Housing of
autos before
people hit

Does housing of automobiles take
precedence over the housing of hu-
man beings? This is the question
raised by Vancouver Housing As-
sociation because of the action of
a callous city council in evicting
tenants in two downtown sites

which have been acquired for com-
mercial car parks.

Demolition of dwellings on one
of these sites is already under
way, despite the fact that evicted
tenants have no place to go.

“It has been suggested in justi-
fication for such action, that be-
cause signs offering rooms for rent
can be seen in downtown rooming
houses, there is now surplus hous-
ing accommodation available,” said
a VHA bulletin. “In the great ma-
jority of cases, such accommoda-
tion consists of sleeping rooms for
transients only, and the presence
of occasional vacancies in this
class of accommodation has ne
bearing on tlhe general ‘housing:
situation for family units.”

Continuation of rental controls is
essential to prevent catastrophic
consequences in Vancouver, the As-
sociation declares. If Ottawa allows
controls to lapse in Marth, 1950
the provincial government should
set up rental controls ‘in B.C. :

As an example of the probable
effects of decontro] on rents at
this time, VHA cites the following
recent cases:

Four small rooms in a decrepit
cabin ~block were rented for
$18 a month. The landlord, obtain-
ing possession, split them into
two “suites” of two rooms and
rented each for $7 a week, or a
total of $$60 a month.

A house over 40 years old, with
two bedrooms and stove heating,
was renting for $30 a month. On
becoming decontrolled, the rent
was raised to $90.

Commenting on housing condi-
tions in Vancouver, the VHA bul-
letin says:

“A survey of 1,000 lodging houses
by the city health department ear-
ly this year revealed the following
facts: 14.7 percent of all occupied
accommodation were basement or
attic rooms; 133 rooms had no win-
dow or skylight.”

Half the lodging houses contain-
ed children. There was an aver-
age of one bath or shower to every
eight persons. In ten percent of
the houses, there was only one toi-
let for 11 or more persons. In 20
percent of the cases the plumbing
was graded as poor, in 37% “per-
cent fain, while 32% percent of the
houses were in poor. structural
maintenance.”

' s
But not higher pay

—FIJI
Daily wage rates in the British-
owned Fiji islands run from 72c
for common laborers to $1.80 for
the highest paid manufacturing
skills and a $2.50 high in the con-
struction industry. The British
government, which has submitted
these facts to the UN, promises
that “the prevalence of .. . mal-
nutrition will shortly be subject
to research. Higher wages are
not mentioned as a possible cure.

HASTINGS EAST SERVICE

IRES COMMUTERS

delays which caused many of
them to miss connecting buses,
long-suffering passengers on a
BCElectric streetcar staged a
brief “sitdown strike” on Tuesday,
around midnight, this week.

gihe= Streetcar. ay-No,. 14 “east-
bound, was first held up at Hast-
ings and Clark drive when a
Burnaby Lake interurban broke
down, Passengers had to wait
20 minutes while a serviceman
was called. There was a further
delay in picking up passengers.
The streetcar had barely started

Exasperated by breakdowns and!up when there was a clatter from

something dragging underneath
and it ground to a stop again. A
how] of derision went up from
the jam-packed passengers.

At Exhibition Park, however,
the derision flared into anger
when the conductor announced
that the car was going no farther.
The cries went up. “Stay in your
seats”? “Don’t get off.” “Its a
fourteen; make him take us to
Boundary road.” Most of the pas-
sengers stayed on the car, while
an embarrassed motorman and
conductor tried to figure out what
to do. Finally, they resolved the

\

deadlock by turning the car and
turning out the lights, forcing
the still protesting passengers to
get off.

This outburst against the hated
transit monopoly is an indication
of what the BCElectric can ex-
pect from residents of the densely
populated East Vancouver areas
serviced by No. 13 and 14 street-
cars. While more favored (and
particularly Non-Partisan voting)
sections of the city have been
given new, if still overcrowded,
trolley and bus services, Vancou-
ver East residents complain that
their antiquated streetcar service

- BCElectric passengers stage ‘sitdown’

has become even worse.

Further, they claim, long-stand- —

ing discrimination against Van-
couver East is to be carried over
into the so-called transit deal,
which calls for continued servicing
of the Hastings area by street-
car when other areas have more
modern trolly and bus_ services.
Newer-type streetcars now used —
on the No. 10 and 11 runs are
to be transferred to the No. 13
and 14 lines, it is stated. Since
these are one-man cars, howevé!,
strict adherence to safety rules
will not mean any faster or bet —
ter service. :

Workers build braille map

izing the plan.

A special braille map of every machine, door and aisle in a
lock company plant in Anaheim, California, was built by fellow
workers for Frank Schwitzer, blind worker shown here memor-

investigation.

Told by corpoiation counsel Ar-
thur E. Lord that the practice of
charging service fees to prospect-
ive tenants contravenes WPTB reg-
ulations, which prohibit collection
of commissions, gratuities, fees,
for directly or indirectly renting
‘housing’ _ a¢commodation, | council
members put on a fine show of in-
dignation and instructed city soli-
citor Russell K. Baken to take the
matter up with Prices Board offi-
cials and report back to council.

