tut. De ;
What Yor Neate.

OPEN LETTER TO NORTH VAN RESIDENTS

LPP urges action to block
proposed telephone rate hoist

C. CARON, chairman, North
Vancouver Section, Labor-Pro-
gressive party, writes the fol-
lowing open letter to residents
of North Vancouver:

The action of the city council
of West Vancouver and Commis-
sioner Sowden of North Van-
couver and district, in approv-
ing an interim rate boost for
the B.C. Telephone Company in-

dicates a shocking disregard for
the will of the people they al-

legedly represent.

Residents of the North Shore,
already saddled with a high base
rate and discriminatory till
charges which put the cost of
so obvious a necessity as a tele-
phone beyond the reach of hun-
dreds of North Shore families,
have been sold across the inlet.
Why?

For the past ten years B.C.
Telephone net profits have ‘v-
eraged approximately three-quar-
ters of a million dollars a year.
This is a return to this private
“public utility” of 7.3 percent on
capital and surplus—a_reason-
able return by any criterion.
Now the B.C. Telephone Com-
Pany has the effrontery to ask
‘the public of Vancouver and dis-_
trict to accept a rate increase
which will add aproximately 40
percent to present rates. This
will bring the company an ad-
ditional $5,000,000 a year, for the

purpose, they say, of meeting
additional dividend requirements

COMMENT AND CRITICISM

Canadian radio needs |
more democratic control.

By JOHN STEWART :

A BRIEF PRESENTED before the Massey Royal Com-—
mission on the arts and sciences last week recommended a much
more rigid control of Canadian radio “‘to combat the debasing flood
of foreign propaganda which pours into Canada by radio, television
and magazine.**’ It said that radio in Canada “‘is merely sales propa- —

of $32,000 and helping them in
their capital expansion program.
This is no different than a
wealthy man asking his poor
neighbors to ‘give him money
in order to build a new wing
onto the luxurious mansion he
already owns.

The company, with tongue in
cheek, also announces as justi-
fication for the proposed incfease
that its rates have not increased
since 1921. True—but what the‘
company does not say is that
when rates were set in 1921 the
cost of living was at the highest
post-war rate it reached. Now
when it finds the cost of living
index even higher the company
asks for “adjustments,” During
the depression thirties when half
the population of the North
Shore was on relief or worse

LETTERS DIGEST _

did the company offer the pub-
lic any downward adjustments?
Surely our above-mentioned rep-
resentatives can’t have fallen for
this shoddy trick!

The public, the vast majority,
of whom we know are bitterly
opposed to a rate increase, must

mot. leave action’ to neighbors.

If we are to safeguard our rights,
if we are to keep the purchas-
ing value of the dollar in sight
at all we must act—immediately
and positively!

The lLabor-Progressive party
calls upon all citizens to write,
wire or phone our parliamentary
representatives demanding that

they put every pressure on the

Board of Railway Commission-
ers to refuse the B.C. Telephone
Company’s demand for a rate
increase, ‘

Native school children

_ deserve square deal -

> WALTER L. JOHNSON , Vancouver: A lot of people wonder

why

The reason is simple: the system

the Native Indians of this age are often not properly educated.

of schooling the government has

set up. Most of the schools are run by Catholics, who often operate

them like reformatories. Discip-
line is far too strict for growing
children. The meals are of poor
quality: boiled potatoes and stale

CLASSIFIED

_ & charge of 50 cents for each
insertion of five lines or less with
_ 0 cents for each additional line
_ 4s made for notices appearing in
this column. No notices will be
accepted later than Monday noon
of the week of publication.

; Oldtime Dancing
: To Alf Carlson’s Orchestra
: ery Wednesday and Saturday

available for meetings, weddings
- and banquets at reasonable rates,
__ €00 Campbell Ave. HA. 0087.

CRYSTAL STEAM BATHS—
Open every day. New Modern
Beauty Salon—i763 E. Hastings.
 HAstings 0094,
_ Swedish-Finnish Workers’ Club
meets last Friday every month
at 7.30 p.m., in Clinton Hall.

