PENSIONERS

ear Ball, Surrey, sends in a
i a letter he wrote to The
efones™an, Vancouver;
ve ee 1S an excerpt:
ehjoysh 000 pensioners had an
fete time when they went
Support a on March 10 to
the 6 © provincial board of

eovernment. their brief to the

ne
is}

Mechs edt Secthee btn sechirctindag B= See

On A ee eh

more
S

the oy a great success due to
Ndance of so many old

48 peng;
Proving ones from all over the
This Ja
: r
achieved j
Put out by

ge attendance was
4 Spite of the reports
Droyinas2, -o™@e Members of the
" oa board of OAP to the
Hf dignit at old People had more
Victor’ than to go over to
| woutg . and also that they
Legis] ve to stand outside the
| Wing, eure In the rain and
as I Spite of the fact we
be ¢ cence. that there would
hulding for nculable inside the
4 m . ay
J reople to pinion We do not elect
i) Under : € provincial board to
€ our efforts to
! a lot; we do expect
J us achi “° their utmost to help
; Detter se, Our goal, which is a
Citizen landard of living for all
) For 4 ss ws age group.
} Banizats ‘mber of years each or-
Needs me has discussed their
boat Informed the provin-
Of their needs by
\ €solutions to the
ention. These resolu-
ment fen passed to the
a re the Board, but
Mis taken. It is time
et €ans should be tried
€ resolutions acted
> leans the govern-
© Wi eo 2y;More attention

Oda. <> Of the maiori
dage Pensioners ajority of

) "Pon, and

eae
la 1 sition in the House

ag tion that he had
Seda; der paper to be

Toggles PPeSent session,
10 riot as that old age
Ore ve the minimum

—“tson per month. He

‘explained this could be done;
there is over $700 million in the
pension fund at the present time
and it would only cost the provin-
cial government $10 million out
of a budget of $1,300 million.

Mr. Barrett asked us to get
this resolution from him so that
‘each OAP organization could
write the MLA’s of their district
to ask them to.ask for a free vote
on this resolution. This is. very
important.

This resolution will come
forward near the end of the
session, therefore we would have
a record of who supported and
who is against us.

DRIVERS PROTEST
BUS CUTBACKS

Hydro bus drivers in the ATU
are sponsoring a petition protest-
ing the cutbacks in service. They
hope to collect at least 30,000
names.

Commuters are also protest-
ing the service which from the
moment it was introduced at the
first of the week can only be
termed a disaster. Snafus occur
on nearly every run with stops
which have been in use for years
eliminated entirely. The public
searches hither and yon for the

‘new stops while their bus passes —

them by.

In some areas the runs have
been cut back so drastically one
can no longer depend on going
anywhere in the evening without
a pocket full of taxi money to get
home again. In other instances,
the commuter must walk as
much as five or six blocks to
catch a bus which is allowed to

.stay on.some sort of schedule.

This type of hamstringing a
service is labelled by Hydro
chairman Shrum ‘‘an economy
measure.”’

In truth, it is a measure that —

will drive even the most
dedicated clean-air enthusiast.
into his automobile, with
consequent drastic cutbacks in
revenue.

Walter E. Wiggins

Tribute to veteran farm leader

times had the job of pinch-hitting —

One of the veteran pioneers of
farm organization in Sask-
atchewan, and resident in
British Columbia since 1952,
Walter E. Wiggins passed away
on March 24 in Vancouver
General hospital in his 80th year.

Settling in Vancouver with his

wife Margaret Wiggins and two~

daughters upon ‘retirement’
from his activities in the prairie
provinces, Walter immediately
became active in the diversi
fied farm movements in B.C.,
speaking at farm meetings,
contributing articles of interest
to farmers in the Pacific Tribune
and other journals, and took an
active interest on all issues
affecting B.C. farmers and farm
communities.

In his early days in Saskatch-
ewan during the hungry 20’s and
hungrier 30’s Walter Wiggins
played a key role in the building
of the Farmers Union of Canada
‘and the militant Farmers Unity
League which gave drive and
content to the daily struggles of
the dirt farmers of those early
days. Through the media of the
militant farm paper The

Furrow, Walter was not only a
frequent contributor, but at

as editor.

