It can happen again

: WHEN British Columbia’s

rivers became raging
floods in the spring of ’48 and
the people began to count in the
tens of millions the losses in
homes, furniture, farm equip-
ment, crops and livestock prod-
uction, public sentiment was exX-
pressed in one fervent and unani-
mous declaration, “It must not

”

happen again!

It could happen again, in 1949.
“This year,” says C. B. Webb,
district chief engineer of the Do-
minion Water and Power Bureau,
“there is already more snow than
there was in the disastrous spring
of 1948. If similar conditions pre-
vail during the balance of the
winter, and if spring weather
and temperatures are right, there
is a possibility of another flood
this spring.” In much sharper
terms experts across the border
are warning of flood danger.

The heaviest accumulation of
snow in many years on our wa-
ter shed, measuring 311 inches:
in Coquihalla Pass in December
compared to 137 inches in. the
same period last year, creates
the possibility that our rivers
will again become raging torrents
too great for their banks to con-
tain. Two months of unusually
cold weather has increased the -
danger.

As the current power shortage
demonstrates, very little water is
escaping from the mountains.
This means that the period dur-
ing which the run-off can take
place has been shortened. Very
heavy thaws in the next three
months could reduce accumulat-
ed moisture to an amount that.
the rivers could safely handle.
Tinless heavy run-offs begin very
goon, the catastrophe of “48 can
be repeated.

In other words, we are still, to»
a large extent, at the mercy of
the weather. In those favorite
words of Hon. Herbert Anscomb,
we are waiting for another “act

of God.”

Despite the tragedy of last
spring, despite the insistent and
wide-spread demand that a com-
prehensive over-all program of
river control be undertaken,
there are signs of the same bung-
ling, the same criminal delay that
kept the people immobilized last
spring till the flood was upon
them.

A Fraser Valley Basin author-
ity has been set Up. Its actions:
are clothed in deepest secrecy.
There is absolutely nothing to in-
dicate that one positive step has
been taken to get under way a.
program ‘of water control in the.
upper reaches of the river. There
is general agreement that only a
system of dams and reservoirs
making it possible to control out--
flow offers any sure guarantee
against future floods. —

What is the cause of the 80v-
ernment’s inaction? Construction
of dams to be economical would
have to be combined ae mes

rogram of public power evelo
rents The ‘government, extreme-
ty sensitive to BCElectric press-
are, recoils in horror from such ©
a step. i

The government has undertak-
en repair and reconstruction of |
dykes in all of the affected areas.
As an immediate protective mea-
sure such action is essential. and
is welcomed. by the people living
in these parts. There is some ques-
tion whether the new dykes, con-
structed of rock and earth, and
lacking a solid core, will be as
water resistant as the weather-
packed seasoned dykes they o*°

,

i

rons

\

By
MINERVA
MILLER

Experts warn there might be another flood this spring.

Will the Coalition government again act too late?

replacing. “When we remember
what the flood did to the hard-
packed CPR road bed, we won-
der how much trust we can put
in these dykes,” says one farmer
in the Hatzig area.

Though the Coalition govern-
ment continues to give assur-
ances, work on the dykes in some
areas is lagging seriously behind.
In Queensborough no dyke re-—
constructionhas been undertaken.
In the Interior, protective mea-
sures are less advanced than in
the lower Fraser region. In Trail,
where damage was estimated at
$125,000 last year, nothing has
been done to protect the people
from a recurrence of last year’s
disaster.

In some instances, only local ac-
tion prevented serious blunder

in the construction and location

of dykes, At Agassiz, 2,700 acres
of the richest farmland in the

Fraser Valley was left outside the

dyke. It required a determined
fight on the part of the local rate-
payers’ association to have the
line moved to include an addi- —
tional 2,300 acres. Now the fight.
continues for compensation to
residents on the remaining 400
acres which would enable them
to move inside the dyke. So far
the government is adamant in its
refusal of assistance. :

‘No adequate dredging program ‘
is underway. Protection against
erosion, one of the big problems
the Fraser river presents at all
times, is hardly begun and then
only in the most piecemeal
fashion. — prose —

There are places in the Albion
area where erosion has eaten out
more than 40 feet of land, and is
immediately threatening the river.
road. A repetition of flood con-
ditions would mean the washing
away of a considerable acreage
and destruction of home after

f

home in this closely populated
little settlement.

