Ci Sal Ce 2g’ Mass rent protest - 4 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1949 COMMITTEES ORGANIZED Tenants fight back Organization of Vancouver tenants to oppose rent increases - authorized by the St. Laurent government, and to fight for retention of controls has now spread to all close-in areas of the city. Originating from a public meeting of tenants in the crowded West End, other tenants’ committees have now been formed in Hastings East and Grandview, and meetings to estab- lish committees are planned for Mount Pleasant-Fairview and Kitsilano districts, _ Speaking to a meeting of tenants held Friday last week in East End Community Y, Elgin Ruddell, Civic Reform alder- manic candidate, charged that lack ef an adequate housing policy was responsible for the alarming growth of slum condi- tions in the city. : A further public meeting sponsored by the newly formed Grandview Tenants’ Committee will be held s Monday, De- cember 12, in an outside classroom of the Grandview High School, First and Commercial, at which Effie Jones and Fred Collins, chairman of the Hastings East Tenants Committee, will Speak. . eee . i : The Grandview committee plans to use direct pétitions, house canvassing and public meetings in its campaign, and those interested may obtain further information by phoning ¥. Kennedy, HA. 3590R;- R. Lowerson, HA. 2469R; Mrs. P. Smithers, HA. 1385M. e pee: order. : that delegates had interviewed their respective MP’s and had been told that the whole matter This Leningrad freighter, the Chelyushinetz, is the first Soviet Ship to enter Montreal since Ottawa used the phony spy scare to cut off Canadian trade withthe USSR. The vessel was a visible reminder that Soviet ships could be picking up cargoes of Canadian goods if Ottawa were compel- led to put trade considerations first instead of the political considerations of the cold war. _ Australian Communists contesting _50 ridings, fighting suppression SYDNEY Leaders of both opposition parties, R. G. Menzies of the Liberal party and A. W. Fadden of the Country party, have declared they will outlaw the Australian Communist party and make it illegal for | Communists to hold trade union and government office if they win the general election this Saturday, December 10. Both parties represent big: monopolies, banks and land trusts. The Labor party claims it will not ‘ban the Communist party but will ‘prosecute Communists for breaches of the law. . The Labor government has already: thrown trade union leaders into jail for ‘‘con- tempt” of arbitration court laws and has used the notorious Crimes Act to jail Communists who spoke out against anti-Soviet war plans. ‘ ; ¥ Commenting on the election campaign, the Tribune, left-wing weekly published here, states: ‘ “Irrespective of which of the eapitalist parties is returned with “& majority on December 10, Aus- : tralian workers will find need for : ms : a united front of struggle against . reaction. The right wing of the Australian Labor party has pro- vided much of the ammunition which Menzies and Fadden threaten to fire at Australian progressive forces The Communist party is run- ning more than 50. candidates for 121 seats in the House of Repres- entatives. The-cld House had 75 ic seats, of which the Labor party. held 43. State and municipal authorities have attempted to gag the Com- munist candidates by refusing use of halls and radio stations, and by a daily press blackout. State police have usually failed to act against gangs of hooligans attempting to break up election meetings by hurling rocks at the speakers. 4 e gS . os ~ TOPCOA -45 EAST HA By RALPH R. COOK Before reading a brief to the minister, Rev. John Wagland, leader of the delegation, told Abbott was a cabinet decision and that they had not been allowed to bring up the matter in caucus, Abbott did not. deny _ this. The brief stated that ‘‘the mat- ter of rentals is not a legal ques- tion, it is a human question. It is a matter of the lives and well- being of Canadian men, women and children. It is a matter o bread and butter.’’ ‘ Referring .to, the housing situ- ation as “a national emergency” the brief continued, ‘Legal argu- ments will not suffice. The vast majority of tenants want ‘action now to’ avert the calamity which threatens their families and home life on the eve of Christmas.” - Following presentation of the brief eight members of the dele- gation from various parts of the province and from different walks of life, told of the slum condi- tions in which they are forced to live, the exorbitant rents which they have to pay for sub-standard housing and the effects rental in- creases will have on their living standard. “Mrs. Jean Parent from Mont- real, told of coming to this coun- try from Scotland as a war bride only to find that they had to pay their entire savings of $300 as key money in order to get an apartment. Her husband is now in a veterans’ hospital and she is herself in ill health. : “How do you expect me to keep two kids and myself. with $55 a month rent to pay?” she asked Abbott. : “They want $62.50 now. I told then I couldn’t pay it and they told fine to get out—but I'll not ‘move. ~ _ - HOME OF. FOR OVER 50 YEARS ey: ; for Extra Comfort and Wear ey or. ‘ OTTAWA “Liberals do not believe in bowing to the majority merely because of numbers,” Finance Muister Douglas Abbott shouted amid the jeers and boos of 300 irate tenants, delegates from 30 branches of the Quebec Federation of Tenants, who interviewed him in the capital. Representing 20,000 members of the federation, the delegates had come to Ottawa to demand that the government rescind its rent increase y “Tf you put up my rent I’m not going to pay it and» I’m not go ing to. move,” she told Abbott amidst thunderous applause. “I am here because I am the — wife and mother of a veteran an because I am ashamed of the ac- tions _of the government,” sal Mrs. Richardson, a delegate from Verdun. “I do not,want you to get my ‘politics mixed up as you did the last time I was here. I: am past president of the Verdun Liberal Association and one of the found- ers of it,’’ she told Abbott. Camille Dion, a McGill stud- ent, presented the case for young people, and D. Fontain from Quebec City told in French of the effects rent increases will have on the workers of that ‘city. Abbott was flanked by his parliamentary assistant, J. Sinclair, Reconstruction Minister Winters and Postmaster-General Rinfret. The usually suave minister was decidedly ruffled by the; time the interview drew to a close. “His comment that wages\had risen 90 percent’ since the begin- “ning of the war was greeted by derisive. laughter. When he said that delegates. need ‘not think ttha they would achieve anything by mass demonstrations, Rev. Wagland © replied, ‘‘Numbers don’t seem to mean anything to you except at election time.” ‘Apparently we don’t make much sense to you. I’m afraid you don’t make much sense to us either,” said the clergyman after Abbott had tried for ten minutes” to avoid responsibility for the ef- fects of rent increases. - SG ST esi rie ee | _ UNION MADE CLOTHING AND FRIENDLY SERVICE ENGLISH GABARDINE AND COVERT § From $3 5.00 in Handsomely Tailored and Smartly Styled English Gabardines and Coverts — Warmth Without Weight — Showerproofed tH, STINGS STREET * PACIFIC. TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 2, 1949 — PAGE 2 ‘won't pay or move,” -vet’s wife states Zé