FO condemns
junta credits

At its annual membership
meeting last Sunday. the Van-
couver branch of the Finnish
Organization of Canada voted un-
animously to demand that the
federal government withdraw all
credits to the fascist junta in
Chile and to open the doors of
this country to as many Chilean
refugees as may appeal.

The resolution also called on
the government to speak out
against the junta at the United
-Nations and to use its voice to
gain the freedom of Luis Cor-
valan, Chilean Corsmunist Party
general secretary and one of the
founding leaders of the Popular
Unity government which was
brutally crushed last September.

The Finnish Organization,
which has fought for many years
for minority rights. cited the
continuing discrimination
against Native Indian and Metis
and Inhuit peoples and endorsed
a resolution calling tor full
citizenship rights. housing
educational and medical
facilities and the settlement of
land claims for these peoples.

a |

NDP school financing formula
carryover from Socred gov't

If you're beginning to think
that the various schools in your
area cost an enormous amount of
money, don't be fooled by the
new budet figures. They re not as

projected.

enough to cover even teachers’
salaries. let alone the 30 to 50°:
increase in fuel and supply costs

Nor is this the whole story.

they would seem.

Of the $554 million allocated
for education in the budget this
year, nearly half goes to post-
secondary education — univer-
sities, vocational institutes,
technical and industrial training
institutes ‘as well as adult educa-
tion programs.

And while that $554 million
represents a 138‘. increase over
last vear (the smallest increase
of any item in the new budget)
the actual increase in the amount
going to school boards is only
10.1°.. And with increasing
enrolment the real increase for
students is only 8.4% — not

Those school boards which have
to support community colleges
face greatly increased costs. In
West Vancouver. for example.
the budget would have increased
13‘; if only schools were using
the money. But with the
necessary expansion of the dis-
trict’s Capilano College. the in-
crease is up to nearly 20':.

As well. there is the growing
trend towards the concept of
community schools. Certainly
school facilities should be used
after regular school hours but
this. of course, costs money
Without increased provincial

to bear the added cost and again
taxes go up. And again the major
blame is placed on ‘the high cost
of education.” ~

Finally schools are having to
take on more and more of the
tasks usually assigned to health
and welfare departments. Costs
of school nurses. psychologists,
speech therapists and several
other trained staff members are
climbing steadily and pushing up
school board costs. And the
spiral goes on.

The present Social Credit
education finance formula has to
go. A complete change is essen-
tial and — imperative. The costs
of social and medical services
for schools and the costs of post-
secondary education must be
removed from school board
budgets.

Eee ,

BREAK DEADLOCK IN CITY

Frisco rapid transit
sets a good exampl

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN
The rapid transit system in San
Francisco: is working well.
What's more, the people love it.
This I learned in a most in-
teresting discussion with
William Chester, a member of
the Board of Directoirs of BART
The Bay Area Rapid Transit
svstem. Chester is vice-

. president of the International

Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union and was
in Vancouver to attend a conven-
tion of the Canadian Area of his
Union. Last year Chester was
president of the Board, which is
a rotating position. He was ap-
pointed to the Board by the
Mayor of San Francisco and is
the first black man to hold such a
position.

BART has as total mileage of
75. of which 19 is subway and
tunnel, 25 aerial, 27 surface and 4
under transbay tube.

It cost $1.5 billion to build. This
included $766 million in direct

. construction costs, $95 million

for land and $80 million for roll-
ing equipment. About half of this
amount was raised through a
bond issue: the remainder by a
"2" sales tax. bridge tolls and
federal grants.

BART is administered by a
Board of Directors. all of whom

-are appointed — by the par-
licipating counties. by mayors
and by county Roards of Super-
visors.

Fares range from 30¢ to $1.25
depending on the length of the
run. The system operates only on
weekdays: the weekends are
used for testing. Parking space
for over 17,000 cars is provided at
the system's 22 stations. Senior
citizens and those 13 and under
pay only quarter fare. Special
elevators and ramps are provid-
ed for the handicapped.

Service at peak hours ranges
from 2 to 8 minutes: in off peak
hours from 5 to 15 minutes. Late
night service is every 20
minutes. The average train

>Ss per hour,

although they can go 80. A sl
takes only 20 seconds.
The system can move 2h.
seated passengers. per hol
Originally the plans were
move only seated passengers}
the gas shortage has now calls
many more people to use !
system and hand rails are M0")
being constructed in the cars:
“I make it a point to ride:
svstem several times a week J!
to talk to the people” $
Chester, “and their overwhelll!
ing reaction is that they love It

“Like everything that’s ne
had problems. but these are be
ing ironed out. The newspape
gave its shortcomings some Db”
publicity but that didn’t chante
the opinions of those who use
system. Of course there is som |
opposition to rapid transit.
comes from those who 10
business because of it includil
the oil interests and auto !
terests. ad

“One lesson we have learned > |
that rapid transit must be SU
sidized. Fares alone can't P4
the bills. But we think that SU
sidizing public transit is right
it. should be regarded 4
necessary public service just®
water, streets or sewers.»