MEETING— — ;
Vancouver Center L.P.P. Mem-
bership Meeting. Election of
Executive. Friday, August 26th,
8 p.m. sharp, Lower Hall Pender
Auditorium. Admission by mem-
bership card only.

DR. R. L. DOUGLAS HAS OPEN-
ed a new office at 9 EAST HAST.
INGS STREET, cor. Carrall St.
Phone TA. 5552. All old friends
cordially invited to drop in for
a visit.

a

SALLY BOWES— :
INCOME TAX PROBLEMS.
Room 20, 9 East Hastings:
MA. 9965.

" sometimes

Dance, Clinton Hal— —

2605 East Pender. Dance every
Saturday night. Modern and
Old-Time. Viking’s Orchestra.
Hall is available for rent,
riAstings 3277.

ATTENTION BOWLERS—
Last chance

St. MA. 5288.

0.K. RADIO SERVICE. Latest Set an

Factory. Precision Equipment

Used. MARINE SERVICE. 1420

Pender St. W. TA. 1012.

| FOR RENT—

Two large,
rooms, furnished or unfurnished.
Ideal location, North Vancouver.
Phone PA. 5831 or North 628R.

ROOM FOR RENT—

Sleeping Room, one block from I notice that the

Exhibition . Park. Phone HA.

4106L. 2794 Pandora St.

WHAT’S DOING?
GARDEN PARTY—

Friday, August 26, 8 p.m. Games,
refreshments and home cooking.
11 patients are shoved into general .

5946 Kerr Road. Take No.

bright, bed sitting-

fish are regular items on the

menu. It’s a wonder the young-

sters don’t start growing fins.-
Instead of wholesome milk, tea

served. “Dessert”
consists of a raw
carrot. About the only time good
meals are served is when an
agent for the Indian Department
pays a visit. The school author-
ities always know when an offi-

is usually

cial is coming around, and pre-

pare accordingly.

The children are taught more
religion than anything else.
Teachers seem to be afraid that
if the children are taught to read
and reason, they might decide to

te owl oh he choose their own religion.

Pacific Tribune team. Registar
now at Tribune Office, 650 Howe Native

It’s high time conditions in
schools were changed for
the better, so that the children
équal start in life with

all Canadian youngsters.

0. ANTONUK, Princeton: The
burpings of Burton from Trail
will only have the effect of mak-
ing honest workers double their
efforts to get new readers for the
Pacific Tribune.

hospital
scheme is going “in the red,”
There’s something wrong here.
For $14 a day one can liye ina
Suite in a modern hotel, with
footmen, doormen, etc. At hos-
pital, under the present system,

ganda tagged on to nonsense or

pseudo-romantic drivel.” The
brief attacked “the rank vulgar-
ity and commercialism of the
majority of radio programs.”

Although this column, has said
the same thing on several oc-
casions, we hasten to assure
Mr, Massey it has no hand in
the preparation of this brief. The
Royal Architectural Institute of
Canada did the job through its
president, A J. Hazelgrove.

What does the RAIC recom-
mend should be done about it?

“Rather than determination of
program policy by contributory
advertisers,” the Institute re-
commends a firm control of ra-

dio by the cultural leaders. of,

the country.

While this column thinks the
Royal Architectural Society
ought to be more concerned with
housing and with some of the
architectural monstrosities built
in this country, nevertheless we
can go along with them on their
views on radio—generally,

Of course, they haven’t gone
nearly far enough, There is no
mention of government political
interference in CBC affairs. Nor
do they challenge the system
that permits 115 privately owned
stations as against 17 CBC\sta-
tions. Nor do they include labor
in their recommendations for
“firm control” of radio. (After
all, there are about a million
trade unionists in Canada, Add-
ing families and you have a po-
tential listening audience of over

_ 2,500,000.)

