~ Quebec power failure causes rush-hour chaos MONTREAL (CP) — Nearly all of the province of ‘Quebec and its six million residents were left without electricity by a power failure late Tuesday af- ternoon -which created chaotic conditions for rush- hour commuters here. Within an hour Hydro- Quebec crews had suc- ceeded in restoring power to seattered rural areas, and service was brought back in stages to parts of Montreal and Quebec City before two hours had elapsed. A Hydro spokesman said the. er failure at 3:25 pm. DT was the result of a reakdown at the Mon- -tagnais sub-station in the northeastern part of the ovince. Power was cut rom three high-voltage lines from the Chure Falls, Nfid., generating station. Flights into and out of Montreal's Dorval, airport were delayed as air traffic controllers struggled to bring in planes without radar, At nearby Mirabel airport, service was delayed for 25 minutes and two shuttle flights to Ottawa were cancelled, “It’s a bad time of the day to have it happen,’ said Charles Simpson, Air Canada’s vicepresident for flight operations. Traffic lights here were knocked out causing huge tieups as Montrealers emptied out of downtown offices and tried to: make their way home. The Metro, the city's subway system, was knocked out and passengers had to be escorted to stations from stalled trains. a transit department official said, “There are lights in all the tunnels and the. people are being walked out to stations,” the official said. “There is no alarm.” Canadian National's elec- trified commuter rail service was halted, and inter-city trains were being held up for more than an hour. Commuters turned away from the Metro stood in long lines waiting for buses in a steady rain and wn- seasonably cold tem- peratures which hovered around six degrees Celsius. Taxis were hard to come by and hitch-hikers who couldn't get a ride aban- doned their effort and started to walk. As a result of travel problems, uni- versities and junior colleges cancelled night classes. Candles were lit in some stores and police reported a number of people trapped in elevators. Police also reported a spate of complaints about burglar alarms which were tripped when the power failure occurred. The blackout also knocked out computers at the Montreal and Canadian stock exchange, inter- rupting la te-aftern oc trading. In 1975, a break in the 735,000-yolt transmission line connecting the Manic power site and Quebec City lunged the province and parts of Ontario and New runswick into darkness for 412 hours. 4 New U.N. members admitted during colorful opening From AP—REUTER UNITED NATIONS (CP) — Vietnam and the former French colony of Djibouti were admitted a8 members Tuesday shortly after the 32nd =sUnited = Naticons General Assembly opened in a swirl of colorful costumes worn by many delegate from more than 140 coun- tries. Formal opening of the session was delayed almost two hours in a dispute over whether Cambodia should be given a vate. Informed sources said Cambodia, now known as Democratic Kampuchea, refuses to pay $36,984 in back dues in- curred by the ousted regime of Gen. Lon Nol. The problem later was set aside and Deputy Foreign Minister Lazar Mojsov of Yugoslavia was chosen the assembly's president for this session by acclamation. Intense haggling is ex- pected to involve Israel] and uth Africa during the three-month session. Israel has become the target of many UN mem- bers—including its traditional ally, the United States—for expanding Jewish settlements an the West Bank of the Jordan River. South Africa is a perennial target for its racial policies and for not yet granting independence to the disputed territory of South-West Africa. CONTINUES BOYCOTT For the third year in a row, South Africa is boycotting the assembly to avoid being ejected, as happened in 1974. e admission of Viemam and Djibouti swelled UN ranks to 149 members. Later in the week, other officers will be elected and an agenda adopted from among 126 issues ranging. from such perennial items as disarmament, human rights and terrorism to a request by Grenada Prime Minister Eric Gairy for debate on the “phenomenon of junidentified flying ob- But the showing of this session is likely to be based on what the world body can do to help resolve the con- flicts and potential conflicts in southern Africa and the Middle East. Outside the assembly hall, — scores of demonstrators gathered near the South African Mission to protest ainst the prison death of Steve Biko, a former student leader generally considered the founder of the black power movement Black. Consciousness. Secret nuclear talks starts LONDON _ (Reuter) Canada, the U.S., the Soviet Union, Britain, and 11 other technologically-advanced countries began a secret metting Tuesday to tighten safeguards against the risk of spreading nuclear ex- plosives. The British foreign office said these countries “share & common responsibility to ensure that nuclear exports do not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, _, The announcement said the countries already have achieved harmony in their nuclear export policies and are holding a.two day meeting of senior officials and experts. They are meeting as members of the so-called nuclear suppliers club which for the last two years has been outlining a “code of behavior” to prevent the Spread of nuclear weapons. The meeting's main concern is the spread of knowledge of three sensitive technologies - reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, uranium enrichment, and heavy water production - which could be used by non- nuclear countries to help manufacture atomic ex- plosives. The other countries at the — talks are Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, West Germany, [East Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Seden and Switzerland. Price rises slack off OTTAWA (CP)- Con- sumer price increases during August ranged from a high of 1.3 percent in St. John’s Nfld., says a Statistics Canada survey of 1 major cities