Page 2 THE TRIBUNE, WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C, Thursday, May 12, 1954. Williams Lake Tribune Established 1931 Published every Thursday at Williams Lake, B.C. By The Tribune Publishing Co. Member: Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association British Columbia Division, C.W.N. - $2.50 . $3.00 Clive Stangoe, Editor Subscription: per year . Outside Canada : Payable in Advance 5 ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION Authorized as Second Class Mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa Considering Isn't Doing PGE General Manager’ Bowman’s announcement that hi: company is “‘considering” engagement of a firm of engineers to study the problem of land development around Williams Lake will hardly be received with any flag waving enthusiasm. While the thought has a lot of merit, we had hoped for a more Positive line of action. If Mr. Bowman had said a firm of en- gineers had been engaged to study the problem, that would Nave been another story, but as the matter stands now- we cannot see any move to release land being made this summe) if the railway company is at this late date only thinking o! Ways to approach the question. Mr. Bowman has signified that he will be in town May 29 for the cattlemen’s annual meeting and will at that time he happy to talk over the problem with Board of Trade members Perhaps by that time he will have a more definite statement to make. We certainly hope he will. Room for town expansion ig needed desperately and while we are only too willing tc agree that development should not be allowed in a haphazare manner, there is little doubt that certain sections could be opened up in the very near future without jeopardizing any long-range blueprint of a model townsite. ‘Strange Resporise One of a series of questions put recently to Hon. Eric Martin, minister of health and welfare, by officials of the B.C. Hospitals’ Association, drew what to our mind was a rather strange response, The association was asking the Provincial Government to erganize hospital districts, work that is now undertaken by citizens in each area concerned. According to the association’s impression of the reply, Mr. Martin said that at the present time the number of new construction projects under considera- tion call for an amount of money far in excess of the provincial money available to meet the province’s share of the cost. The governinent is not likely, at the present time, to consider legislation making it easier to further multiply the demands for construction grants. We find this strange because it implies that, whether hos- pitals are needed or not, the government has no intention of easing the way to making additional beds available. It should be the other way around. If hospital space is urgently required, as it is in most parts of this booming province, the govefnment should do all in its power to see that this space is provided. If the government has not the funds to meet present hos- pital construction needs, it would appear that money should be borrowed for this purpose, since no hospital construction project would have the approval of the department unless it Was urgently needed. Certainly the situation is not going to improve while the necessary funds are being waited for. From Mr. Martin’s answer on improvement districts, it would appear that he is in a most unenviable position trying to divert an avalanche of construction grant demands into holding files while he works on the present mountain of building projects with a very small treasury spoon. ‘Part Of The Team The daily fight against disease, of repairing bodies maimed in accidents, is the more successful in this modern age because of the teamwork involved. In the background are the men of reasearch searching the answers to the cause of specific diseases. On the front line of battlé are the medical practicion- ers and the nursing profession. Not the least of the team is the hospital, with its facilities for diagnosis, operation and re- cuperation, Onceza year we are impressed with the part the public ean play in supporting our own institution to the end that the facilites for care can be continually improved. The day is known as National Hospital Day, or Pound Day, the latter expression coming fromthe practice of donating a pound of goods to the hospital as a tangible contribution. In Williams Lake the Hospital Auxiliary is again spon- soring the observance. They have organized a poster and essay contest among the school children as part of an educational program of outlining public responsibility. Saturday they