/ DVERNON KELOWNA G BENO Wy REVELSTQKE %. s > o@ vO arrow ter RBEATON HEAD ie TROURGD. ES ARMSTRONG , zx ° z vi n Among proposals for new highway construction being promoted in the Okanagan and the Koot- enays is one for re-routing the Trans-Canada Highway through Jumbo Pass from Radium Hot Springs to Revelstoke. Muir presses highway program for Kootenays NELSON The Nelson Daily News recently’ published a letter from W. C. Muir of Nelson, claiming that hig hway construction in the Kootenay area was ignored in the recent brief submitted to Ottawa by the prov- incial government. * “This brief makes no mention lems,” wrote Muir, “in spite on the main lake, where our trans- Canada traffic and tourists become bottled up, and at times as much as five or six hours is required to travel the short distance of but a few miles. “In spite of the amount of pub- licity that has been given to Nel- of local and district highway prob- the embarrassing ferry situation existing son ferry, backing up local and trans-Canada traffic to a mile in length, presenting an urgent need for a bridge here, the provincial government brief fails to make this officially known to the federal government. Nelson Carpenters union calls for Bill of Rights , NELSON, B.C. H. W. Herridge, MP for Kootenay West, has written United Brother- hood of Carpenters and Joiners at Nelson supporting their resolutions asking construction of an all-Can- ada pipe line for natural gas, and construction of a new post office and federal buildings here. The Carpenters and Joiners had urged quick action on the two lat- ter projects to provide employ- ment in the district. Another resolution passed by the union asked the federal gov- ernment to draft a Bill of Rights “guaranteeing full and free op- portunity to jobs, trade and peace.” It condemned “mass layoffs . . . glutted warehouses and wheatfields . . . the ravages of hunger in spite of plenty” and noted that there “is no lack of billions for war armaments.” The Carpenters and Joiners also asked Ottawa to reject Bill 7 which is aimed “to deprive labor of its right to. strike, to picket, and to freedom of speech, and is a nega- tion of the democratic rights of the Canadian people.” te) DE PHL Yi OT | SEASON’S fr - and KEN SN Ti i i | TENE SAM, IONE, MARY, MICHEL, B.C. RUBLE GREETINGS | om RENDA ENGLISH MSEHT ELEM EU EME EE “In spite of the adversity of causing trans-Canada traffic to travel some 40 miles over a treach- erous, narrow, rought, winding dirt road, that gives even a veteran mountain driver the willies, there is no mention of the Rossland-Cas- cade link, nor the proposed new link. “Needless to say, the brief does not mention the proposed Salmo- Creston road, either, because the whole highway problem of the Kootenays is missing. “The brief does deal¢ with the Cariboo Road, Okanagan Highway, northern trans-Provincial, the Is- land Road, and so on. Therefore I think it only proper to question why the presssing highway prob- lems of the Kootenays are omitted. It can hardly be that our cabinet and local MLAs are not aware of Whe. gee: 5 ; “At this time, when unemploy- || ment is already a big problem, and thousands of jobs are in urgent demand, it seems to me that the honorable gentlemen who went to Ottawa with this brief should not only have mentioned Kootenay road problems, but should have pressed for the im- mediate commencement of these badly needed public projects on a federal-provincial cooperative basis.” Five ddys-five deaths Five Vancouver citizens died of domestic gas fumes in the first five days of 1954. During 1953 domestic gas. poison- ing killed 87 persons in the city. Of this number, 44 were classed as suicides. British immigrants Harold Fenton, 21, Royal Air \unable to find work Force veteran who came to Van- couver from England last August because the Canadian Immigration office in-London had told him that employers here “are crying for skilled and unskilled men,” bitterly told reporters here this week that he is only one of hundreds of new immigrants stranded here and unable to find work. “After I was here a month I got a job as a CPR callboy, but the job lasted just two months,” he said. “I paid 59 days unemploy- ment insurance, but was told that I hadn’t paid long enough to get any benefits now that I’m jobless. I’ve written 30 letters for jobs and haven’t received a single reply.” Fenton said that in England peo- ple are being told of the wonderful opportunities in Canada. “Nurses and other skilled people are told they are wanted here,” he said. “When they arrive they discover that there are no jobs. What are they to do?” * * * The London Daily Worker car- ried a story this week headlined “Jobs in Canada Lure Was Fraud” in*which it quoted a letter from a foundry worker who emigrated to Canada two years ago. The letter tells how the writer found three moulders, recently ar- rived from Britain, roaming the streets of Toronto on a cold night with nowhere to go. One of the men had come from Belfast, where, on the advice of a Canadian Im- migration officer, he had thrown up a £14 a week job. ‘ “He had been told there was plenty of work at good pay and when he arrived at Toronto thought he would step into a job,” said the letter. “But he was soon disillusioned. Unemployment officials here told him that moulders are walking the streets and so were 45,000 others in Toronto.” ' The letter continued: “The foundaries here recently closed down for good when 350 foundry workers were sacked. Big layoffs are planned for the New Year. “General Electric employees with seven years service and less are to be dismissed in January and 300 will go from Dominion, Radiator. “That’s the picture of the big factories and the smaller ones will follow suit. Engineering is slack- ening down too. “It seems that a slump is brew- ing. The shops are stocked up with consumer goods and there are all kinds of gimicks to get you to buy.” B.C. Packers Ltd. has agreed to give a 15-cent hourly wage boost to men employed at winter repair and maintenance work on three steam whalers tied up at B.C» Marine Shipyards, The Fish- erman reported this week. The increases were made retroactive to November 1, 1953. * * * Kimberley Mine-Mill local 651 has elected the following officers for 1954: President, R. C. Thompson, _ 728 votes to W. Booth’s 326; vice-president, E. Clemmer, 720, over K. Wocknitz, 296; financtal secretary, D. A. Gold, 799, over L. Loraas, 266; recording secre- ‘tary, H. M. Baker, 578, over A, Moss, 454; warden, J. Hunt, 737, over H. Krell, 286; conductor, W. Graham, 540, over D. Cook, 480; trustees. (first five elected), O. Jacobson, 910; J. Rollheiser, 901; F. Malone, 867; J. Patterson, 863; K. Dodd, 821; H. Traeger, 573. x * * The December 24 issue of ILWU Dispatcher, organ of the Interna- tional Longshormen and Ware- housemen’s |Union, publishes the following dispatch under a San Francisco dateline: “CIO: Steelworkers, on strike since December 2 against Ameri- can Can Company, were offered jobs through ILWU Local 6’s hir- ing hall. “At a strikers’ meeting in South San Francisco on December 3, a CIO representative told the strik- ers to ‘stay away from ILWU.’ When it was pointed out that the steelworkers had not voted the strike but had been pulled out and had a right to find what employ- ment they could, the CIO rep told them, ‘That’s what I mean. We don’t want you~ hanging around ILWU, getting Commie ideas like voting to strike.’ “Steelworkers have been getting available work through Local 6’s hiring halls.” ' * * * Mine-Mill’s annual district con- vention will open January 18 at Pender Auditorium, here. HONK OF UNION MADE MEN'S WEAR and FRIENDLY SERVICE \ "WHAT — HE TRIED TO.SELL VOU A SUIT THAT DIDNT FIT? 7RY THE HUB,-M7yBOY, ANO.CET ‘YOURS: WITH EASY. CREDIT” 45 EAST HASTINGS | VANCOUVER 4, B.C PACIFIC TRIBUNE = JANUARY 8, 1954 — PAGE 6