released Tuesday. The nationally was four-tenths of one percent, the lowest since last December. rate of increase ‘The federal agency said higher shelter and food ices accounted for most of e increase. The 12 month inflation rates for the three cities were 10.1 percent for Regina, 9.1 percent for Sasxatoon and 7.8 percent for St. John’s, The national rate was 8.3 percent. A visit from British Columbia Development Corporation Loans to businesses The Business Assistance Division of the British Columbia Development Corporation invites secondary manufacturing, processing and other businesses to a9 | WASHINGTON (Reuter) — Lresident Carter suffered a defeat Tuesday in his enérgy conservation program when the U.S. nate finance committee defeated a tax on gas- guzzling cars. The committee knocked the tax from the energy bill by an 1i-to-5 vote despite an administration plea that the tax was essential to Carter's program to save fuel to curb rising oil imports. TheHouseof Representatives has passed the key parts of Carter's energy program, including high taxes on domestic crude ail, the gas-guzzling tax and new taxes on the industrial use of oil and natural gas. In another setback for the president, the committee voted to keep almost $1 billion in annual federal tax deductions allowed motorists against state and local fuel taxes. The House had voted to eliminate this tax deduction as part of the Carter energy lan. The Senate has passed a separate bill that would outlaw any car sold in the U.S. that gets less than 16 | Gas-guzzlers off tax hook miles ta a U.S. gallon. However, the future of this legislation remains doubtful since the House has not pass a dlmilar prohibition. The committee 7" must decide what to ao about taxes on crude oil proposed by Carter. “Dome strikes oil CALGARY (CP) — Dome Petroleum Lid. of Calgary said Tuesday natural gag has been encountered at ell- three wildcat wells being drilled by Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd, (Canmar) in the Beaufort Sea. Canmar, Dome’s wholly- owned subsidiary, is drillin; the wells for Dome an artners, including Hunt nternational, Columbia Gas, Gulf Aquitaine, Brascan, Norcen and Mobil, which have varying in- terests in the wells. A statement said testing of the wells, off the Mackenzie Delta com- munity of Tuktoyaktuk, will be delayed until more drilling has been done. By LEW DIGGS MONTREAL (CP)- The staff of the east-end Louis- Hippolyte Lafontaine hospital were working overtime late Tuesday to care for about 1,500 mental patients evacuated from a ospital wing that was severely damaged by fire, hospital officials said. About 200 firemen battled the fire for five hours before containing it in the three- storey west wing, where flames first erupted on the top floor carly Tuesday afternoon. All the patients were evacuated safely, hospital officials said. e fire spread rapidly, whipped by brisk winds, and left only the shell of the grey-stone building en- veloped in flames. Three firemen and a security guard were treated for smoke inhalation. Director Jean-Guy De Guise said most patients, about half of them more than 55 years old, were taken to the hospital capel and cafeteria, where they were being fed. De Guise said staff were moving patients from the cafeteria and chapel into an adjacent, empty wing that THE HERALD, Wednesday, September 21, 1977, PAGE 9 Patients safe after fire rages in hospital — formerly housed nuns. The psychiatrist said four area hospitals, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Red Cross were supplying supplementary bedding. Hospital officials said that within the next few days they expected to be able to move as many as 600 patients back into a win adiacent to the 80 year ol Nelligan pavilion where thefire started. An estimated 880 beds were destroyed in the seven- alarm fire. De Guise said hospital administrators had not decided whether to request permission to transfer patients to other in- stitutions. He said the possibility would be discussed today with Quebec Social Affairs Minister Denis Lazure, a former director of Louis- Hippolyte Lafontaine. taff members said the fire was the worst of three fires that have broken out at the mental hospital, which houses 2,700 patients, in less than a year and a half. Last November, a fire which started in the kitchen caused more than $2 million in damages. No injuries From October 1, 1977 to April 30,1978" occurred in the evacuation of patients at that time. other fire in May, 17 destroyed another wing the hospital, the largest psychiatric institution in Quebec, but again there were no serious injuries. No running. No walking. No exercise. No effort. Penalty — a shorter life. No argument. Fitnassis fun. [ L } Try some. _ discuss their financing needs with our representative who will be visiting your area on the following dates: TERRACE VISIT September 22nd from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mr. K. F. Cassidy, Business Assistance Division, will be at the Lakelse Motor Hotel. Telephone: 635-2287. For appointments phone: Vancouver, 689-8411 (Collect) Or write: Business Assistance Division the “Queen of Prince Rupert’ sails to Vancouver (Tsawwassen Terminal) twice a week. Going south for business or pleasure? Moving? Trucking? You'll find B.C. Ferries new service to Vancouver more attractive than ever. We're pleased to offer you new off-season fares for passengers and vehicles, new stateroom rates, “Sall ’n Save” excursion fares and group fares. No matter how you wish to travel aboard the “Queen of Prince Rupert’, we've got a deal for you. Departures from Prince Rupert are every Tuesday at 10:30 PM, every Saturday at 10:00 AM. From Vancouver Mondays and Thursdays. ' BRITISH COLUMBIA FERRY CORPORATION 1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 1P6 see your travel agent or phone... Prince Rupert a 624-9627 . - British Columbia Development Corporation 272 Granville Square 200 Granville Street Vancouver, B.C, V6C 154 “Except February ralit pariod.