will hold their pound day tea, although this year because of the crowded hospital, the tea will be held in the nurses’ home. War Memorial Hospital is a primary responsibility of the community and district. It deserves a full measure of our support. Niquidet Transport Williams Lake - Horsefly R. M. Blair’s office, Wms. Lake, phone R64 Horsefly Phone, 3 short i long EDWARD M. TAKAHASHI OPTOMETRIST will be at the RANCH HOTEL - WILLIAMS LAKE Monday, May 16th 12:00 noon to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17th 9:00 arm. fo 8 Wednesday, May 18th 9:00 acm. to 3:00 p.m. 30 p.m. For Complete Eye Examination Appointment ’phone or write The Ranch Hotel By AJ The Cracker Barrel Forum Drinkell When one of the boys produced a volume entitled © Schools of the Province of British Columbia,’ Righty-third annual report, with sun- dry pieces of paper inserted between the leaves we knew we were in for one of those dry as dust statistical hold-forths. It was not until he reached page 13 that any interest was evinced. On that page appears a comparative table of enrolment and expenditures for public edneation from the year 1877-78. Those were ihe good old days when the entire cost of education was met out of con- olidated revenue — the whole $113,000 of it. Until the year 19 in both enrolment and expenditure S very gradual. At the end ot World War I the total enrolment was 67,500 and the total cost $3%4 million or $53.50 per pupil, of which 50% “ume out of consolidated revenue. In 1922-3 the figures were enrolment 15,000, revenue gs $784 millions or 79.00 per pupil, with the same proportion being met by the gov- ernment. By ’31- 32 enrolment had § reached 116,000 for a cost of $9 %4 millions: and the k - aes cost per pupil had risen to $84. The increased cost was no doubt due to the high prices prevailing during the war and. the boom years following in its wake. Then followed the depres- sion years at which time the gov- ernment of the day displayed, alarm at the growing costs and sought vo impose a greater proportion upon the individual school districts. From 1932 to 1937 there was no appreciable change excepting that under the new financial structure only 22% of the costs was paid out of consolidated revenue. The re- mainder had to be paid by the school districts. A minimum wage scale wa established with the government the increase paying a portion of the teachers sal- aries which varied according to the ed. value of the district con- cerned. All other costs were borne by the districts. Coming at a timo when conditions were at their worst this arrangement led to chaotic con- ditions in a a cover were made be- tween school hoards and_ teachers which resulted in many of the teachers going without the board’s portion of their salaries. Supplies and services suffered likewise. It be recorded that but for the unprecedented restraint aud forbear- ance of the teaching profession con- ditions would have been far more critical, PUPIL Costs UP Even their pension fund was jeo- pardized by .a totally incompetent government. Naturally. there had to be a goat and the three-man school boards were it. During the period 1938-46,’ which included World War II and the years immediately follow- ing, enrolment only increased by 10,000 but the effect of wartime fin- ancing is very noticeable as the cost per pupil is raised to-$113. The local beards being thoroughly in disgrace were replaced by the consolidated schoo! districts. All this in the in- terests of efficiency, economy and ail that stuff. Under this system in eight years hetween 1946-7 and 1953-4 the enrolment has risen to 210,000 or ap- proximately 52%. In the same period the costs have risen from $20 million to $70 million, a jump of 350% and the cost per pupil has climbed from 145.00 to 00 . That is something for the taxpay- to ponder. After making due al- lowance for increased wage scales. building costs ete., Which we do not think have gone up $350, we must ask in all seriousness if the large districts have lived up to expecta- tions, and what are we getting for the increased cost per pupil. - SYSTEM AT FAULT We believe that once again the system is at fault and not the indi- viduals who give of their time and must From the Files of the Tribune ONE YEAR AGo a" May 13,1954 € % A 17,000 fire destroyed the Lac La Hache Light & Power Company plant owned by Voth Bros. The plant supplied thirty-five homes at Lac ia Hache with light— Plans have been approved for two commercial build- ings. Williams Lake Dry Cleaners and McKay Equipent— Death took another Cariboo pioneer in the per- son of Claude “Joe” Demarre