Page 4, The Herald. Tuesday, November 7, !978 .TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald . General Office - 635-4357 Circulation - 635-6357 PUBLISHER .- Laurie Mallelt GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland EDITOR - Greg Middleton KITIMAT - Pat Zellnski KITIMAT OF FICE - 632-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Street, Terrace, 6.C. A member of Varified Circulation. Authorized as second class mail. Registration number 1201, Postage paid in cash, return postage guaranteed, NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or Published by Sterling Publishers CIRCULATION - TERRACE - Andy Wightman 635-6357 632-274) photographic content published In the Herald. Reproduction is not permitted without the written permission of the Publisher. , Action needed — While the devastation which has taken place in this area over the last few weeks has fortunately not had much effect on the downtown commercial cenire of Terrace and Kitimat, and mph of the residential area is; only suffering minor in- venience, the aftermath ;theirains and flooding is géing to be considerable. ‘The north was opened up by railway and road. Both are now cut, Through an absolutely phenomenal effort on the part of the provincial highways department, some kind of aceess road will be pushed through. This effort is being made at any cost. Nothing ls being spared in order to reach the isolated com- munities to the north of here. ‘While all the expertise of this road-building province is focused on getting through, so that we are not cut off, the fact remains that much of the road will have to be rebuilt, The three bridges that have been washed out cost over a million dollars each when they were put up a decade ago. It will be two to three 1 ae at the very least before permanent bridges are put in to replace the ones which were destroyed. The railway may take several months before it is back in service. It is going to require major recon- struction in some areas. - With winter almost on us this means that a lot of the work will be delayed until spring and that probably means there will be more damage to roads and the railway roadbed. Al? this says nothing of the damage .to the logging access reads and private industrial roads. This flood could well set the development of the north back a decade as all the funding goes to getting things back to the condition they were in before the deluge. While all this is going to have a major impact on the welfare of the north and thus on the rest of the province and the country, the real disaster would be if the people up here started to give up and go back to the’ ciies. This is why it is im- portant that the government act as quickly as possible to offer assistance in cases of personal loss. THINK BY JIM SMITH SMALL We're Sorry, Mr. Ford “My name is Wilbur Wright. This is my brother Orville. And we need a loan from your bank to start up acom- pany to make airplanes." “We'd love to help you Mr. Wright. But small busi- nesses don’t succeed. The odds are against you, Mr. Wright. Sorry." “My name is Henry Ford and I'd like a loan to start up a company that would make motor cars.” “Gosh, Mr, Ford, it’s nice of you to think of us. But you know that the vast ma- jority of independent busi- nesses don’t last five years. Why don't you go to work for one of the railroads?” “My name is Bombardier and I need a loan from your bank. I'm going to start a company that will manufac- ture snowmobiles.” “Thank you for seeing our bank first, Mr. Bombar- .dier. As you probably know, small businesses aren't good credit risks, All the statistics demonstrate that smalt busi- nesses have a short fife ex pec- tancy, Maybe if you took out a mortgage on your home? Or how about a loan from your parents?” As everyone knows, the failure rate among newly cre- ated small businesses is high. Roughly 70 per cent of all small businesses won't make it past the first five years. The bulk of all bankruptcies are small businesses. And on and on ,, . The list of statis. tics purporting to prove that the small business communi- iy is unstable stretches on forever, But do the statistics really demonstrate that smali busi- nesses are daomed to failure? Absolutely not. Virtually every large firm hegan as a small coricerit. Over the years, it prospered and expanded. Without new small firms, there would be no big firms, Some small firms do end up bankrupt. But mast se- called “failures** are nothing more than the entrepreneur moving along to other inter- ests. As it tums out, the ma- jority of entrepreneurs who follow up an initial unsuc- cessful business with a sec- ond enterprise do succeed. Entrepreneurs learn by doing so the first attempt can be regarded as preliminary train ing for the main event. Why do firms close down? In many instances, the pro- ject may have been intended to be temporary. Thousands of firms sprang up to provide Olympic souvenirs, for in- stance, Others go out of busi- ness because market condi- tions change; think of what advancing technology did to the village blacksmiths. And some entrepreneurs merely decide to retire. Big firms add