{ Volume 72 No. 214 LEGIIL LVS fae ads GUNP. T7/TS FARLEMa Le cuales VICi ney ey yoL VBV-LA4 > ~ . i Monday, November 6, 1978 4 RUPERT STEEL COPPER ALL METALS Location Seal Gove Ne we buy MOK. - OPEN TEL 5 p.m. & SALVAGE LTD. BRASS & BATTERIES SAT. Phone 624-5638 _f XV eg Alex Fraser, is seen here with Cyril Shelford, Skeena MLA, at the Price Creek washout. 2Q REOPEN ROADS In what can cnly be described as a phenomenal effort, the highways department has been working around the clock to . getmen and equipment in to roads cut by last weeks heavy rains and flooding. The Highways Depart- ment District Manager for Terrace, Mike O'Conner, said the storm, which dropped almost a fool of rain in days, was a once in 200 years event. While men and equipment started working from this end, crews were also working from Smithers this way ani every available _ piece of equipment in bet- ween was being put into use, including farm tractors, to Clear the roads. The two- pronged attack continued today on Highway 16 East. Men and equipment from logging and construction camps were drafted and working on the read north. Highway 37 was and is closed from Kitwanga to Cranberry Junction but the Nass Road is now passable for trucks. The road to Prince Rupert opened Saturday after a tense two hours while crews shored up the Polymar Bridge which had floated free of its foundation and shifted several feet down- stream. The convoy of construction equipment which came up cn the Queen of Prince Rupert was held up while that work went on and the convoy was used to test the bridge out before other traffic was lead through the area by pilot cars. The road to Kitimat was opened single lane Friday. The bridge to Kitimaat Village is expected to be under construction if not completed teday. More than 150 men and at least 100 pieces af equipment started work Saturday in one of the largest highway reconstruction projects in the province's history. FRASER SAYS No word on aid Provincial Minister of Highways Alex Fraser said In a press conference in Terrace Sunday that the government hasn't made any decision yet as to whether or not aid will be Bennett promises support VICTORIA (CP) — Premier Bill Bennett said Friday the _ provincial government will spare no expense In cleaning up the mess left in the wake of se- vere flooding in several northwestern British Columbia communities. “The firat priority at this time is to do the clean-up, re- store the transportation and all the utilities, make sure there is no further loss of properiy and to try and get on with the rebuilding," Bennett said. made available to those who suffered losses due to the heavy rainfall and flooding which has played havoc with this area over the past few days. “We don't have the full story on the damage yet,” - said Fraser, who has also been appointed by Premier Bill Bennett as minister in charge of dealing with the situation here, Fraser said he would be in the area Sunday but would go back to Victoria today and arrange for a_ cabinet meeting Tuesday. He said he would be trying te doa rough estimate on the damage to roads and to hydro lines, also a provincial government responsibility. Fraser, who was trapped in the area overnight earlier . in the week by the sterm which dumped almost a foot of water in three days, said Sunday the government has the money available lo repair the roads und power lines. He said (the funds would come from surpluses and through — special warrants requiring only “Massive effort The heavy rains and flooding which hit the area last week knocked out at least three major bridge siructures on Highway 16 and washed out parts of the More stories pages 2,3,4 road in at feast 25 other places. The washouts, particularly between here and Smithers, have left several small communities without access to major centres. O'Connor said in an in- terview Saturday that ex- perienced bridgemen and highway construction ex- perts were. being brought here from all over the province. “We're going to work as long and as hard as the people can stand it, until we have an acceptable access into Terrace,” he said. "; would — think op- cabinet approval. He said the matter of compensation was another matter. At the press conference Fraser said he understood that the federal government had made an offer to match funds made available to compensate private in- dividual residents for their losses but he would have to look into that. Fraser repeated highways officials statements that the main priority was to get access to the remote areas cut off by road washouts. The higiways department hopes to have most roads open Friday. Fraser said the several major bridges washed out would take considerable re-engineering. “JL could be two to three years to get the highway back lo the way it was," Fraser said, noting thal three of the bridges which were washed oul were only u decade old. “DT fear the damuge is still poing oon," Fraser said, commenting that as the Skeona River recedes bunks will continue lo cave in. timistically maybe four days, pessimistically seven days. But it witl probably take another week after that to get the road up to what we would call a half-decent standard,” O'Connor said the first road through would be single lane in many areas and there will be about six large areas