Pe 10, No. 45 Vol. J oe JUBTUTEL t Hy Weyay ARE op LMM, hiacne phi hii. HEALER UL) ae encour British Columbia, November 9, 195] LANL gM) y / / dj hash dt PRICE FIVE CENTS BOARD HEARINGS HINT 2-GENT MILK JUMP. BCE seeks new fare hike before Xmas Vancouvers long-suffering straphangers may soon have to pay more money for a ride on BCElectric’s jampacked buses and streetcars, unless public pro- tests force Public Utilities Com- mission to reject the company’s latest scheme. A PUC hearing on electric rate and gas rate increases will . open in Vancouver November 22 and details of the BCE’s threaten- ed fare .increase may be forced into the open. Rumours are cur- rent to the effect that the company already has two-for-a-quarter car ‘and bus tickets printed. Another version has it that the BCE wants a straight 15-cent fare. “The fight against any further fare increase will be one of my, main planks in the coming Civic slcehnne” said Elgin Ruddell, who announced ne that = would seek an aldermanic sea as an independent, anti-NPA candidate. Businessmen in the downtown area claim they are losing. 30,000 potential customers per day as a result of a decline in traffic opera- tions. They blame high fares and public confusion about new bus routes. . Tempest DeWolf, executive director of the Downtown Busi- nessmen’s Association, told city council recently that his group was “seriously alarmed” at the drop _ In business. “Although the population of Vancouver has increased more than eight percent since 1948, there were 12,000,000 fewer transit fares collected in 1950 than in 1949,” said DeWolf. “During 1951, this drop has accelerated at the rate of 60,000 a month. If this is allowed to Continue, it will mean that this year there will be 19,000,000 ‘fewer transit riders than in 1949, despite an increased population. “Any further increase in fares will aggravate this decrease,” con- ‘cluded DeWolf. From Halifax to Vancouver jobless lines are growing. ‘Jobless lines lengthen from coast to coast British Columbia’s woodworkers, fishermen, miners and farmers took it on the chin from Winston’s Churchill’s new Tory government in great Britain this week, when R. A. Butler, chancellor of the exchequer, announced a billion-dollar import ‘cut. Coast lumber shipments to the United Kingdom will be sharply reduced. Less lead and zinc will be bought by Britain and Consolidated Mining’ and Smelting Company -at Trail will feel the effects. British people have been told to tighten their belts — they will get fewer Okanagan apples and less B.C. fish from now on. Re All this spells growing unem- ployment in B.C., at a time when — seasonal unemployment has al- ready begun to swell jobless ranks here. Across Canada the picture is even darker. Ottawa admits 134,800 jobless in the country —but official figures seldom tell the true story. Toronto has 15,- 000 officially unemployed, plus tens of thousands more employed only part-time. ..Needle trades workers are especially hard hit. Rearament program of the St. Laurent government is responsible for many of the present layoffs. “If Canada would recognize China a market for trucks, lumber and other Canadian products would give employment to thousands of workers from coast to coast. Ces- sation of the cold war, signing ~of a five power peace pact and increased trade with the Soviet Union and the People’s Democ- racies would make the spectre of unemployment vanish ‘from the Canadian scene for years to come. The answer to the present job crisis in Canada is—peace, friend- ship and trade with all the world. The threat of 25-cents-a-quart milk hovered over the Vancouver, North Shore, Westminster, Burnaby and Richmond areas this week as B.C: Milk Board considered a distributor application for an addi- tional price boost. Milk prices, which were boosted three cents on October 12, have risen over 120 percent in Vancouver since 1946. The distributors also demanded an order to compel establishment of skip-a-day delivery service. Significantly Dairyland (the Fraser Valley Milk. Producers’ Association outlet which delivers 40 percent of Vancouver milk), Guernsey Breeders’ Dairy and Avalon Dairy opposed the application of the other distributors. A growing public anger over the B.C. Milk Board’s handling of the vital food supply was in evidence at the hearings as representatives of consumers and primary producers fought both the price increase and skip-a-day demand. Fraser Valley farmers pointed out that a further increase and skip-a-day would bring another sharp drop in milk consump- tion expressed forthright opposition. L. A. Atkinson, manager of FVMPA Dairyland division, stressed that fhe recent three-cent increase led “‘to the most disastrous drop in consumption of milk we have- experienced.’ This, he said, led to a drop in revenue for the farmers, and the skip-a-day de- liveries would likely increase this trend. The. every-other-day de- livery plan demanded by the other distributors, he stated," was ‘‘quite unworkable and would not bring about the savings which might be expected.”’ Sharp opposition to the distribu- tors’ demands was also reflected in a large number of briefs, including - those presented by Mrs. Doris Hartley of the Canadian Congress of Women, Ald. Anna Sprott of Vancouver City Council (who de- manded a. consumers’ hearing on milk problems), Mrs. Norman Porter, president of the Local Council of Women and others. In one of the most extensive briefs heard by the Board on Wednesday, Nigel Morgan, Labor-Progressive party provincial leader, presented the demand for reestablishment of a government. milk subsidy. With considerable factual argumentation to back up the key demand, Mor- gan emphasized this is the only way to make it possible to roll-back milk prices to the consumer and yet as- sure the farmer a return which will make it possible for him to con- tinue producing. The subsidy proposal also was supported by the Canadian Con- gress of Women’s representative at the hearing. (Tuesday night at the Vancou- Continued on Dage 6 See BOARD Sub fotal sels hew 1951 mark New subs, renewals and credit for paper sales combined this week to give Pacific Tribune cir- culation one of the best seven- day neriods in 1951. Subscription and paper sales (every sale of 25 Papers counts as one sub in credit standings) in Greater Vancouver totalled 70, whilé the score for provincial points was 46, making a grand total for the week of “Lots of renewals come up in November, and we ask all our readers and supporters to get busy and collect them,” said PT business manager Elgin Ruddell. “I would like to take this op- portunity,” he continued, “to ex- press my sincere thanks and the thanks of the staff to those many readers who mail us their own renewals so promptly. One out of ever three readers also en- closes a donation, small or large, to help maintain the labor press, which indicates the warm rela- tionship existing between our paper and our readers. Such a relationship is only possible be- cause we are a people’s paper, with no other end in view than the welfare of the common people of British Columbia.” Top press clubs this weeh were: Hastings East, 9 subs; West End, 7; Kitsilano, 6; Victory Square, 5; Ship and Steel, 4; Maritime, 3; Nanaimo, 12; North Vencouver, 6. orca