and drop products from their inventar- ies on a regular basis, know- ing that a hat item today may well he adud tomorrow. Hult the statistics don't show a hig firm as “Sailing” when- ever it drops 1p: duet. The truth of the -icstter is that constant changes in the pra- duct mix are asign of vitality and dynamic competilion. Does it really matter whe- ther the statistics are right ar wrong? “Gee, we're sorry Mr. Maclean but our bik can’t lend money to a small company that would like to publish a new magazine, As you probably k now, the fuil- ure rate among sinall busines: sen is very high...” “The otaatl aia nettonal teres ate Pee ti Cancate Feacctesralicars eof Deatleopatotirtestil Hegre PK, EPAostfor OuRAL, ae PR Edmonton Journal | CONCERNING HIGHWAYS Campagnola writes i - October 23, 1978 Honourable Don Phillips Minister of Economic 4 Development Dear Mr, Phillips: In arecent letter to Mr. Reed Clarke, Co- ordinator of the Skeena- Queen Charlotte Regional District Industrial Development Com- mission, you expressed your regret that im- provements to portions of the Yellowhead Highway may not be possible because the federal government will not be funding a second phase of the Western Northlands Highways Agreement. The implication in your letter is that provincial highways projects depend on federal subsidies. You appear to be blaming the federal government, in advance, for projects the province will nol un- dertake. As you should be well aware, highways are a decidedly provincial responsibility. Federal in that field in recent \ years arose from special circumstances that have now been | largely alleviated, Cost sharing was not meant to be open- ended and is now coming to a natural end. t me review for a imoment the history of Aiftway cost-sharing in British Columbia. In July, 1973, the Western Economic Opportunities Conference was held to discuss the potential for economic and social development in western Canada. It was agreed at that time that the federal and B.C. governments would participate in a Western Northlands Program to improve transportation systems in support of industrial development in northern portions of the province. - Since that time, it has been understood that the federal government would provide up to $5 million annually toward the cost of improving whichexpires on Mar. 31, 1979 has pumped $15 million in federal funds into the upgrading of the Stewart-Cassiar High- way. This agreement follows two previous agreements, one covering figca] year 1974-1975 and the second covering fiscal year 1975-76, During those periods, federal money was used to improve portions of Highway 16. It should be clear that federal government participation in these B.C. highway projects has been willing and generous, Already the work has helped to generate important in- dustrial activity along the Stewart-Cassiar and the Highway 16 corridors. Our commitments made during the WEOC Con- ference have certainly been fulfilled to the substantial benefit of complaining that ad- ditional federal money will not be forthcoming. I would like to point out that the federal govern- ment continues to par- ticipate in other im- portant projects — the mest recent example being a $50 million, five year agreement that will give. a valuable boost to the development of the travel industry in the less urganized areas of the province, I am hopeful that the provincial government will continue. unabated © the important work of improving the province's highway system especially in those more remote areas that need basic services of this sort ta help them develop their industrial and other potentials. residents of northern B.C. Wishing you continued success in this endeavour, Now it is time for the Lam: province to restime its normal responsibilities in Yours truly, this area — without lona Campagnolo cost-shared. government participation transportation program SEAWEED FARMING The future is aquaculture Recreation and Conservation Minister Sam Baw!f has announced recently that the province is investing over $80,000 this year to intensify research efforts toward the ‘development of a red-seaweed farming industry in British Columbia. "For the past two years the marine resources branch has been engaged in a cost-sharing project with the federal fisheries and marine service to develop cultivation fecknology for various red seaweeds which contain the valuable ex. fracts agar and carrageenan”, Bawli said. “Industrial-grade agar currently sells for $11 - kilogram. The retcarch has been “aaducted under coniract by Canadian denthle Limited, working at tne Bamfield Marine Station. The results of this pioneering «c.f iaec encouraged us to more inteasives. » siucy varlous aspects of seaweed cuttivetion in order fo accelerate the process sf onimercial development”. Bawiff said that our morine resources branch biologists envision the development of a profitable industry based on the far. ming of seaweeds in large modular iloating algal culture systems (FACS), each aboul 10 hectare (25 acres} in area, in suitable coasta! locations. These wouid' supply atyal raw materials fo land-based processing plants which would