So far the government has tak-

en no action to strengthen the
bank with rock fill and piling.
This has led to considerable re-
sentment in an area where un-
employment is reaching serious
proportions. There is strong com-
munity backing for the Albion
flood control committee which is
leading the fight to get govern-
ment action,
- On the whole, however, there
is too little evidence of organ-
ized local action to force the gov-
ernment to move on a comprehen-
sive river control program.

This is due in part to the ap-
parent generosity of the Coali-
tion’s relief program. Fearful
of their political scalps, anxious
to mollify public anger over their

criminal delay in dealing with the —

Fishermen

E Marshall Plan has “struck
directly at the interests” of
fishermen and their industry, This
is the charge made by the CIO’s
International Fishermen and Al-
lied Workers’ Union of America
in their report to the union’s
convention at Bellingham.
“The plain facts are that Ame-
rican foreign policy is not geared

to ‘feeding the hungry’ as was
the promise of the Marshall Plan,”

IFAWA president J. F. Jurich
and secretary-treasurer Jeff Ki-

bre reported to delegates.

“Instead we find the fishing

_ industry with virtually no foreign

markets, not even pre-war mar-
‘kets. The Marshall Plan has shut
off Europe. England has had an

embargo on canned fish for many:

months. The Philippines and In-
dia, big users of canned sardines,
have purchased virtually nothing
during the past year.”

flood emergency, “Boss” John-
son and his. Coalitionists were
willing’ to pass out aid on a big-
ger scale than most people ex-
pected.

, Although dairymen and berry
farmers are still keenly aware of
théir losses in income, it is gener-
ally true that the scope of govern-
ment assistance in repairing and
replacing homes, buildings, fur-
nishings, equipment, has tended
to dull the edge of criticism and

in many quarters has been ac-_

cepted as evidence of the govern-
meht’s good intentions’ on the
whole question of flood control.
e ;
There is little ground for confi-

_dence in a government whose

whole record has been one of be-
trayal of the people’s interests all
along the line. What is needed is
more militant local action to

force the government into mo-
tion, of the kind that has been
well begun at Albion and Agas-
3

A much greater coordination of
effort is needed among ratepay-
ers’ groups, flood protection com-
mittees, community organiza-
tions, trade unions to united pub-
lic opinion and compel govern-
ment action on:
@ An over-all control program
in-the upper reaches of the
Fraser and other rivers.
A strongly fortified dyking
and highway system along the
banks of the Fraser, includ-
ing a large-scale rock-dump-
ing and pile-driving program
to protect against erosion.
A patrol service which will
keep the people fully inform-
ed and ensure quick action in
the event of danger.

protest Marshall Plan

Instead of buying food, Marshall
Plan countries “are forced to ear-

mark their dollars to help build>

a global military front.”

The union leaders charged “a
basic decision has been made to
fill Europe’s need for fresh, frozen
and salt fish primarily from Euro-

' pean production and to purchase

virtually no canned fish.”

‘They maintained that the Mar-
shall Planners’ excuse that can-
ned fish products are. high-priced

“hardly holds water)’ pointing

out that low cost items such as

sardines have been available in

substantial quantities.
| es : :
Citing General MacArthur's pol-
icy of rapid expansion of the
Japanese fleet, the report ex-
pressed concern over the fact
that Japanese fish production,
particularly tuna, will be used not
for Asia’s hungry millions but
“will be sent to this country to

‘ obtain dollars in order—according

to the policy of the Supreme Com-
mander—‘to reduce the cost to
the U.S. government of the Jap- —

to”

anese occupation’.

The report condemned the
growing campaign” to block trade
with the new people’s government
coming into being in China. It
declared peace should open up a
market of 450 million people,
“most of them hungry and most

of them fish eaters’ which could |

absorb millions of pounds of fresh,

frozen, salted and canned West —

Coast fish.

Calling for “full production of
fish for a food-hungry world,”
the report Warned that “the wel-
fare and pocket-book of every
fisherman and shore-worker in our
industry” are threatened by ex-
panding -imports and shrinking
foreign markets caused by the
Marshall Plan.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 4, 1949 — PAGE 5