of the highway that won't have two-lane traffic until next year. He said the flooding, most of which was caused by high water levels in creeks flowing into the Skeena River, was almost un- predictable. “The water came down with such a tremendous intensity, that nobody -here can recall anything that severe in their lifetime underway around here,” he said. “In the last 10 years I've worked on three figods ... [ don’t recall anything this major. “T was out there about an hour before the bridges went out, and it was an awesome bloody site.” O'Connor said all available equipment in the area is being utilized for the high- way reconstruction, and residents are also helping out on their own. “I flew over an area north of here tonight (Saturday) and there was a guy with a farm tractor out sweeping crap off the road,” he said. “We've had people building bridges—just started working on them them- selves. You see things like thal and it really encourages you.” BODIES Searchers recovered the bodies of Francis Willlam Watson, age 48, and Kenneth Scott Bateman, age 45, Saturday morning at the CNR derailment three miles west of Usk. The Skeena River IN TRAIN WRECK FOUND became low enough that divers were not needed to recover the bodies which were found in the train. CNR crews are now working to repair the damage io the track and remove the wreckage fram the site. Sadat CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was reported Sunday lo have given his negotiators ‘‘clear instructions’ io seek a strong link between a peace treaty with Israel and a solution to the Palestinian question, Prime Minister Mustafa Khalil said Sunday. Hard-liners at the Arab summit meeting in Iraq, meanwhile, proclaimed Sadal's refusal to meet with emissaries from the Bagh- dad summit to be a vin- dication of their campaign lo eject the Egyptian from the Arab camp. A four-man delegation from the summit arrived in Caire on Salurday to try to urge Sadat to give up his plans for di separate peace with Israel, bul the Egyptian UP AGAIN Bank rate increased OTTAWA (CP) — The Bank of Canada announced Sunday an increase in its interest rate to 10.75 per cent from. 10.25 effective today, the signal for a further round of increases in borrowing charges generally. : The increase was triggered by Washington's action last week in raising the equivalent U.S. federal discount rate to a record 9.£ per cent from 8&5 per cent. The jump in the Canadian central bank rate of one-half of one percentage point, although half the magnitude of the U.S, move, is the third such Canadian increase in eight weeks. The Canadian rate has risen from nine per cent since Sept. 12 and from 9,5 per cent only three weeks ago. The effect of the moves will be encourage the recent . upward trend of all interest rales, including charges on new and renegotiated mortgage loans for homes and the yields paid to savers by banks and trust com- panies. ; The rapid recent rise in rates, inspired by in- ternational pressures against the U.S. and Ca- nadian dollars, tends to com- plicate the problems of government economic managers. While rising interest rates tend to dampen down inflation, they also discourage credit pur- ‘chases and ‘other spending needed to stimulate productive activity and combat unemployment, Finance Minister Jean Chretien, who consulted his provincial counterparts about the economic problems here Thursday and Friday, is preparing a new tax and spending budget for later this month. He wants to generate spending and jobs without aggravating in- flationary trends. - This second rise in the bank rate in three weeks came in a two-paragraph written statement by Gerald K. Bouey, governor of the Bank of Canada, He said only that the move responds to “the rapid increase in interest rates in the last few days In the United States associated with that coun- try’s efforts to contain domestic inflationary pressures and to support the external value of its currency,” That statement reflects the conventional view of Canadian authorities that interest rales in Canada must be kept higher than in the U.S. in order to attract U.S. and other foreign in- vestment funds, | The inflow’ of investment money is needed to offset a perennial deficit in other international transactions and 10 maintain the ex- change rate of the Canadian dollar abroad. The rare Sunday an- nouncement followed a controversy late last week when Prime Minister Trudeau effectively rebuked Trade Minister Jack Horner after Horner had speculated that Canadian interest rates VANCOUVER (CP) — There were dazens of speeches delivered during the Socialist International congress here but many delegates said the real action wcured outside the con- terence halls when they got together to exchange in- formation and pledge mutual Support. Many of the speeches were pat recitations of socialist philosophy, but several speakers on the final day of the conference Sunday aroused delegates with pleas for support of their causes. Ernesto Cardenal, represting the Fronte Sar- diniste, which is fighting the regime of President Anastasio Samosa of Nica- ragua, received one of the They said thanks VICTORIA (CP) — The British Columbia ministry of tourism sent a thank-you letter to a Vancouver Island environmental group four days after the group