the best solution would be to increase the beeadwinner’s salary and establish a minimum wage so that a man could fully support his family. e said that child workers did not make up a large proportion of Hong Kong's labor force, but s estimated “‘they run into thousands.” AFTER ALLENDE WAS TOPPLED Former Chilean police chief now WINNIPEG <‘CP) — Francisco Valenzuala fled his native Chile in 1975 in search of a life free of controversy and fear. As the influential chief of police in Santiago at the time of the military coup in 1973, he had experienced enough of both. Immediately after the coup Valenzuala was jailed for two years and when he was released the only course open to him was to !sive the country. So he emigrated to Canada. “We were prepared to accept anything when we came here, but of course we were hoping it would be something we had been trained for,”’ he said in an interview. . But language barriers and the question of citizenship made that dream impossible and Valenzuala was forced to take jobs washing floors and dishes and making mattresses. But while doing so he studied English. Last fall he got a job as an inspector with the Manitoba Liquor Commission only te he inadvertently involved in a union dispute because of some minor contract clause. But the dispute and the publicity it created concerned Valtenzuala because he wanted to present a good image in his new home. “We know the Canadian authorities are watching us and we don’t want them to stop other Chileans from coming in,” he said. ‘‘We’re not political leaders. We left Chile because it was impossible for us to continue living there after the coup.” RISKED DEATH The life of Valenzuala and’ his family was nearly ‘destroyed during the blood: coup that depended, Valenzuala said, on the instilling of fear and confusion among the people. “Tt wasn't a revolution, it was an all-out war. There was indiscriminate killing of people ... it didn’t matter if they were rightist or leftist.” But he and his famil vived the coup an imprisonment, Today, his English is vastly improved and he can carry on casual conversations. His wife, Miriam, an_ education professor in Chile, has found sur- the work aS a nurse’s aide. Their two children, aged 18 and 15, have adapted well to their new life. — Valenzuala doesn’t think of returning to Chile, saying it is a useless dream. To return would only result in working conditions, she makes comparisons with Victorian England. could have come here. He would have had plenty of material.” , Kong Federation of Industries, which 1,000 companies, welcomed the increased fines, but said, “More inspec one solution to stamp out the problem." washes death or imprisonment, Price plans to rectify the situation with a new influx of trainee inspectors. When doubling the fines, Price warned g Ko firms about the dangers being insular or complacent about foreign criticisms. “Such charges will be particularly aging to Hong Kong's reputation and tra interests in the year ahead when several major international trade agreements are due to be renegotiated." When discussing their “I wish Charles Dickens Aspokesman for the Hong TOUDS tors would be dishes vocational schools where’ - “We try to make a life for ourselves here," he says. ‘‘I tell the young people to go to they an improve their; language and specialize in some ge ant OTTAWA (CP) — The price of an average house dropped significantly in a number of major cities across the country in the last year with some of the largest decreases shown in Quebec province, a survey by Royal Trust shows. House prices fell by as much as 10 r cent in some parts of Montreal between last August and June 1 this year but drops also were indicated in Regina (12 per cent), Fredericton, N.B. (4.3) and some suburban To- ronto areas. The Royal Trust survey, the only national survey comparing the average city-to-city price of similar homes, found that prices either dropped or showed no change in 33 locations. Prices increased in 35 locations but in only 12 did the rate of increase equal or exceed the 6.1-per-cent inflation rate during the period. In Montreal and areas, where prices already are among the lowest HERE’S A CHANGE OF PACE: HOUSE PRICES ARE FALLING in the country, the survey found the rice of an average three-bedroom bungalow in Hudson dropped to $48,000 from $53,000, in Pierrionds to $29,000 from $32,000 and in Pointe Claire to $36,500 from $39,000. In the Town of Mount Royal, a suburb of Montreal, the average rice of a similar house dropped to 3,000 from $65,000 while in St. Lambert, a suburb on the south shore, the average price increased to $47,500 from $45,000. | A similar house in Halifax in- creased to $53,900 during the fering from $50,000 but dropped to from $41,500 in Saint John, N.B. The price of that average house increased to $80,000 in central Toronto from $76,000 in the last year while dropping to $67,000 from $69,000 in Mississa a and to $64,000 from $65,900 in Oakville, both dor- mitory communities. The survey found that the suburban Kerrisdale area of 40,000 Vancouver continued to hold the | record of the highest prices for an average home. The price of -an. average bungalow increased to $94,000 from $93,000. In Edmonton, the price dropped marginally to $70,600 from. $71,000 since last August and in Regina, the price, dropped to $54,590 from The average price in Winnipeg rose to $56,000 from $51,000. This year, demand for homes has been strong because of a drop in mortgage rales since last December olla cuts in the len ra the Bark of Canada. ing y While mortgages :were peaking - cloge to 12 per cent last year’ buyers began to resist and sellers of hauses had a difficult time finding takers. This led to a buildup in supply. Now that demand is strong again; the real estate industry in almos: every part of the country has reported a brisk business,