British Columbia’s twenty-

first legislature is driving
ahead to, wind up the current
session before Easter week-
end, with a probability of
morning, afternoon and evening
sittings to close by April 3.

Monday night the Coalition cau-
cus gave the labor bill its final
working over. It is known that
last week’s Labor Lobby has forc-

ed certain amendments, but what

they are would remain a dark
secret until Thursday. when the
final draft was scheduled to be
introduced in the House.
Regardless of what the cynics
and critics of the Labor Lobby
say, it- was productive of much
good to labor, and this despite
the splitting tactics of certain re-
actionaries who sought to side-
track the lobby and misrepresent
its leadership and purpose. Big-
ger, better-organized lobbies with
broader and more ‘energetic pub-
lic backing are needed, but the
clearcut opposition to the repres-
~Sive labor legislation made by the

. anions participating in the lobby

is obviously the most effective
and best guarantee that labor
will. not be shackled in its for-
ward march. That Bill 89 cannot
be accepted in its present form,
that it will not lead to industrial
Peace cannot be denied. Instead
of being a ‘labor code’, Bill 39 is
a ‘bosses’ code,’ conceived by the
command of the big vested inter-
ests, and designed by their politi-
tal puppets in Victoria, to ham-
string labor and reduce its bar-
gaining power to as near to zero
as possible.
the act may 'do, the two sections
providing union-busting penalty
‘clauses and government interfer-
ence in the democratic machinery
of the trade unions to conduct
their own affairs in accordance

with their own _ constitutions,
makes it unacceptable to labor.
* * *

Monthly figures on BC's high-
way and bridge deaths are suf-
ficient in themselves to empha-
size the need for bolq action.
Last’ Friday a heavy Cowichan
Lake bus operated by the Island
Coach Lines capsized on the road
five miles out of Duncan after
_hitting a deep pothole. Passen-
_gers crowded into the bus had a
miraculous .escape with the ex-
ception of two who had to be
admitted to hospital. With roads
and highways in the worst state
of disrepair in their history, and
miles of them practically impass-
able the. Coalition’s ‘road program
is cause for bitter disappointment

ang concern. The road grant has

’ been increased, there is to be a
/S litéle ‘patching at points, a new
‘bridge or two to’ replace defec-
* tive - structures, some new con-
“struction, but little’ “if ‘ anything
‘beyond ‘that. Certainly’ not the
emergency action urgently neces-
-sary, ‘and so far as is ascertain-
-able no new road system,’ which
»is the root. of the whole trouble.
“This is’ particularly unsatisfac-
tory in. view of the fact that the
“government this. year’ has i
. creased’ motor license fees by 20
~ percent, is to receive three cents
more per gallon gasoline tax, and
“has obtained from the legislature

a grant of between $15,000,000 and |.

$20,000,
the ieee
a With revenues at an all-time

,000 for roads, bridges and

high, today .is the logical time to.

’ introduce \ a long-needed, new,
long-range road policy as well as
‘new’ construction projects to open
up Vancouver Island’s west coast

‘as well as northern and interior

regions of the province. United
action can. force the government
_ teé move, but’ as in the case of
labor,:health, taxation, pension,
schaol and other pressing social
problems, nothing else will.

_ FREDAY, MARCH 28, 1947

No matter what else

Gordon resignation from WPTB

indicates end of price controls _

By ROBERT LAXER

OTTAWA—Resignation of Donald Gordon as chairman of the Wartime Prices and
Trade Board after six years of service is considered here to foreshadow the ending of

price controls, Announcing Gordon’s resignation, Prime Minister King told’ the
'|that “after careful consideration’ the government
for the orderly decontrol of prices |:
‘are sufficiently advanced to make
ijit possible to meet Gordon’s .wish- |’
‘}es’ The buying public took it

to mean higher prices for food,
clothing. and shelter.

Extension of the government’s
Emergency Powers to May 15 has
only postponed final decision on
price and rent controls. May 1 is
considered by informed observers
as the ‘D for Decontrol’ Day in
the government’s plans.

With butter rising to 55 cents
at least and possibly to 60 cents
a pound, and cheese likewise
headed for a steep increase on
May i, the government is expec-
ted to perform one grand opera-
tion on a suffering public by ap-
plying the knife (to the people’s
income) in a number of direc-
tions. Might as well add the in-
crease in rent and on milk on
that date and possibly even on
bread as cause another outburst
of public indignation later on this
—is how the reasoning runs.