placeda display advertisement in a Seattle, Wash., newspaper criticizing the government. The ad, adjacent to ane placed by the ministry, advised tourists from the United States to hurry to Cowichan Bay on the Island before the government destroyed it with industrial development, During production of the newspaper, the ad somehow slipped into the govern- ment’s co-operative ad boosting tourism. Four days later, John Plul, the ministry's attractions and special events director, wrote the environmental group, thanking them for “providing Seattle readers with specific details as to why they should come up and enjoy a vacation in our prov- ince.” But later, in an interview, Plul said: “It’s unfortunate they had to put something like that in there.” would have to follow U.S. rates upward. The govern- ment normally avoids ad- vance comment on key economic moves to dis- courage speculation § in financial markets. The actionwas inthe hallways few standing ovations ac- corded speakers during the three-day congress, Asking for financial and moral support for his group's fight, Cardenal said the civil war was continuing in Nica- ragua with Samoza's forces systematically killing youths suspected of supporting the Sardinists. “The pity is, that we will be without youth because they are being killed every day in every part of the country,” he said in an in- terview, “Samoza has destroyed the cities but he has not destroyed the opposition at Ruben Berrios, president of the Puerta Rican In- dependence Party, told delegates that 20 Latin American parties have endorsed a declaration supporting his group's bid for independence from the United States. Hesaid Puerte Rico ‘“‘is the last classic example of a colony in the whole ‘of the Americas,” Berrios said Latin American support would increase pressure on the U.S. to find a solution to the Puerto Rican problem. He said he hoped such a solution could be reached by negotia- tion. During Sunday's sessions, delegates dealt with the problem of human rights, an issue introduced by David Lewis, former leader of the New Democratic Party, which hosted the congress. Lewis said it was time that Western powers take ef- fective action to aid the liberation movement in southern Africa. “The time is long overdue for some genuine generosity of spirit and for determined and effective aid to those fighting the regimes in southern Africa.” Lewis said that arousing Western nations to the fight for human rights in many developing nations is similar to the difficulty in per- suading Canadians of the threat of fascism in Europe before the Second World War, “An effective call to arms by this international and the coordinated campaign of education among our own people and of aid to those fighting for freedom would be a signal for action in many parts of the world.” moves toward peace leader would not receive them. The Baghdad meeting ended Sunday night with Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr announcing thal “positive results” had been achieved. “Enemies of the Arab nation and hateful elements thought we would not suc- ceed,” he said. “They spread rumors and propaganda, but our national will prevailed above all.” He declined to elaborate and said details would be announced later. Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Khalil told repor- ters after a 45-minute slrategy session with Sadul and his top aides thal a comprehensive Middle East selttement “can never be agreed upon if the legal position of the Palestinians is ignored.” Sadat had summoned his advisers to review. the progress of the Egyptian- Israeli peace talks in Washington and get a brief- ing [rom his top two negotia- tors, Bulros Ghali and Osama el-Baz, They flew to Cairo from the U.S. capital Saturday night for von- sultations and are expected to return Tuesday after Boing over texts of a proposed = Egyptian-[srueli treaty with Sadat. It was not clear whether major obstacles or just minor disagreements remain in the path of a treaty. Both Khalil and Vice- President) Hlosny Mubarak refused lu speculate on when alreaty might be signed, but Sadat is known to want an agreement in hand by Nov. 18, the first anniversary of his trip to Jerusalem. Khalil told reporters progress had been made in Washington. Mubarak said “there are still some issues that should be discussed"* but refused to elaborate. The major oustanding issue still appears to be the question af linkage. Israel has maintained there should be no tie between a peace treaty thal will establish diplomatic and = cultural relations between the two countries and the progress of negotiations over lhe Wes! Bank of the Jordin River and the Gaza Step, both Istacli-ovctipied. Egypt has insisted that the pace of detente with Israe! be linked to progress on the Palestinian question Mubarak said progress on this and other issues depends on the Israelis. ‘We have our principles and we stick to them,”’ he said. In Jerusalem on Sunday. the Israeli cabinet debated but did not act on military aspects of the proposed Isracli-Egyptian treaty After the six-hour cabinet session, Deputy Prime Min- ister YVigael Yadin, com- menting on reports from Washington that most work on the treaty has been completed, said ‘obviously there are matters about which there no amireement.” is