Vol. 7No. 2:

Vancouver, B.C., Friday, January 9, 1948

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Five Cents

Seamen ask war-risk insurance

The SS_ Lake Okanagan, carrying the $1,200,000 arms cargo stranded at Vancouver when the charter of the SS Colima was cancelled, left Na- naimo on Monday after load- ing 900,000 feet of railway ties.

The vessel sailed, however, only after the Canadian Sea-

men’s Union, in the interest of —

her CSU crew, had called on the King government to pro- vide $10,000 life insurance and

other war risk compensations.

Referring to the initial stand taken by seamen in refusing to sail vessels carrying arms and munitions destined for Chiang Kai-shek’s government, CSU leaders at Montreal ‘issued a statement declaring:

“while seamen are to be commended for their fine stand in the fight for peace and against war, we feel that this

whole question of peace or war is one that must be fought for by the entire labor movement and all peace-loving Cana- dians.”

A wire to Federal Labor Minister Humphrey Mitchell asked him to guarantee $10,000 life insurance for each seamen and to give assurances “that seamen will be properly hos- pitalized and compensated if they are wounded or suffer

any ill effects as a result of the dangers involved in sailing this type of cargo.”

A press statement reported that seamen were being asked to sail the SS Ironside, tied up at Halifax as a result of protest, “after certain assur- ances are given by the govern- ment.”

This week new problems be- set Kuomintang officials ar-

t

ranging for Canadian arms shipments as reports from Singapore revealed. that har- bor workers had refused to handle the SS Oceanside, re- portedly carrying arms. to China, The boycott, announced by the Singapore Federation of Trade Unions, had earlier been imposed against the SS Cliffside, another Canadian ship carrying arms for Chiang Kai-shek’s regime.

ANTI-SEMITIC TRACTS BRING CLER

Prosecution of a case involving the dissemina- tion through the mails of scurrilous anti-Semitic leaflets and believed to be unique in provincial law history was laid over for one week when Thomas R;

Graham, 36-year-old clerk. appeared in Vancouver Police Court on Wednesday on a charge of seditious libel.

Graham received a second remand of one week when the court was informed that the crown was not ready to proceed with the prosecution.

In December, a number of trade unions and other organizations, and several publications, including the Pa- cific Tribune, received copies of an anti-Semitic leaflet, poorly mimeographed on foolscap paper and with correc- tions made in handwriting. The tract was unsigned.

On December 31, City Detectives Eric Hickens and ¢ Archie Plummer arrested Thomas P. Graham, whose ad- ; dress was given as 891 Broughton Street and who, it was learned by police, arrived in Vancouver from England less than six months ago, in July 1946. It is believed that he had planned to go to New Zealand.

Graham appeared in Vancouver Police Court the same day he was arrested and was remanded to January 7. He protested the adjournment, declaring that he was ready to proceed with the hearing and when asked if he wanted bail, he replied that he did not have any except his own word. Magistrate Mackenzie Matheson then ordered him to be held in Oakalla jail.

Labor protests death penalty

rain in Vancouver An echo of the civil strife in Greece was heard Trades and Labor Council this week as delegates voted to protest to the Greek consul at Ottawa against the Athens government's order imposing the death penalty on. all strikers. The motion was introduced by Division 101 of the Street Railwaymen's Union. : demo- Meanwhile, in Greece, the recent execution of nine more crats, including two soldiers of the Greek fascist army who were charged with spying for the guerillas, brings to 718 the number of those known to have died before firing squads since June, 1946, with thousands more confined in concentration camps on islands - off the Greek mainland. ee is : oa Picture at right shows Greek guerillas of those fig the ‘athenis dictatorship who have now established a free gov- ernment, controlling half the country, under General Markos

Vifiades.

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