Despite Ilsley’s remark that he
might be back in 1948 for an ex-
tension of a Rent Control Bill, it
is pointed out that steep boosts
in rents are possible within the
government’s definition of ‘con-
trol’. Even the U.S., where prices
have _ sky-rocketed in recent
months, still has ‘rent-controls’, it
is pointed out.

There is frank talk of the prob-
able demise of the Prices and

House

‘had reached the conclusion that plans

WPTB DONALD GORDON
Back to banking.

Trade Board by September 1947,
except for a small divison con-

cerned with sugar control and
rents.

Donald. Gordon, who is known
for his energy, built the price
control system with considerable
success during the war years. In
1946 he was the subject of wide-|
spread criticism in trade union
ranks for his dogmatic assertion

Victoria labor seeks
plebiscite on transit

VICTORIA, B.C.—A delegation from the Victoria Labor
Council presented a petition signed by 3233 citizens to Mon-

day afternoon’s meeting of Victoria City Council. The peti-
tion called upon the council to conduct a plebiscite vote on

publicly owned transportation.
Robert Mezger, spokesman for

the delegation, reiterated labor’s

support for public ownership.

“To date the people of this city
have had only two opportunities
to express their opinion on trans-
portation. The first was at ‘last
December’s civic elections when,
a majority voted down the By-
law which would have given a 20
year exclusive franchise to
BCElectric. City council .mem-
bers attributed this vote to the
fact that ‘the by-law had been
rushed too much. None among
you could see where this vote
might be not. only a, protest
against .the awarding of the fran-
chise’ to the BCElectric, but
also an expression of support for.
public ownership,” Mezger., ‘said.

“we of the Labor Council, sup-.

ported by dozens of other organ-,

izations were of, a different - opin-
ion: We believe thousands of
Victorians will’ support public

‘ownership. .This- peeierue oF ule os
‘dence of:-that.’? °°. ;

“In other words,” ‘Mezger ‘don-_

‘cluded, ‘“the peoplé of this city ©
do not want the BOCElectric.
They. do want an opportunity to
vote on an alternative to ‘the
BCElectric ‘and that alterna-
tive is public: ownership.”

Alderman Diggon, chairman of

the Gouncil’s transportation com-
mittee, presented his report to the
Council.

length on. what he’ termed “the
difficulties,” ° “drawbacks” and
“obstacles” of public ownership,

he recommended that negotiations.

be reopened with the BCElec-
tric.

A motion was. passed enict
complimented Alderman Diggon

for the work he had done.
A second motion was then pass-

ed, under the urging of Alder-

i

the.

last weekend.

Asson, a regular salesman, also}
It is. plan-}~

‘throughout the dewntown | viheds!

Be ee

After . dwelling at great |

men Williams and Gadsen, com-
plimenting ang thanking Bob
Mezger for the work that the
Labor Ceuncil had done towards
the ‘attainment of a better trans:
port system.

Alderman Diggons flushed and
moved a motion of adjournment, |

Victoria LPP members sold 600
copies of the Pacific -Tribune’s
Labor Lobby issue in pure ek

An outstanding example of oil

‘sales work was turned in by Mrs.:
Nora Culhane who, alone sold
185 copies on Saturday. “Harry

sold a large number.
ned__ that, through | continued
efforts, Pacific Tribune sales will.
become a regular feature

of hee eee

) Ge Meeting

ANSWER.
TO TRUMAN ,.
‘ON GREECE

* :
Sun., Mar. 30, 8 p.m.
HASTINGS AUDITORIUM

(828 East Hastings)

Speaker: Bruce. Mickleburgh

Special Feature:
Poems of the Greek
Liberation Movement

e

Auspices Vancouver Committee.
Labor-Progressive Party.
104 Shelly. Building

that wages determine prices. Dur-
ing the Industrial Committee
hearings he threw his weight be-
hind big business in its efforts
against a substantial wage boost.
His main argument was that
wage increases would smash. the
price structure.

When, eight months later, price
rises were permitteq in virtually
all industries, although the fact
that only one sixth of the work-
ers had received higher wages
was-the most telling proof against

his earlier assertions, Gordon was

ready to scuttle the control sys-
tem of which he had been the
architect.

Donald Gordon returns to the
Bank of Canada as deputy gov-
ernor. And it was none other
than Graham Towers,
ernor, who declared a few weeks
ago that Canadian prices would
be bound to
levels within a short while. For
workers this would mean paying
at least 25 percent more for con-
sumer goods out of wages which
Gordon last summer tried to keep
as low as possible,

Spy commission
report scored

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. — Dis-
cussing the question ‘Does Can-
ada Need a Bill of Rights’ at a
public forum here last week, the
King government’s recent ‘spy
probe’ came in for sharp criti-
cism. The forum concluded that:

“Wartime legislation could very
easily establish precedents in
which basic rights might be con-
sidered secondary to expediency

- as illustrated in last year’s
espionage arrests, when Canadian
citizens and others were held in-
communicado as Russian spies.”