Walter Wiggins was also one of
the foremost pioneers and
promoters of the Canadian
Wheat Pool and for a number of
years served as one of its district
directors, (in those days such
districts covered a vast prairie
mileage) with a minimum of
travel facilities other than
walking. But it was this devotion
to farm organization and
determination to win a
marketing agency, the Pool,
which would serve to protect the
farmer from the grain elevator,
machine, land and mortgage
sharks, which characterized the
man. Thus in all corners of
Saskatchewan, and especially in
his own pool district, Walter

. Wiggins was held in high esteem

by his fellow ‘dirt’ farmers.

A veteran of World War I,
Walter went overseas ‘with the
first contingent in the famed
Fort Garry Horse. “‘Demobbed”’
in 1918, along with thousands of
other returned soldiers, he was
one of those who became victim
of the so-called Soldiers Settle-
ment Board— under which many
were settled on unfertile lands
which provided no returns for
labor expended, and where

everything the soldier had to.
buy, (machinery, stock, etc.)

saddled him with inflated prices.
That was Walter’s first experi-
ence as a farmer under the
democracy he had gone overseas
to ‘‘save”’ from Der Kaiser.

A long-time staunch and
devoted Communist: and
member ‘of the original Sturgis
Club of the Workers Party of
Canada, and later the Com-
munist Party, Walter Wiggins
will be remembered witha deep
sense of love and comradeship.

The staff and readers of the
Pacific Tribune, express their
sorrow and condolences to his

WALTER WIGGINS ——wife Margaret, to his daughters

PT DRIVE

By ERNIE CRIST,

atte aoe Manager
rie fo Ual Sustaining fund
ee a ful acific Tribune is
| prite Ro l Swing. Nanaimo
; se, N ck-Delta, Campbell

are p, Ore, and Vi

ade A . Clubs have sieesay
Zeable contribution
ie ae thus

Cellent
dua} eadership,

also some o

. . ut-
vidual examples:
Sincere a e
: ere appre
ae and Rita Tanche,
Bravenuk and Ed
ead Well over $100
“thal te Campaign, we
bit heir oe Mnounce shortly

€xample has been
tle Abjecny others.
Ve 509 sup ve this year of
ar ang ye. $1,500 from last
cage ferabjg <°S into account
OR increases in the
: eee as other
.© ile year gone
ta VeTeG fational costs must
One lf we are to

® he};
Roar lie
al eae however, that our
alistic. Our readers
Year after year that
“ Nt on their un-
eat: This was
Vident last year
tea by °bjective was
We hay. most $2,000.
€ Pointed Out in this

As

IS IN FULL SWING

column many times before,
unlike the big commercial press
our paper has no access to the
lucrative advertising of big
business. We are not a mouth-
piece for the merchants of death.
We depend exclusively on the
support of our friends and
supporters, in the main working
people and fighters for peace. It
is their hard earned pennies and
dollars which will determine the
future of the PT.

DRIVE FLASH: Mike Stevens leads
the individual effort in the drive
with $280 turned in at press time.

This year the communist
movement is celebrating its
50th anniversary in B.C. and
Canada, and it is also one
hundred years ago that B.C.
joined Confederation. Of the 50
years since the founding of the
Communist movement. in B.C.,
the PT and its forerunners have
been in existence for 36 years. To
mark the significance of these
important events the Press Com-
mittee will award specially
designed dogwood buttons to all
those who will raise $35,
(Bronze) $50, (Silver) or $100

(Gold) (Anniversary Press _

Builders) during the drive. '

The quotas which the Press
Clubs have accepted amount to
$17,500, $2,000 short of what we

need. We are confident however,
that the Press Clubs will not only
reach their respective quotas in
full, but that they will go over to
make up for the difference
between those quotas and the
$19,500, which we need.

As last year, our readers will -
have an opportunity to buy
contest tickets with the chance
to win a new car valued at $2,000.
The winner of the contest will be
announced at the Victory,
Banquet on Saturday June 12, at
the Fisherman’s Hall, 138 East.
Cordova. The shield for best
performance in the Drive will
also be awarded at this banquet.

