Danger that scenes like this — a main-street at Matsqui under four feet of water during the 1948 flood — will be seen again this year increases daily in the Fraser Valley. _ LPP | asks go Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial ' “leader, this week sent an appeal to provincial and federal govern- ments to take “immediate and de- cisive action to avert thé grave threat of a major disaster” arising out of the fact that the delayed Fraser River run-off is expected to be as high if not higher than in * 1948, when floods caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage. ~ “The results of government snow surveys and water run-off forecasts for the Columbia basin and the Fraser, coupled with continuing cotd weather, have provided ample warning of the dangér that ex- ists,’ Morgan stated, “A million sandbags are being brought in and vernments act now to avert threat of Valley flood volunteer committees are being readied for action, but much more is required. “This is the ‘time to take action to raise and reinforce the dykes to ensure that they will hold and that there will be no repetition of the disaster ‘that struck in 1948. “Tt is still not too late to take the Urge senators | to oppose bill | When the Senate reconvened this week it faced the contentious q issue of the revised Criminal Code (Bill 7)—already passed by House of Commons, with 200 of its 265 members absent at the time. Aig United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union has written the si* senators from B.C. urging them to use their efforts “to prevent adop- ‘|giving the labor and progressive been removed or further amended.” If public pressure forces the Senate to debate the Bill at length and suggest drastic revisions, the House of Commons will again have to discuss contentious clauses, movement further opportunities to press for deletion of repressive sections, ~ Indications are that many unions and other organizations will write or wire Senate members during the coming week, specifically ask- ing them to act to refer the anti- union and - anti-democratic — sec- tions back to the House for furth- er discussion. Bill 7 endangers every union in Canada. To safeguard their hard- necessary “precautions.” won rights, all unions must act without delay, : Former Nazi aide faces trial for fraud’ By HARRY GULKIN . MONTREAL Dr. Alfred Valdmantis is report- ed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Without doubt the erstwhile “tsar” of Newfoundland industry -is also causing nerves to jump among his highly placed pat- rons in the St. Laurent government as he awaits trial in a St. John’s cell for allegedly defrauding the government of Newfoundland of $150,000, and a German machin company of $270,000. Prior to his demise Valdmanis was the darling of Newfoundland’s Premier Smallwood, and was ap- parently well thought of in Ottawa. His advice was sought in high places, and on April 27, 1949, he appeared before the Standing Committee of the Senate on Im- migration and Labor. He advised the committee that some 20,000 members of the Baltic Waffen SS would be desirable im- ~ migrants. True, he admitted, they had fought alongside the Germans “and were considered to be even HUB HUMOR “Not that kind of calves!” - cy You’ll never get stuck when you trade at. THE HUB.. Over 50 years fair-dealing have earned us a good reputation with. workers in B.C. : | oo Arrest exposes Valdm worse than German SS _ troops.” But they were “different” than the Nazis, he explained. ‘The dif- ference from the SS was that they had no letters, no ‘SS,’ had not the double flash, but they wore instead the national colors of their own country.” : ; Valdmanis revealed his own qualifications for high office in Canada. He had been a special assistant to Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, Hitler’s financial wizard. In pre- war Latvia, he had been minister of economics, finance industry and trade. He was president of the Latvian Electric Trust Corporation. When the Wehrmacht overran Latvia in the summer of 1941 fairs under the Nazi occupation. After the war Valdmanis was engaged by the Allied occupa- tion forces as:an adviser on refu- gee problems. His specific task was to see that members of the Baltic SS were not sent home to account for their wartime crimes. It was Dr. Hugh L. Keenleyside, now a prominent Canadian UN official, who sponsored Valdmanis’ admission to Canada’in 1948. He || became an advisor to the immigra- tion department shortly after his | arrival at a salary of $100 a month. Within two years his talents were being utilized to the full when he blossomed forth as New- foundland’s director-general of economic development at the princely wage of $25,000 per year. How did Valdmanis find his way to a position that was so remuner- Macleod cancels two |meetings in Okanagan A. A. MacLeod, LPP national ex- ecutive member now touring BC, will be unable to keep speaking ters here announced this week. His only meeting in the Interior will be that scheduled for Tuesday, May 11, in Eagles Hall, Nelson. : Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, will address public meet- ings in Tatra Hall, New