* * *

RADIO HAS become a tremen-
dously powerful instrument in
the 31 years of its existence in
Canada. Today there are more
than 2,870,000 radio sets in opera-
tion in homes that command a
potential radio audience of 11,-
335,000 people. wo

A recent survey of CBC pro-
grams indicates that news broad-
casts, including commentaries,
take up 15.8 percent of the total
broadcasting time. Top time is
taken up with what is classified
as “light” music—25.9 percent.

_Educationals are given 2.8 per-
cent of broadcasting time; sym-

phony 1.7 percent; religion 2.4
percent; dance music 8.4 per-
cent; drama and feature 4.5 per-
cent. In all, musical programs

make up 56.6 of the CBC’s pro-
grams. ;

CBC policy is set by a rotating
board of nine governors, appoint-
ed by the government. It is re- _
sponsible to the minister of na-
tional revenue, Dr. J. J. McCann.
Thus any political party in power —
can obviously exercise full con-
trol over the CBC and over pri-
vate stations through the CBC,
which is, in the final analysis,
responsible for all broadcasting
in Canada, private or CBC. Three >
members of the board of gov-
ernors are appointed every year.

‘ * * *

IF THE ROYAL Architectural
Institute had asked this column
to help prepare its brief—which
it didn’t—we might have made
a few suggestions:

1. That radio in Canada be com-
pletely, 100 percent nationalized
and administered by an indepen-
dent board of governors appoint-
ed not by the government, but
by organizations broadly repre-
sentative of all sections of the —
community—including the three —
main trade union bodies, farm ofr-
ganizations and such specialized
groups as the Canadian Arts
Council, the Dominion Drama
Festival, the Musicians’ Union, ;
ete. 4

2.- That radio licence fees be
reduced to $1.00 and the govern- —
ment, which doenn’t contribute 2 —
nickel to CBC radio broadcast-
ing, make an annual grant of

$15,000,000 to the CBC. (At pres- —

ent CBC domestic programs cost.
$6% million, of which almost $2 e.
million comes from advertising, —
the rest from licence fees.) A
8. That under nationalized ra-_
dio broadcasting, commercial pro-
grams be limited to not more»
than 15 percent of the usual 18 —
hour daily broadcasting time —
suitably spaced. (The CBC in its-_
1947-48 year carried 17.7 percent
commercial broadcasting.) And —
that commercial announcements
be cut from 10 percent to 5 per
cent of the program,time. ——
4. That the CBC restore full
freedom of speech on the Cana _
dian airwaves by allowing free
time to ALL political parties 07
the basis of .equal time to @
national party and not on the
basis of parliamentary member
ship. That such freedom be ©*
tended on the,local and provil-

‘cial level as well as the national

chain,

ee

~ CURRENT MOVIES

** Acceptable

hoofing. 5

Turn back the clock |
*%%*Hishly Recommended

—**Qook For The Silver Lining:
silver and you find yourself feeling nostalgic when the radio
disc jockey plays Time On My Hands, then this movie is
your dish. Based on the career of Broadway’s Marilyn Miller,
it deals with the World War I period and features the singing
and dancirig numbers which made Marilyn the toast of the
town. June Haver does a competent job in the Miller role,

but Ray Bolger steals the show

*%%R ecommended
*Not Acceptable

If your hair is turning to

with his inimitable style oF :

Car,
_ East Social Committee. (Party people, and gets practically no
will be postponed if raining.) service. Where does all the

OPEN AIR DANCING AT SWE. Money go? Perhaps there should
dish Park every Saturday night. be a Royal Commission set up
Dancing from 9-12. Arne John- to investigate B.C.’s hospital in-
son’s Orchestra. surance plan. ~

Sponsored by Vancouvereward with perhaps 30 other

*** A Night At The Opera, I Remember Mama, Yellow SkY-

** June Bride, A Song Is Bor, Words And Music, Easter
Parqde, The Passionate Friends, The Wicked Lady, Down
Lode he Sea In Ships.

* The Big Cat, The Fountainhead, House of Strangers
Getting Gertie’s Garter, Cover Up. - ae

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 26, 1949 — PAGE 1