Which raises the question.
when are we going to get eo
on rapid transit in the Gren
Vancouver area? Weve

The longer we delay it "il
greater will be the cost. It wa 4
take at le Ne
once a decis

enough studies and reports t@ fi
a library but little action.

What is holding up rapid ¢

sit now is lack of agreemen! :
how it should be financed.

The Greater Vancouvé

Regional District takes the es
tion that one method should be
2 or 3 cent tax on gasoline. y
provincial government says th
it must be financed by af
crease of 2 mills in taxes.

ue

This deadlock must be proke |

TOM
“McEWEN

any years ago a number of newspapers in this
country and the U.S. featured the syndicated
columns of “Chic Sale... Whether that was his real
name or penname we wouldn't know. But he was an all-
round charming columnist capable of making humanity
laugh at itself, a valuable asset at any time.

Chic’s column. speciality was the architecture.
structure, planning and design of outhouses. He laid out

designs for *‘oneholders.”’ ‘*two-holers™’.‘double-
deckers.”” “junior” and ‘senior accommodations, etc.
All were furnished with neat boxes into which fitted the
ever popular mail-order catalogues 6f the big chain
stores. These catalogues also served as a sort of rough
calender.,When the occupant got over to the harness
section the nip of Fall was already in the air, and one
knew that the heavy machinery section heralded a cold
winter trek in the early hours of a mounting blizzard. B-
rrr!

Since these were the days before outhouse poets
became the literary fashion, the main artistic decor
was on the door. Sometimes Chic would recommend
that a crescent moon surrounded by a few stars be carv-
ed out to give the structure an atmosphere of heavenly
bliss. sometimes just a lone star to serve as a lookout
point, plus a reminder to get on with the job at hand.

All that was over fifty years ago when Chic was at
the zenith of his creative genius, when his architectural
creations adorned every landscape before the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—-FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1974 PAGE 2

grants. local school boards have

municipal mill-rate went into orbit, before monopoly
got its inflationary hooks into mankind; before high-rise
“gracious living” had lured us into its shiny tiled com-
partments and the modern TV provided us daily with a
thousand or more soothing purgatives to facilitate our
collective bowel movement!

’ On top of all that, the big paper manufacturers now
tell us that a serious paper shortage is imminent (which
also means a big price hike to match the shortage), and
that we should save paper! With such an Establishment
at the head of affairs, it is not ruled out that they may
even propose that we get back to Chic’s catalogue pages
to relieve another crises of their own making — and to
their own profit.

Already British housewives are reputed by the Media
to be stocking up on the stuff. buying up every roll
in sight. and “drat it!”, only one color available now
and even that in short supply. An additional catastrophe
added to that already pyramided by the Heath Tory
government which has now forced British coal miners
to the necessity of strike action to win a half-decent liy-
ing wage for themselves and families. This while
Mother calls to Johnny in the bathroom (if their bug-
infested tenement has one). “No, Johnny, there’s no
toilet paper. You'll just have to do with a bit of the
Times — that’s all it’s good for anyway, with its “*Mr.
‘Kath says this ‘an Mr. ‘Eath says that. . .!°

That the promised paper shortage, as with the
current oil scarcity, is a gigantic hoax to gouge the
public and reap fantastic profits, is a foregone conclu-
sion. That its first effects will be quickly passed along
to the consumer, especially in the areas of newsprint
and toilet paper, is also in keeping with monopoly-
corporate pattern. Who else in our dog-eat-dog society
could it be passed along to with any hope of making a

speed is 42 mil

- England.

_ under the noble Lady's ban, and the bathroom facillt

restroom facilities that would compare with the bes

maximum profit killing. if not the common people’ OW
own Establishments and their ‘‘socialist’’ mimics 4
hangers-on have long recognized that fact, but be!
captive to monopoly-finance capital, can “do nothine
about It except invent a new jargon to cover up t
failure to act!

All of which reminds us of the time when the
G.B. Shaw accompanied the equally late Lady Male
Astor on her first visit to the Soviet Union. There in
vinegar-tempered noble harridan could just find noth :
800d to say about socialism, definitely and positive)
nothing. and loudly proclaimed the fact in the USSR BF. e
in the columns of the “best” newspapers in Merl" |

Especially did Soviet hotel accommodation comm 3
“oh horrors"! Just imagine having to “do” with
abrasive qualities of a ripoff from Pravda? Enoug
shake the royal rear to its very foundation! ag

GBS wrote a magnificent satire on the noble Lady ,
bathroom complaints but ‘it is doubtful if it © ne
Steeda with that female scion of Britain's clive! :

Basically the question is one of health, and i? ‘, :
day in designing “outhouse” architecture, Chic 5”
was also a pioneer of health.

In the USSR under socialism, every coal mine
other underground operation, is equipped with mo

|

a posh London hotel, while in all British mines less!
half are equipped with modern health facilities. 4
these a good percentage do not exceed the standards
an army latrine. For the rest, they haven't even a

el and so haven't as yet reached the harn®
€ra, to say nothing of modern health standa

Sale mod
section