Westmin- ster, May 9, and Yugoslav Hall, 767 Valdmanis applied himself to the} task of running the economic. af-|— engagements at Notch Hill and Vernon, LPP provincial headquar- HON. C. Ds HOWE Did he make. introduction? ative and ¢arried with it such pow- jer, despite labor protests? ek (Minutes of the Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union in Van- couver for November 5, 1951, show that a letter was sent to External Affairs Minister Lester B. Pear- son protesting the appointment of Valdmanis as Director of Economic Developments in Newfoundland.) The accepted account is that Valdmanis presented himself to Premier Joe Smallwood and “the impulsive premier, impressed by Valdmanis’ record, accepted him at face value and hired him at Vald- manis’ own price,” to quote the Montreal Herald. ; But a persistent story has gone’ the rounds that it was Trade Min- ister C. D. Howe who presented Valdmanis to Smallwood. Valdmanis’ program of industrial expansion for Newfoundland, in- cluded importation of ‘about 1,000 German technicians, and favored treatment to-German capital wish- ing to exploit the island province’s natural resources. uae The reaction among Newfound- landers to this invasion soon found expression. * W. J. Browne, MP(PC-St. John’s West), warned in November 1951: “This what is happening in New- foundland, I am sorry to Say 3. with the assistance of this man, for- merly called a quisling we are having National Socialism in Can- ada today.” Keefer Street, May 14, 8 p.m. % In a letter to the Montreal Gaz.| anis’ record | . | ette,. aS on November 26; 1952; Dr. J. L. Jackman, a prominent New- Eee now resident in Mon- real declared: “If Dr. Valdmani a very brillian diag extraction, is wise, he MUS Di let local’ native’ Newfoundlanders act in Newfoundland’s interest in- es a aene as a spearhead for Nn infiltration in - land industry.” ee Early in 1953 . Valdmani pointed chairma ey eae n of the Newf + ae and Labrador Conon (NALCO), a crown corporation with a salary of $30,000, an increase of $5,000 over his Salary as director- Seneral of economic development _ During his ; Newfoundland .iron ore and w Quebec border ed Hollinger in ‘ The side deals Vald i edly engineer heen ar Ft eine ed made the going Sretfully” tion from ; Ms’ year. resignation were Trest on char es 1 sworn, is of resignation’ o Valdmanis Said % 2 Montreal to a Keep me ve: the Canadian mainland and ie € did not reveal as, but it fies he ee to become Candi j r of th i fn eae . zo cman chemical In his letter February 10, Senius of Latvian|. tion of the bill until such time as the repressive sections have either ¢ Fisheries Minister James Si clair is reconsidering the pee ed closure after September 16 © salmon fishing above Pat " Bridge on the Fraser River, fF lowing a lengthy interview with delegation led by Homer Stevens and Pete Jenewein of United. F1S* ermen and Allied Workers Unio? recently. ee Closure would deprive uprive fishermen of their share of t Adams River sockeye. ¥ . Sinclair’s department will co™ sider changing the proposed lof ure date and whether it is adVi> able to close off the whole are4 between Mission and the Pata. -|Bridge, a distance of 40 miles, to proceed by shorter stages. eden * Negotiations for cash wage creases in the lengthy dispute Volving 250 gas workers employe by the B.C. Electric are now PFO ceeding before government-aP Pointed mediator J. Edwin Eade The gas workers are asking 2 ne cent hourly increase. To date t Company has made no offer. * * x : _A strike took place in Keniry recently which wasn’t reported the daily press. A worker the following to a friend in couver: ed “The first thing that welcomes us when we got in camp Wa © electricians’ picket line, oD was ee called a picket line, called a ‘protest.’ awe were told that we ae obliged to cross the picke we didn’t want to. About 400 more of us formed a SrouP ‘oq Stood fast; the result was that Who crossed the line returr go hour later, at noon, and didn’ © out again. d “The grievance centred aroun. upholding the agreement. ‘46 company wanted to reducé hour for lunch to one-b ary thus forcing the men to take * 5 lunch to work, There were pee? smaller grievances which had any Piling up and which the comP®” refused to negotiate. oo was “The lunch hour question net Settled satisfactorily and toe ard questions are to go before a” * * * and Company attacks on wae end- job security have followed t trike ing of the CIO Steelworkers S"q_ in the Timmins goldfields tario. An announced paso crease ending the strike —sthe shown up in take-home Pay eae of. el CIO has failed to fight back _— More than 100 yo; : young People! cheered and applauded’ when the| Grand Opening” sj last Saturday ni ght a Youth Centre on a esi Drive, oe The young people d j numerable. hot dogs, drain a Youth Celebrate open of new centre PACIFIC TRIBUNE — may 7, 1954 — PAGE in city disk, e the seeder taken to help finance 1 of delegates to the Nationa ation of Labor Youth 24 76 convention, taking place this end in Toronto. pe Following the official opted cermony brief speeches We vinci | by Ernie Lawrie, NFLY Lae secretary, and Nigel Morg4™ Provincial leader. é ing pa vx.