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| Are Socreds linked with BCER?

STORY ON BACK PAGE

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In new survey |

tant costs B.C. people more to eat
“2 ever before. Sudden sharp
Sin food prices, especially
ee fresh vegetables, fresh and
iat fruits, tea and coffee have
F the latest cost of living fig-
&S soaring, :

lees of even the cheaper cuts

Meat have risen five to six

Me
ta
Se

¢
rats and fresh vegetables are,

7 Noticeably up.
boa are also faced with
. €r rents, according to the
Minion Bureau of Statistics.
€S in these two important

budget. items have jumped the
consumer price index up by a
hefty three-fifths of a point in
germane just released,
show that May saw the steepest
jump in living costs in the past

‘avo and a half years.

cost of running a home
ee faster in Mo ae
than in any other city in Canada.
The shelter index has gone uP
for the city from 100 in 1949 0
124.3 today. Next fastest. increase
was reported from Halifax.

A reporter looks at 3

Moscow’s new skyline
Page 9

Gas pipeline means
industries, jobs in B.C.

Page 10

U.S, GIVES

DEADLY
NERVE GAS
P PRIORIT

i

“Top priority’ has. been given to the manufacture of deadly ‘“‘nerve gas,”
the U.S. Army has disclosed. The official announcement was made by Maj.Gen.
William M. Greasy, chief of the U.S. Army's Chemical Corps, from the chemical
warfare centre at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

The gas was invented ,by Nazi “

scientists in theflast war. It is
colorless, odorless and tasteless.
Human beings don’t know it is
being used until they are mortal-
ly affected. The vapor from as

little as three drops can kill a
man in four minutes.

When inhaled the gas paralyses
the nerve centres almost immedi-
ately. Hence its name.

Some scientists think the gas
is more deadly than atom bombs
because of its rapid action and
difficulty of detection.

The gas was the result of the
research work of, the German
chemist Dr. Gerhard Schrader.

He produced it in the labora-
tories of the great German chemi-
eal combine—the I. G. Farben
Industrie, notorious in two wars
as a centre of chemical warfare.

During the last war the Nazis
puilt a factory for its manufac-
ture.

They never used it, but now the
U.S. government. is developing
this weapon which is solely an
offensive one and which could be
used by aircraft against civilian
populations on a mass scale.

Maj.-General Creasy disclosed
that the compounds for the gas
were being made at the Muscle

samen o
Shoals base.

They were being sent to the
Rocky Mountain arsenal in Den-

‘ver, Colorado, where deadly nerve

gas, also known as, “G-gas” was
manufactured.

After the First World War the
cutcry all over the world against
the use of’ gas warfare was such

that the Powers were forced to
draw up the Geneva Protocol out-
lawing gas, germ and other forms
of chemical warfare.

Now the United States, which
has not ratified that Convention,
is again seeking to put the clock
pack. and bring back gas as an
offensive weapon.

United front rises
to halt fare hikes

The fight against the B.C. Elec-
tric loomed as a major issue in
provincial politics as the cam-
paign against. the company’s pro-
posed fare increase entered its
third week. | ;

The widest united front against
the power monopoly in years was
rapidly growing as practically
every city and municipal council
in the affected areas took a stand
in opposition to the latest de-
mands of the BCER.

A popular protest movement
also gathered steam with trade
union, CCF and LPP spokesmen
denouncing the attempt to
squeeze more out of the harassed
transit riders.

Spearheading the campaign in
Greater Vancouver is the Civic
Reform Association headed by

_ Effie Jones, veteran foe of the

Grauermen.: Volunteers for CRA
are tramping the streets to roll
up names for Mrs. Jones’ petition
denouncing the fare increase.

Big question mark in the situa-
tion is the attitude of the Ben-
nett government at Victoria.
Rumors have been flying thick
and fast that the Socreds were
playing ‘‘footsie” with the fat cats
of the BCER. monopoly.. It looks
as if the public will soon be able
to see if the rumors have any
basis.

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