By now, all the Press Clubs
have pledge cards, collection
cards and contest tickets. To
commemorate this year’s
important anniversary, this
year’s pledge cards are made out
for $35, $50 and $100. A number of
these pledge cards have already
been returned to the PT office
but the majority of them are still
in the hands of Press Clubs; We
urge all Press Directors to
return these pledge cards to the
PT office as soon as possible.

We appeal to you as a
supporter and friend of this
paper to give as soon as you can
and to the best of your ability.

PLEASE SEND YOUR
DONATION TO THE PT
OFFICE, 193 E. HASTINGS,

VAN. 4.

Mrs. F. Fischer (Catherine) and

Mrs. D. Serheniuk (Louva) and
to his grandchildren. We salute
the memory of a good soldier of!
the people of farm and factory, a
staunch Communist who gave
all his years to their cause of
progress and socialism.

—Tom McEwen

Crist speaks

The progressive Finnish com-
munity and its press along with
the Pacific Tribune have played
an outstanding role in the
shaping of events in Canada and
in B.C. said PT Circulation Man-
ager Ernie Crist at a fund raising
dinner in Vancouver last
Sunday. .

Dinner and entertainment
was organized by the Finnish Or-
ganization of Canada at the
Clinton Hall to raise funds for
Vepaus, Liekki and the Pacific
Tribune. Crist told about 75
people present that many people
coming from Europe, gold
seekers and people seeking a
new homeland away from the
oppressions of their old home-
land, came to Canada’s west and

brought with them the working —

class traditions of their old
homeland. :
These people have made an
outstanding contribution in the
building of this country and they.
have fought-for the benefits
which we €njoy today, he said..
But despite the great gains
which have been made including
the great victories in the
struggle for peace and against a

nuclear holocaust, the task':2 0% 25:

facing the working people
including the struggle for peace’

is far from over this is why the .

progressive press must be kept
alive, he said.

The PT needs your
dollars to keep

its presses rolling-
DONATE NOW

Advance Sales of

STOUT HEARTS STAND TALL

(A Book of and for the People)
Objective story of Canadian Farm Movement from early 1900 to 1940
— conditions, men, aims, gains; all in thirty chapters of living reality.
Objective: 1,600 copies this year
$3.75 each

Write to: |. Mills, 126 W. 59th Ave., Van. 15, B.C.
Phone: 321-3171

Sold: 122

Ordered: 22

Classified advertising

COMING EVENTS

COME AND HEAR KOREA

TODAY EYEWITNESS
REPORT SAT., APRIL 3rd —
832. CALVERHALL, NORTH
VANCOUVER. 7:30 p.m. —
SNACK — REFRES NTS.
AUSP. NORTH SHORE CLUB
— EVERYBODY WELCOME.
ADMISSION $1.00.

BUSINESS PERSONALS

REGENT TAILORS  LTD.-

Custom Tailors and Ready-to-
Wear, 324 W. Hastings St. MU
1-8456 of 4441 E. Hastings - CY
8-2030. See Henry in for
personal service.

FOR THE CONTROL OF
COCKROACHES AND ALL ~

CRAWLING INSECTS CALL
PAUL CORBELL 684-0742
BETWEEN 8 to 10 a.m. daily.

ROOM & BOARD available
for single -man~ or. woman

Home-cooked meals. Row.
onable. Phone 255-2085

DRY CLEANING
& LAUNDRY
Also Coin-o
LAUNDERE
2633 Commercial Dr.
879-9956

_ HALLS FOR RENT

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN
CULTURAL CENTRE ~- 805
Fast Pender St., Vancouver 4.
Available for banquets, wed-
dings, meetings. one 254-

CLINTON HALL, 2605 East
Bos eaauable for
nquets, meetings, weddi
ain. hore 253-7414: : Sage

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME
Available for meetings,
banquets and weddings at

reasonable rates: 600.Campbell:
(Dundas & Templeton Area)i! 3cAve. 254:3430.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1971—PAGE 11

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ASA YACIRI—AMUGIAT DAIGAS