in his eighty-fourth year— B.C. Power Commission announced plans to ex- and the capacity of the local diesel electrict generating station— A two- day dowpour was called a million dollar rain, It squelched six small Yorest fires and gave the wild and tame grass meadows a much needed spurt— Eight town and district mem- bers of the province's ground ob- server corps received their wings at a ceremony held at the Elks Hall— FIVE YEARS Aco May 11, 1950 Rey. Gordon Hunter, United Church minister, announced he is re- signing his post to take a church in Schomberg, Ontario— Wilf. Paten- aude was elected president of the Horsefly Cattlemen's Association— A steam inhalator has been purchas- ed by the War Memorial Hospitalt— Alterations are being made at gov- ernment building to provide more space for the public— Allan Wilkin- son, well known village water works employee was accidentally killed when the hoist on his truck gave way— J. Norquay set a trap-line in the basement of the Cariboo Cold Storage and the following morning @ young muskrat was in it— TEN YRAR AGO May 10, 1945 The ice went out at Lac La Hache on May 2nd— Victory in Europe wi officially announced at 2:41 a.m Monday, May 7th— Due to the ir crease in air travel C.P. Airways are success at the Dran held ik Prince Geor. Lake and District reached the '$100.- 000 mark in the Righth Victory Loan campaign— TWENTY YEARS AGO May 16, 1935 The annual Pound Day, held under the auspices of the Hospital was a big suecess— ‘Charlie’ Moxon pass- ed away in Vancouver after a lengthy illness. He will be greatly missed in Williams Lake— Full course meals advertised at ability with unstinted generosity. We believe they just do not have the | time to adequately administer such | Jarge areas and much detail work and altogether too much authority must of necessity be delegated to the paid secretary. There are too many Pressures. It is our opinion that greater economy and efficiency will | Prevail if the three-man boards are reinstated, responsible to a small parent group of permanent super- visors. ‘The inspector of school, if given a supervisory staff would not only be able to act as the correlating agent but would be able to arrange for more frequent inspection of both teachers and pupils. It should also be possible for a school hoard to request a change of teacher without attaching a stigma to the teacher involved inasmuch as a teacher may not fit ‘well into one type of school, or community and yet be an unqualified success in another. Great care would be needed to pre- vent the parent body becoming too bureaucratic. Our educators should have no compunction about re-estai)- lishing the small boards; this is if they have made good use of all the millions now being spent on educa- tion. Present day product should be infinitely better equipped to fulfill those duties than were th-ir fore- bears who got into such tervible dis- Brace. Reluctance to admit the pres- ent system is not working and shy- ing away from the logic | change would imply a lack of faith in their own product. In any cas page 13 of the current annual report furnish~ es every taxpayer with some potent food for thought. DO YOU WANT TO Build a home mortgage loans are Mortgage loans If you need financial help to build a house or duplex, see the manager of our nearest branch. He will gladly tell you how National Housing Act 1954. many services we offer our customers at any of our more than 680 branches. THE CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE Williams Lake Branch — Felix Nicholson, Manager of your own? arranged under the are only one of the i NW-235 ready WESTMINSTER Bolted skin-strcssed panels of alloy steel permit 1135 QUEENS AVENUE Het age semovel of our new lightweight refuse burner to new locetions, Volcano blast-furnace type grate and smooth interior standard ‘models. Priced as low os $2,200. Terms all lable. Approved by B.C. Underwriters, For details contact IRON WORKS CO. LTD NEW WESTMINSTER, now stopping daily at Williams Lake — Williams Lake children scored Brailes « | LONG DISTANCE 7. him close to hom Preacher Jenkins’ sermon was full ‘Ceps- uum Close lo home of fire and brimstone. Manay pane tuted his sermon frequently with | See the inside of your Directory for Station-to-Station and “Phat’s sure tellin’ . i. . afte D y, did. ehinius ally eehoe | rates throughout B.C. after 6 p.m. and all day Sunday. ieher’s denunciations of lyin 2 eu 2 and drinki When the preache: disapproval to petty eased back into the pew and mutter- ed: “Now he’s done quit preachin’ and gone to meddlin’,” * BRITISH COLUMBIA COMPA? 1 TELEPHONE