A special management-labor committee set up to press for
more shipping contracts for Vancouver failed to meet with

Prime Minister Diefenbaker during his visit here. Mayor |-

Tom Alsbury, head of the committee, said he “had no
opportunity to arrange a meeting” although he was in

Diefenbaker’s company for several hours. Photo shows
sbipbuilding scene.

Shrum Report concedes

Lee Briggs

was right

“The people of British Columbia can take little com-
fort in either the Shrum report or the appointment of a
provincial energy board,” Nigel Morgan, provincial leader
of the Labor-Progressive Pariy, said this week in an inter-
view with the Pacific Tribune.

“Incontrovertible evidence
forced Dr. Shrum to concede,
in a grudging and backhanded
manner, that H. Lee Briggs
Was correct in his charge that
the government was increasing
B.C. Power Commission debt
charges as part of the prepara-
tion for Premier Bennett’s
debt-free hoax,” Morgan con-
tinued.

“However, true to his long
fecord as a dyed-in-the-wool
reactionary, Shrum did every-
thing in. his power to soften
the effect of this concession,
as well as to discredit Briggs
by laying at his door respon-
sibility for numerous shori-
comings of government pro-
cedure and policy.

“The fact which stands out
clearly in the report, without
ever being said, is that govern-
ment policy under both Socred
and previous governments was
te give the least possible en-
couragement to the publicly-
owned Power Commission,
while . working - hand-in-glove
with the B.C. Electric mon-
opoly.

“The make-up of the new

energy board is the power
monopoly’s guarantee that
there will be no change in the
Social Credit policy of sup-
porting private interests at
the expense of public power.

“Shrum, as chairman, is a
BCE shareholder, and a close
associate of Bonner and
Graver... With him on the
board, in addition to civil serv-
ants “Keenleyside and Paget,
will be James Sinclair, mouth-
piece of the fish-packing inter-
ests, and Henry F. Angus, di-
rector of the B.C. Sugar mon-
opoly, whose attitude on the
power question may be judged
from his role, as chairman of
the Public Utilities Commis-
sion, in promoting private
monopoly control of natural
gas.

“With the large scale devel-
opment of our power resources
on the immediate future agen-
da,” Morgan. concluded, “it is
of the utmost urgency that the
people, through their organiza-
tions, take a direct hand in
provincial power policy.”

1 was

says Pritche

By BERT WHYTE

impressed by the people
tt on trip to

\

“What impressed me most on my first visit to the Soviet. Union? Two things: the
change that socialism has made in people; and the gigantic building program that is
changing the face of the cities. Of the two, I would say that the people astonished me

the most.” i

I -was interviewing Harold
Pritchett, city secretary of the
Labor-Progressive Party, who
has just returned to Vancou-
ver after spending two months
in the USSR.

Gigantic housing construc-

tion projects in Moscow inter-
ested the Canadian delegation
of which Pritchett was a part,
and he had some comments to
make.

“What is different about the | “When you look at the big

people?” I asked.
"First, the standard of edu-

cation,” said Pritchett. “I was |
tremendously. ~impressed, —but'

not too surprised, to see their
wonderful _kindergartens,
schools and universities.
when I visited-industrial planis
and picked out workers at ran-
dom to talk to, I found in many
cases that the workmen were
university graduates, scientists
and engineers. And the others
were all _studying, -in their
‘spare time — taking evening
courses to better their position
in socialist society.

“Secondly I found absolute
equality for ‘women.: They
worked on the same industrial
jobs and received .the same

scale of wages. Half the fore-

men, engineers, plant manag-
ers were women. They. took
this for granted — but it was
a revelation to me, and defin-
-ite proof that socialism has
achieved the full emancipation
of women.”

Pritchett spent several days
in Moscow and Leningrad, and
three weeks at a sanatorium
‘(or holiday rest resort) on the
Black Sea near Yalta.

Vancouver Island.

But,
| school, a post office, a shop-

| ping cenire and a theatre.

picture,-_it _is breathtaking,”

said Pritcheti. “In a short per-

iod of three months apartmenis

are constructed to house 800
to 900 families. _Along -with
that, there are kindergartens,
parks _and -playgrounds, -a

“But the builders are eager
for criticism. They asked me
to give my opinions on short-
comings in their building pro-
gram. I pointed .out the lack
of closet space in their new
apartments, the rough paint-
work, the inferior finishing. I
also made it clear that I con-
sidered these shortcomings
were minor things compared
to the scope of thetr construc-
tion program, and the terrific
job they are doing in provid-
ing adequate housing for their
people.”

Soviet people are adequately
clothed, but not stylishly
dressed, by our standards.
They are well-fed. ‘“‘Well-fed?”
said Pritchett. “‘That’s hardly
the right word for it. They eat
enormous amounts of good

food — we couldn’t compete
trencherrnen,

with them as

The 1959 whaling season may break the record set last year when 745 legal size
whales were taken plus an additional 29 shorts. Up to the beginning of August this

year 612 legal size whales were taken, made up of seven blues, 240 finbacks, 15 hump-
backs, 185 sei, and-165 sperms.

Photo shows whaling

though we did our valiant

best.”

along city streets; rubber-neck
ing like tourists everywhere.

"But you don’t. stroll when ~
wide ©
streets during rush hours,” said
car drivers —
are absolutely mad — thats

you cross Moscow’s

Pritchett. ‘‘Their

the only word for it. Even

Paris. taxi drivers are sane
comparison. When you cross 2 —
literally .

Moscow sireet you
take your life 'in your hands
Yet, strangely enough, there
-seem to be very few accidents.

At a sanatorium on #he
Black Sea coast the Canadians
rested, swam, exercised and
ate.
from many countries holiday-

ing at the numerous seaside re

sorts in the area.

“Our trip was an unforgel
table experience,” Pritchett
summed up. “We saw socialism
at _work, and liked what wé

saw. I would certainly like 10”

go back again in a few years
and wiiness the tremendous
advances I know they will

make under the Seven Year
Plan. Given peace — which all
ardently de-

Soviet citizens
sire — nothing will stop them

from achieving the highest liv-

ing standards in the world.”

station at Coal Harbor on-

|

August 28, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2

USSR

In Moscow and Leningrad —
the Canadians visited indust —
rial plants, schools, museums, ©
parks, libraries. And on many
occasions they simply strolled —

They also met tourists

1