Vet’s family -tragedy follows
Inability to secure decent home

DEEP COVE, B.C.—Responsibility for the death through drowning of a small child
here during the holidays lies with the Canadian government, because of their miserable failure
to grapple with the problem of veterans’ housing, acording to charges made by Ivan Bir-
chard, North Vancouver Canadian Legion Branch official, in a statement to ‘the press

this week.

The child fell from the porch of

a waterfront home _ while its
mother was cleaning the single
family room. It was misseq al-
most at once, and frantic search-
ers found the baby floating in
the water dead.

“It is a tragic story, made
doubly tragic by the fact that
the bereaved father is a veteran
who served his country only to
return to find no home available
' for his family,” said Birchard.

“In desperation they moved into
the waterfront shack only to be
struck by the cruel loss of their
little child.”

‘An available surplus of staff
houses in North Vancouver are
kept unoccupied for months
while veterans go homeless, ‘the
statement continued, Across the
country ex-servicemen have been
compelled to -become squatters,
seizing a home as one would in
enemy territory.

“However, placing responsibility
on the federal government does
not relieve the hundreds of own-
ers of empty houses of their re-
sponsibility. In Deep Cove, a short
distance from the scene of the
accident, there are numerous ser-
viceable homes ‘unoccupied. They
are summer homes locked up for
the winter while veterans’ fam-
ilies live in dangerous shacks and
frightfully crowded rooms,

‘Deep Cove Legion Branch is at-
tempting to contact owners of the
empty homes in an effort to have
them opened to veterans who need
accommodation urgently, Owners
of empty cottages in the area are
asked to get in touch with I.
Birchard, care of Deep Cove Can-
adian Legion. :

George Drayton passes

The labor movement of British Columbia last week

lost a well-known figure in

the death of George Dray-

ton, first editor of the B.C Workers’ News and a foun-
dation member of both. the Labor-Progressive Party

and its predecessor,
Party. Drayton died
Friday in Shaughnessy
Military Hos-
pital which he
entered al-
most a year
ago for an
illness aggra-
vated by the
wounds he re-
ceived in the
First World
War.

Into his 56
years, more
than half of
which were
devoted to
the interests
of the labor

‘ movement
Geo. Drayton Geo. Drayton
crowded a wide experience.
' Born in Hull, England, he
came to Canada as a young
man, subsequently serving as
.a dispatch rider in France
and Belgium during the First

World ‘ War.

Back in Canada, he entered
the labor Movement through
the struggles of the unem-
ployed in South Vancouver and
when the Workers Party was
launched here in December,
1921 he was one of its found-
ing members. Later, in the
early thirties, he served ‘for a
time as provincial organizer
for the Communist Party.

munist
on

the Com-,

In 1935, the B.C. Workers’
News, first in a series of labor
weeklies, including the People’s
Advocate, Advocate, People,
Pacific Advocate and Pacific
Tribune, was founded and
Drayton became its first edi-
tor. He was also the first
editor of The Fisherman, now
the official organ of the Unit-
ed Fishermen and Allied Work-
ers’ Union, when that paper
was established in 1938.

A bricklayer by trade, Dray-
ton worked in many parts of
the province, latterly at Mi-
chel and Victoria, in the war
years, and during his last ill-
ness the Bricklayers Union
voted him a special grant in
recognition of his  organiza-
tional work and long service.

He is survived by two daugh-
ters, Verna and Julia.

Funeral services were held
Tuesday from Central Park
Funeral Home, with interment
following in the Soldiers’ Plot
at Mountain View Cemetery.

Among the many old friends
and associates attending the
service to pay a. final tribute
were Tom McEwen, editor of
the Pacific Tribune, Bill Ben-
nett, Jack Greenall, secretary
of the B.C. Federation of La-
bor, and Emile Goguen and
John Carlsén of the Interna-
tional Woodworkers of Amer-
ica. ,

British Tra

des Congress charges —

Bevin controlled by tory gang —

LONDON, Eng.—Devastating charges the British government representatives at the
United Nations are being made by members of the Trades Union Congress delegation
just returned from New York. “Scandalous,” “humiliating,” “disgraceful,” are some of
the terms used by members of the delegation who were there for approximately a month.

Jailed pickets
express thanks

Spending the first Christmas of
their lives behind the grim bars
of Oakalla prison, three trade
unionists, Bill Friesen, Jack Rock-
andel and Bob Daniels, who
are still serving the unfair sent-
ences handed down to them by
Mr, Justice Wilson for
the ancouver Daily Province
during the time the injunction
was placed against the ITU, wish
to extend their sincere thanks to

all those who sent them Xmas

Parcels and cards.

They received all parcels, com-
_ pletely intact, save for the re-
Moving of fancy wrapping paper,
_ tc. Particularly do they wish
_ to thank the IWA Ladies Auxil-
_jary, IWA Local 1-71 and the
‘Union Hiring Hall. With appre-
- Ciation ‘they have enjoyed the
_ Xmas cake baked for them by
_ Peggy Kennedy, and candy and
Smokes from the CSU.

bis 3 They have expressed the opin-
jon ‘that receiving parcels. from
_ the trade unions
_ feel a part of the labor move-
Ment at a time when it is hard
_ Rot to feel completely’ isolated.

picketing |

helped them

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

The TUC delegation consisted
of Bullock, of the National
Union of General and Municipal
Workers, Will Lawther, of the Na-
tional Union of Mineworkers, and
A. Tracey, Transport House ex-
pert.