Speakers noted the large num-
ber of acquittals in the trials,
proving that the ‘condemning’ evi-
dence of the Kellock-Taschereau
commission would not stand up
in court.

the gov-}

reach American }'

Union official
is recovering |

VICTORIA, 3B.C.—Condition of
Tom Parkin, organizer for the

Fisherman’s union, is gradually
improving, although he will '

main in confinement at the Jubl
lee Hospital here for at least
six weeks, ‘

Parkin was seriously injured 1
an auto accident on his way
take part in the

concerning labor legislation 0”
March 11. He suffered a broke?
jaw bone, fractured pelvis and
numerous facial lacerations. Fiv@

others were also injured in’ the

collision.

Friends who wish to correspond —
with Parkin, are asked to W'!
him in care of the Jubillee Hos-
pital, ,

here.

Union veteran passes

The trade union movement
and the working people of th?
west coast are immeasurably
poorer by the death of John
E. (Jim) Brown, for many
years a member and officer of
the National Union of Operat-
ing Engineers’ (lately merged

into an industrial union, th?
Amalgamated Building a0
Construction Workers of Can-
ada).

Modest and _ unassuming,
“Jim” always gave his best tog
organized labor., During the

hard depression years, as busi-
ness agent and secretary-treas-
urer of his local union, hé
stayed in office even when the
Wages he received were it-
sufficient to provide coffee.

Owing to advanced age, he#
dropped out of official activity
some three years ago, but
the last showed a keen intel-§
est in the welfare of the union
for which he did so much. ©

Jim will be missed by all
who know his unsullied record,
a record of one of the faith-#

ranks of labor, whose devo
tion to organized labor will
long be gratefully remembered

by all: who knew him.

’ A’ charge of 50 cents for each ‘insertion
of five lines ‘or less with 10 cents for each
additional line is made for notices appearing
in this column, No notices will be accepted
later than Monday _ noon of the week of
. publication.

Dance, ‘Clinton Hall— ; vi
2605 East Pender, Dance every

Modern and
‘Viking’s Orchestra.

Saturday night.
Old-Time.
Hall is
HAstings S377.

eee

‘NOTICES
: Oldtime Dancing
to ALP. CARLSON'S. ORCHESTRA
. Every Wednesday end Saturday
Hastings Auditorium ©
_... 828 Ease Hastings
_ Phone HAst. 3248
MODERATE RENTAL’ RATES
_ for socials, weddings, meetings. etc.

Personal Full Delivery—
“1% cords fir mill run,
“1% cords mixed mill run $6.06
‘J. Krasnikov ~“—

0.K. Hair Restorer—

» OK hair restoring method
from weakest fuzz or ~ hair
roots. Results from first free
trial.

“. must be diagnosed ee
671 Smithe.

Meeting gI—
Swedish Finnish Workers’ Club meets last
Friday every month, meee D.m., CHnton
Hall.

Croatian Hall— ’

Available for’ Dances, Socials, |

Weddings, Banquets, Meetings,
Reasonable rates. »
, bell Avenue, HAstings 0087,

*

')Refreshment Social— ~

MAr, 0282)’
—| Concert and Dinner— aS
For Pacific Tribune ‘Drive, in

No order by mail. Case:

600 Camp-

ASH BROS. CARTAGE *
. Moving — Transfer ~
‘Dump’ ‘Trucks
2239 Cambie
\ Phone FAir, 0469. _!

_ WHAT'S DOING ie

of

On Saturday, March :29 at’ 342
East Fifteenth, North .Vancou-
ver.

bune. Come one; come.all.

Niner

Tatra Hall, New Westminster,

Talented floor show.
House Social oe ee
Hear the opera. “La Bohes¢”
on Sunday April 6 at 8 p.m. No:

charge:

Easter concert at Clinton ‘wall,
2605 East Pender, April 4 and
6, starting ‘at 7/30 pm., both

gram. Sponsored by B.C. Dis

trict Finnish Organization.
_ PACIFIC _TRIBUNE—PAGE |

-Vanceouvee
Trades and Labor Council’s inte
view with the provincial cabinet

ful and true ‘members in theg

available © “for ‘tent: B

Proceeds for Pacific Trt

Sunday, March 30 at 7 pie

Auspices. Commercial
Drive LPP Club. peiresoiy ee,

| Attention !—

nights exceptionally fine. pro

scenes