Rent racketeers have been op-
erating openly in Vancouver for
years. Their office equipment, con-
sisting usually of a desk and a
couple of phones, is easily moved
from one location to another. Set-
ting up shop in second - storey
rooms on Granville, Robson or

other downtown streets, the rent
racketeer compiles a list of “rooms
and flats to let” from the daily

Council tardily probes
rental agency racket

Vancouver aldermen tardily opened their eyes this week and took
a look at Vancouver's flourishing rent racketeers. Prodded jnto action
by an indignant citizen who had been mulcted by one of the numerous
“rental agencies,” the city fathers got in a dither and ordered an

papers and is ready to go into
business,

House-hunting tenants are his
prey. For a sum of $5 or $3 he
provides them with an “exclusive
list” of places to rent. Some of the
bolder operators ask their clients
for a further fee if they manage
to find Suitable quarters. Most
clients are not aware that the rent
racketeer is breaking the law.

Workers saved ships

. —SHANGHAI
The Shanghai Seamen’s Union,
with 15,000 members, held’ its in-
augural meeting here this moth.
Yu Mei, director of Shanghai’s
port facilities, paid tribute to the
city’s maritime workers for sav-
ing more than 200,000 tons of
shipping from destruction by re-
treating Chiang Kai-shek troops
during fighting in the dock area
last May.

BUT MEETING ADJOURNED 15 MINUTES LATER

Charging Vancouver . Park
Board with “discrimination”
against their organization be-
cause of attempts to prevent
Effie Jones addressing a “peace
tea” in Stanley Park last May,
a. four-woman delegation from
the Women’s Committee for
Peace Action threw board mem-
‘ers into a tizzy last Monday

night.

Women’s protest cut short--board ‘busy’

Trying hard to duck the issue.
board members finally decided
they could do nothing because
park superintendent P. B. Stroy-
an was absent on holidays.

Argument then revolved
around whether the Peace Ac-
tion delegation should be allow-
ed to attend a closed meeting
of the board next week. Tom
Alsbury favored inviting the
delegation to attend, but was

voted down. It was agreed to
invite the Peace Action delega-
tion to be on hand, however.
and “stand by” in case someone
wanted to call them in.

' Board members then ended
the interview, explaining volub-
ly to the delegation that they
must deal with “a great deal
of business.” Fifteen minutes
later the board meeting adjourn-
ed.

admission to the bar.

party. His appeal will be heard
this month.

“We suggest that it is import-
ant for every lawyer to consider
his views on the matter, in the
light of his own public responsi-
bility for maintaining the honor
and integrity of his profession,”

the committee’s letter says.

“We are satisfied that the de-
cision of the Benchers was in-
fluenced by current newspaper
hysteria. It certainly does not
repfesent the traditional attitude
of the legal profession as_ protec-
tors of the rights and liberties
of the individual. Nor is it worthy
of the leaders of a learned pro-
fession, The public has a _ right
to expect better things from those

who pride themselves upon their
alleged attachment to freedom,
democracy and individual rights.

“It is interesting to contrast
the Benchers’ treatment of Mar-
tin with that’ recently accorded
Kenneth Farris, law = student
nephew of Senator J. W. deB.
Farris, who acted as counsel for
the Benchers against Martin.

“This Spring Farris Jr. failed
to pass four of his second-year
examinations in the law faculty
at UBC. The university therefore,
will not allow him to continue
his course. In such a situation,

720 W. Hastings
Upstairs

EAST END
TA XI

‘UNION DRIVERS

HA. 0334

Benchers’ action
in Martin, Farris —
cases contrasted —

All lawyers in British Columbia this week received a letter from
the Gordon Martin Committee reminding them of Martin’s appeal to
the Court of Appeal against action of the Benchers in refusing him

Martin was barred because he belonged to the Labor-Progressive

most students would have had
to pursue other studies. The
Benchers, however, have. seen

to permit Farris to continue his
course under their auspices. Ad-
mission to the Bar will no doubt
follow in due course.

“Should the Law _ Society con-

tinue to press its case agains
Martin because of his political —
beliefs it will, in our opinion, have ~
dishonored its tradition as an ™-
partial defender of the rights of
every citizen. Over and above ‘this
specific failure, it will. have es
tablished a dangerous precedent
whereby political, rather than :
ademic and moral criteria, will
have been established as the chief
requirements for admission to the
Bar.”

The letter concludes by urging
all lawyers to impress upon the
Law Society the need for it

to redeem itself in the eyes of

the public by withdrawing all
objections to the admission of
Martin to the Bar.

PLACE YOUR ORDER
NOW ;
for your supply of
SLAV NEW YEAR
GREETING CARDS >
For Your Xmas Holidays |

Beautiful, colorful 4
Slav designs and motifs
printed in four colors
on high quality paper
Price $1.20 per dozen
(envelopes included) ;
Special discount on quantity.
orders to organizations and
dealers or agents
($1.00 per dozen)
Put Your Orders in Immediately
For Delivery Before Oct. 31st

Individuals can purchase their
cards from their local branch,
or by sending their money in
advance directly to this address: |

CANADIAN SLAV

Fully 24-Hour COMMITTEE
nsured Service 42 RONCESVALLES AVE.
811 E. Hastings Vamcouver ; TORONTO, ONT.
en

Supplying Fishing
Jack Cooney, Mgr.

PACIFIC 9588.

FERRY MEAT MARKET.

119 EAST HASTINGS 3 Hi

VANCOUVER, B.C.
FREE DELIVERY
Boats Our Specialty

wy

4

Nite Calls GL. 1740L }

‘

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 30, 1949: — ‘PAGE

‘