sell seaweed byproducts. Cultivation of red algae has many ad. vantages over the harvesting of scarce wild stocks, ihe minister said, A constant supply of raw material of known content and quality can be assured for industrial use without risking the depletion of a limited wild resource. Seaweed cultivation is currently being studied intensively in other areas of the world, and operations of this nature are rapidly approaching economic viability, according to Bawlf. Bawlf described four projects which will hz conducted ihis year. “We will be contracting a_ private engineering company to design, construct, and test a pilot scale model of a culture system. This unit will be based on the conceptual dasign of a prototype FACS, built and operated by Canadian Benthic Limited at Bamfield, which has been successfully used to culture the red seaweed Gracilaria. Canadian Benthic Limited, under contract fo the marine resources branch, will be conducting two projects this year; they will find out how to maximize the production of Gracilaria plant material and agar in the protyge unit by manipulating such factors as plant denslHy and nutrients. They will alse isoiate genetic strains of seaweeds which grow rapidly in FACS.” “Finally, we will be screening rapid. growth genetic strains of red algae to isolate those having high quality agar and carrageenan contents,” Bawlf said, This research will be conducted in co. operation with Dr. J, Whyte at the federal, Vancouver Technological Research Laboratory.” VIC P.C. MLA STEPHENS Q. Why is there a homeowner grant? A. Because ovr taxes are too high. Q. Why = are our taxes foo high? Hah A. Because the government needs enough . money to pay the homeowier grant. ‘Q. Do you mean to say that part of cur taxes is collected by government just so it can pay it : back to us? A. Yes, but worse than that, the government : can only pay back part of what it collects because it costs a lot to pay the bureaucrats who - collect the tax and pay it back. ; Q. It would appear then, that the homeowner is ~ not gaining from the homeowner grant but losing. A. Exactly, The people who gain are the public - - servants hired to administer the scheme. They . get jobs at our expense. The politicians who . perpetuate this fraud will also benefit until the “public decides it can nojjonger be bribed swith its own money. Q. What would you do to change all this? A, That's easy. If taxes are foo high reduce them. Don’t subsidize them with our money. a. What would you taxes? do to reduce property A, We would remove school taxes entirely from property. In most cases the school tax is higher than the homeowner grant 50 homeowners would receive greater benefit than you get from the grant and, at the same time, we would be able to eliminate the cost of coliection and repayment. Q. What about those few people who would still have difficulty it meeting the remainder of their property taxes? A. For people in need, especially pensioners and the handicapped, the homeowner grant would remain, Q. All this seems so simple. Why are we led to believe that it cannot be done? A. Complexity is the first line of defence of the bureaucrat and the politician. Their jobs depend upon it. Simplicity benefits only the taxpayers. LETTERS TO | THE EDITOR Dear Sir: During the first week of October, 1978, the Canadian National Institute for the .Blind conducted its annual fund-raising campaign for the Terrace area. . This campaign was the most successful ever con- ducted in the Terrace area Dear Friends: From Monday, Oct. 2, to Saturday, Oct. 7, 1978 Canadian National Institule for the Blind conducted its annual fund-raising cam- paignin the Terrace area under the superb<« chair- manship of Mr. Al Purschke, past District Governor of Lions International, As the representative of the CNIB responsible for the Terrace area, I would like lo take this opportunity to thank Radio Station CFTK, the Terrace Daily Herald, and the News Adverliser, for their role in publicizing the work of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. A warmly felt per- sonal note of thanks goes to our dedicated campaign chairman, Al Purschke, the staff of the Royal Bank, the members of the Downtown on behalf of our agency. I should greatly appreciate if you assisted me in thanking the many dedicated persons who helped our agency by publishing the enclosed letter in your paper. Thank you Sincerely yours, Fred Koalenz, and Centennial Lions Clubs, the many dedicated area captains and their volunteer. canvassers who gave of their time in support of the CNIB. Last, but by no means least, I like to thank the citizens of Terrace and the surrounding areas for contributing so generously towards the work . of the CNIB. At the Canadian National Inslitute for the Biind, we shall sincerely try to prove ourselves worthy of the trust of this community by doing our utmost in conducting our prevention of blindness program and also in assisting our citizens who had the misfortune to lose their eyesight through illness or accident by providing them with adjustment and ‘ ‘rehabilitation training, With sincere appreciation, Fred Koalenz t