Among the most serious as-
pects of the position, as it is dis-
closed by leading members of
this delegation, is the condition
of Bevin’s health,

‘hey state that in conse-
quence of his malady, Be-
vin is,. practically speaking, en-
tirely in the hands of the
foreign Office “experts” who are
constantly prompting ~ him, di-

recting him, and dictating to
him what he should say next,

Members of the delegation de-
clare themselves utterly shocked
by the realization of the extent
to which “Labor’s” foreign policy
is really in the hands of the
old-line foreign office officials.

They complain that the TUC
delegation was treated with very
scant respect by the British gov-

ernment officials and others in
New York. :
The TUC_ representatives are

determined to rouse Labor MP's
and others to a realization of the
gravity of the position.

aes’ time extended
Refugees’ time extended |
Four Spanish anti-fascist refugees who landed in Van-
couver in November have been granted a second 30-day stay

in deportation proceedings, it was announced by John Stan-
ton, Vancouver labor lawyer, this week. The stay was

granted through the efforts of
local labor organizations and
veterans of the International Bri-
gade who fought against Franco
during the Spanish civil war.

. The stay was granted in order
to allow the men to leave Canada
for another country without go-
ing through normal deportation
procedure, ae

A fifth Spanish refugee, who

arrived in Vancouver a month
latey, tas also been ordered to
leave the country. Pending his
appeal, the man has been freed
on $1,000 bail. In the meantime,
progressive groups ih the city
are pursuing the case, with an
effort to having ‘deportation
orders lifted, so that the five men
will not be forced to return to
Spain.

With the appointment of

ED. LEARY

‘“. . Yipe for unionization’

New union appointment
for VLC president Leary

Ed Leary, president of Van-

couver Labor Council, to the post of Western Canadian rep-
resentative of the International Fur and Leather Workers
Union, an intensive organizational campaign among workers
in the industry is scheduled for early this year.

Leary’s appointment was author-
ized by Robert Haddow, Canad-
ian Director of the IFLWU. The
union is a CCL affiliate.

“There are from 700 to 800
workers engaged in the fur and
leather industry’ at present,”

Leary told the Pacific Tribune,
“and very little attempt to org-
anize them into a good union has
been made. However, we feel
that the time is ripe for union-
ization of the industry, and we
are planning an intensive cam-
Paign to bring all B.C. fur and
leather workers under union con- —
tract.” :

Working with Leary on the
campaign will be Alex McAuslane,
first vice-president of Canadian
Congress of Labor.

Commenting on the new assign-
ment given Leary, an official of
the Vancouver Labor Council
stated: “Haddow couldn’t have
made a better choice in getting
an organizing job done.”

represent the people of Cartier
and Canada in the House. I ex-
pect to have. the opportunity of
presenting my case to the House
through the Speaker.”

This is the message Fred Rose,
imprisoned member of parliament
for Montreal-Cartier, asked his
wife to make public after she
had, with some difficulty, obtain-

ed permission to visit him on
Christmas Day

Rose, convicted of an espionage
charge on evidence of Igor Gou-
zenko, a former clerk in the Ot-
tawa Soviet embassy charged by
embassy Officials with’ embezzling
funds, was sentenced to six years’
imprisonment, His appeal against

‘ the
Fi was recently re-
jected by Que-
bec Supreme
Court.

In answer to
a wire sent to
Bordeaux jail
by Robert Tay-
lor, a Toronto
Star staff re-
porter at Otta-
wa, Rose con-
veyed through

FRED ROSE

‘|his wife the declaration that he

had no intention of resigning his
seat in parliament. :

This places the House of Com-
mons in the position of having
to amend the Criminal Code. to
expel Rose from the House and
create a vacancy in  Montreal-
Cartier, constituency, since the
House of Commons. lacks the
right to create the seat vacant
without special legislation to
that effect.

clares his innocence of the charg-
€s on which he was convicted
and refuses ot vacate his seat, a
precedent may be set by the
government in being compelled
to introduce new legislation.

The Fred Rose Defense. Com-
mittee has issued a statement,
based on a careful tudy of the
Taschereau-Kellock report on es-
pionage. In this statement, signed
by chairman Alex Gauld and
Alderman Michael Buhay of

‘Montreal, the Rose Defense Com-

mittee appeals to the people of
Canada to redouble their efforts
to win justice and freedom for

labor’s fighting MP.

sentence.

In the case of Rose, who de- :

Fred Rose MP will not
resign parliament seat

MONTREAL—“I have no intention whatsoever of re-
signing my seat in the House. I have never committed any
offence against the interests of the people of Canada.
tend to fight to establish my innocence and my right to

I in-

Ladner union puts
on ‘Trib’ concert.

The committee of the Ladner
local of the United Fishermen
and Allied Workers’ Union who
were in charge of the concert in
the Delta Community Hall _
December 8 in aid of the Pacific
Tribune, would like to thank the
union members and others who
gave the use of their cars on this |
Occasion. Thanks are also in
order to the Women’s Auxiliary
of the local who _prepared and
served a splendid supper for the
concert artists and other guests.

The artists in turn expressed a
hearty vote of thanks to the
Ladner local and the women’s
auxiliary for the welcome extend-
ed them, and are looking forward
to another visit at a future date.
In the opinion of all the concert
was one of the best held in the
Ladner community, The sum of
$72.75 was forwarded to the Pa-
cific Tribune. :

"cette sentence
Valiant Chinese

fighter passes

Funeral services for . our
Chinese comrade, Wong Kwan,
aged 72, will be held Saturday,
January 11 at 3 pm. from the
T. Edwards Co. Funera; Par-
lors, 2590 Granville Street (at
Tenth). Wong Kwan was a
farmer at Lulu Island during:
the 30 years he lived in
anada. :

Cc.
He was a member of ¢he ail
Canadian

well as the Chinese Red Army.
The Chinese Workers Protec-
tive Association and other or
ganizations will officiate at the
services in tribute to their
fallen comrade.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1947