Not all B.C. property

BY OBSERVER

Homeaqwners in B.C. are be-
coming more and more dis-
turbed -about the high taxes
they - pay, especially for
schools. Homeowners are pay
ing more than their share and
industrial and other com.
pafiieés are paying less than
theif share. This is affecting
our® chilren’s education as
ratepayers are starting to
turn. down school referen-
durmg> because they cannot
fin@the money to pay in-
creased taxes. The companies
betefit because lower taxes
means higher profits.

¢ situation came forcibly
ton t during a trip through
our wonderful rich interior.
At Merritt the homeowners’
and parents’ plight is pain-
fully clear.

Merritt, formerly a small
ranching and lumbering cen-
tre is now a sprawling centre
for trailer parks and motels.
Many families live in shacks,
basements, trailers and mo-
tels, and housing facilities can
only be described as _ sub-
standard. Schools also are
overcrowded. The great, in-
crease in population has been
caused by hundreds of men
moving there, with their fa-
milies, to work at the Craig-
mont Mine.

This rich copper mine was
started to produce copper
concentrate a year ago, and
now employs 800 men, and is
making a profit of about $1,
000,000 a month. In antici-
pation of this immense profit,
bankers and investors eagerly
put up millions to get the
mine. ready to produce. The
development was carefully
planned. No expense or effort
was spared with the result
that this is one of the most
efficient operations on this
continent.

In contrast with the care-
ful planning of everything to
do with the mine and mill
was the complete disregard
for accomodation for the mine
and’ mill workers. The popu-

lation of Merritt and sur-

rounding area doubled in the
last four years, but the em-
ployees were left to provide
their own shelter in the best
tradition of private enterprise.

In the schools

Education
costs to rise

4

activity”

cation costs in Canada
almost triple by 1970 to
'$3.6 billion, A. O. Aal-
‘Aberta’s minister of ed-
* last recently.

“<ietold the 39th annual
meeting of the Canadian Edu-
cation, Association in Edmon-

ton that education in Canada
ee jike a car climbing a’
s graded mountain road
and that there would be no
‘“legelling off and no coasting.
-Fromi 1954 to 1961, he said,
= iumber of students in
@ian schools had increas-
edfram 3,000,000 to 4,100,-
000. Pniversity enrolment in-
from .68,000 to 128,-
000:in. the same period while
the number of teachers had
risen from 115,000 to 167;-
000.

rooms have been partitioned
to make classrooms so that
students are deprived of a
place for physical education
and other activities.
According to the School
Act, the School Board could
operate kindergartens but the
Merritt School Board doesn’t
do so because it claims it
lacks rooms and money.
Likewise with Senior Ma-
tric. Parents who want to see
their children have a chance
to become teachers or some-
thing else which requires uni-
versity attendance, and who
can’t’ afford to send their

- children to U.B.C., have tried

to get Senior Matric classes
started. These also are the
responsibility of the School
Board. However, the District
Superintendent of Education
claims the .district lacks the
four thousand dollars needed
to buy books to bring library
up to standard, so nothing is
done. ;

Is there a connection be-
tween the very high profits
from the mine and the po-
vrty of the school district and
the sub-standard living ac-
comodation of the miners?

The answer, of course, is
‘YES’. If taxes can be kept
down, profits are larger. One
characteristic of-most wealthy
investors is their repititious
demand for reduction of
spending for such things as
education, health and social
welfare.

To get down to cases. The
assessed value for School tax-
ation for 1962, for that part
of the Merritt School District
outside of the village of Mer-
ritt is $9,280,000. The assessed
_value_is somewhat greater
than the value taxed, because
‘improvements are taxed on
only 75% of their value. It
may be estimated that the
total assessed value of the
rural part of the school dis-
trict is about $10,000,000. This
in turn means that the assess-
or values the total part of the
school district at twice this
amount, or about $20,000,000.

