INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC
BLAMED ON H-TES

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Volume 16 No. 25
<> 78

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{ FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1957

VANCOUVER, B.C. E
Authorised as second class mail by

the Post Office Department, Ottawa

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TIM BUCK ON ELECTIONS

Labor pressure can
win Tory promises

The outcome of the general election on June 10 was un-
Questionably Canada’s most dramatic electoral upset of this
century, The Liberal party which won 170 seats in 1953 has
finally come out of this election with 105 seats while the Pro-
8tessive Conservative party which won only 51 seats in 1953
Row has 109 seats, 56 of them taken directly from the Liberals.

But the ‘results were more
Pic a shattering defeat for
€ Liberals. Bearing in mind
wh Vagaries of election results
en the candidate with the
eee vote in a four-candi-
€ contest may be elected by

FISHERMEN SET TO TIE UP SATU

the votes of 26 percent of the
electors, the results still testify

that the monopoly of parlia-
ment that the two old parities

Continued on page 3
See CCF

I

LONDON

Is the influenza epidemic now sweeping through Asia “‘yet another evil conse-

quence”’ of the H-tests? N. W. Pirie, writing in the Lancet, leading British medical’

journal, suggests that it is not improbable. He points out that viruses, like more complex
organisms, undergo mutations through the effects of radiation and the ‘flu virus, a
new strain, could be the product of radiation released by nuclear tests.

The ’flu epidemic, although
it is caused by new relatively
mild virus, technically known
as a sub-strain of Type A in-
fluenza, has already caused
hundreds of deaths in the
Philippines and Hongkong.

Sir Macfarlane Burnet, Aus-
tralian expert on radiation and
viruses, said on his arrival in
London this week that he be-
lieved the epidemic would
cover the whole world before
it subsided.

He shared with British medi-
cal experts the opinion that
the ‘flu might spread to Eur-
ope, lie dormant during the
warm weather and build up
with colder weather in the
fall.

(In Vancouver, as in all ma-
jor European ports, federal
health inspectors are checking
all ships inbound from Asian
ports. The first suspected case,
a city man returning from
Hongkong, was isolated this
week awaiting report on tests
sent to federal health labora-
tories at Ottawa.

(Laboratories at Montreal
and Toronto are reported to
be making anti-’flu vaccine in
quantity.)

Will you help?

HE reduction in the size of the Pacific Tribune from sixteen
to eight pages is a decision forced on us by a long
accumulation of financial difficulties.

Ii is a decision made all the more difficult by the fact that
we have just concluded a successful financial drive in which
our readers reaffirmed their support by raising $16,000. But
the drive nonetheless fell $2,000 short of the $18,000 objective,
the very minimum we required. The result is that for the first
time in our history, we find ourselves still in debt at the con-
clusion of a drive to clear our indebtedness.

Reduction in the paper’s size for the summer months, ex-
cep: for the Canada Day and Labor Day issues, coupled with
staft reductions, as the only economies we have not yet made,
are emergency measures to enable the paper to continue. They
do not solve our problems nor do they remove the threat
to the paper’s existence.

For a labor paper there is only one answer: to extend the
circle of its influence and support by extending circulation.
To do this we earnestly appeal to every reader to help us.

Tom McEwen hag been placed in charged of our cam-
paign to promote the paper and win new readers. He can
succeed in this and the paper can continue to publish only,
if every reader becomes a volunteer canvasser for new readers.
In the tradition of the old Cotton’s Weekly, whose readers
never missed an opportunity to sign up a sew subscriber or
sell a paper, we need readers who will take it upon them-
selves to bring in the subs that mean life to us. Will. you
help in whatever way you can?

RDAY

Strikes in

By BERT WHYTE
toe than 40,000 B.C. work-
S may take strike action in
€ next few weeks to win
Wage demands.
ae Oodworkers, fishermen,
Ks benters and civil servants
Ra Currently completing pre-
ee for strike action.
Eee and sulphite workers are
: Ting up for a possible bat-
= as they begin negotiations
200 a new. agreement. Some
ia nurses at the Royal Colum-
ster OSpital in New Westmin-
May take a strike vote

follow!
nollowing a breakdown in
€gotiations,

9

offing may involve 4

Pounding picket lines at the
present time in three small
strikes are workers at Sim-
mons Mattress, warehousemen
at Canada Roof Products and
city electricians.

Having endorsed strike ac-
tion overwhelmingly in 2
union - conducted ballot, 30,-
000 coast IWA members will
take part June 26 in a gov-
ernment - supervised strike
vote. Strike action — probably
before July 1 — would shake
the entire economy of B.C.

Coast woodworkers, bucking

a “no wage offer” stand of 157
companies, are demanding a
20 percent pay hike on the
present basic rate of $1.59 an
hour. Despite a temporary
slump in lumber markets, the
big firms continue to ring up
record profits and the work-
ers know they can well afford
the wage boost.

Among the highest paid
workers only a decade ago,
woodworkers today are near
the bottom of the scale in B.C.
In the U.S. the IWA members
make almost 50 cents an hour
more for comparable work.

A strike in lumber would in-

0,000 B.C workers

of 40 cents over a two-year
period, six of the larger locals
turned thumbs down on the
offer and took a strike vote.
The four Valley locals — New

volve thousands of workers in
other industries — waterfront
workers, seamen, carpenters,
etc. Throughout the province
labor is prepared to give full

support to the IWA in the com-
ing battle.

Talks were continuing this
week in a last-ditch effort to
avoid a strike of 5,500 salmon
net fishermen scheduled to be-
gin Saturday. Unless the Fish-
eries Association of B.C. répre-
senting. operators, comes
through with a worthwhile
offer the fishermen will tie up.

Although 18 carpenters’ locals
in B.C. accepted a wage offer

Westminster, Chilliwack, Van-
couver and Mission — hold a
common agreement, and may
hit the bricks soon. If they
do strike against the 28 big
contractors involved in the dis-
pute, it will mean that many
major jobs will come to a halt,
for electricians, plumbers,
painters and other building

Continued on back page
See STRIKES

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