The rural area _ includes

small unincorporated settle-
ments such as Nicola, Lower

is taxed identically

Nicola, Brookmere, Conford
and many small and large
ranches and Craigmont mine;
and the current value of all
this property, according to
the provincial assessor is
$20,000,000. This is a very
interesting figure. While we
do not know the value of the
many small and large proper-
ties included we can deter-
mine the value of Craigmont
Mine. All its assets are in this
school district.

By using the method used
by Premier Bennett we find
the value of the mine as fol-
lows: We multiply the num-
ber of shares issued (5,077,275)
by the value per share on any
suitable date. The price of
the shares for the past year
has been between $16 and $21
and an average value is $18.
The value of the mine, then,
is $91,390,000. Obviously, the
assessof has not included any
but a small portion of this
$91,390,000 in making up an
assessment roll of which the
total value of the properties
listed is only $20,000,000.

The budget of the Merritt
School District for 1962 is
$514,232, which is raised by
a mill rate of 19.25. If Craig-
mont were assessed at its cor-
rect value, that is one-half of
its current value it would be
assessed at $45,685,000; and
if this were taxed as are the
other properties in the school
district, the tax would be
about $700,000. It is obvious
that this would permit the
budget to be doubled with no
increase in the mill rate and
thus provide necessary facil-
ities...

Naive homeowners, pin-
ning their faith on the assess-
ment Equalization Act, be-
lieve that property owners
small and large alike, pay
equal taxes. Nothing could be
further from the truth as has
been shown here. It is nec-
essary for homeowners all
over the province to check
assessment rolls in January,
especially of large properties:
If these are not properly
assessed at one-half the cur-
rent value, an appeal should
be made against the under-
assessed property.

children. The weapcens in.this war are putrescent TV programs
and movies, printed smut, and a consuming dedication to the
cult of violence and the politics of the cold-war.’’ These words
introduce a timely booklet by Mark Frank entitiled, Poison
for the Young, available at the People’s Co-op Bookstore in

Vencouver. Above is an illustration from the

booklet on

pocketbooks now on the market, The titles speak for them-

selves.

The Citizens Committee for Constitutional Liberties in th
U.S. has issued a booklet entitled — “End McCarranism: 0
This We Stand Together’. The booklet is available at the
People’s Co-op Bookstore. ;

Warm Wind of Peac ,

Listen!
You protected plants
in a green house.
Don’t you hear it?
Step outside into natural air.
There!
Do you hear the centuries roar,
their thunder
funneled in this concentrated hour?
—The predatory prehistoric wind of death.

Mastodons died
were buried in ice. :
Now the wind of war
shrieks
past corniced peaks of Capitals.
On top of pinnacles
inured to absolute zero,
monsters
helieve they are gods,
and from these frozen brains
machined words be
click
like falling icicles—
Science
stands to attention
while they test their incinerators.

On the continents in jungles
gigantic armies lie dormant,
but starvation is marching
and hunger
wrings a billion stomachs.
A hot breath rises
over the Amazon Basin,
when angry multitudes breathe
barometers fall!

The dying wind of imperialism
gasps
in terrified gusts
on the high knife-edged ridges of hardened rocky
but far far down
beneath isosceles peak::—
A new warm breeze.
Suddenly
in whirlpools of air
they are as flowers
swirling,
for on pavements
in front of Consulates
and Embassies
in great cities,
people are vigilant.

Peace is a little wind—
But everywhere
this wind is freshening.
in towns and Capitals
a warm human tide
we shall flow like flooded ri~:..
with banners reaching
from wall to wall
we shall sweep the streets—
The wind, | :
a protesting wave :
will rush
: crashing the corniced citadels of glass: |
and rushing waves of warmth will soar
pushing all Coldness in the World
beyond
the furthest nightly star.
Then every icy tower must fall
as glacial seracs in the Himalayan sun.

° ROGER PRENTICE = -™

Oct. 12, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—P3