NEWS AND NOTES

OCTOBER MEETING REPORT. At the October meeting the president, Rosemary Curley, updated members on recent activities. A letter had been received from Hon. Pat Binns indicating that regulations on non—returnable beverage containers will remain unchanged for the present. The society had earlier expressed its concern to Mr. Binns over a proposal to relax regulations on non-returnables. The Natural History Society has become a member of the Canadian Coalition for Acid Rain, an organization now lobbying in Washington for stricter control of acidic emissions. A small presentation was made to Anne Landry, who has resigned as vice-president of the NHS and as our representative on the Island Nature Trust in order to

travel and resume study. She is to be replaced on the Nature Trust by Geoff Hogan. A volunteer is currently being sought to chair the lunch committee for the winter meetings of the society.

The evening's program featured Edwin Knox, who presented an excellent commentary and selection of slides on the wild and natural beauty of the mountain country near Field, British Columbia. As a fitting complement to the spectacular western scenery, Edwin closed the evening with a series of slides showing his own favourite beautiful spots on P.E.I.

OLD PRINCETOWN ROAD TOUR. The Heritage Foundation and the Natural History Society had tried to arrange a tour in 1971 - the bicentennial of the laying out of this historic road. For various reasons it did not get off the ground at that time.

On October 3, 1981 we accomplished the walk-and-drive tour successfully, experiencing at first hand the difficulties it presented in the old days to the travelling public in its direct route over the steepest hills in the province. Despite the gloomy forecast of showers, at least 22 persons came along. It was good to see several from Hazel Grove and neighbouring communities. After 10 o'clock the clouds cleared away and the day became sunny and pleasantly warm. All except one walked the first mile to the first intersection, crossing a makeshift bridge without serious mishap. All but four walked the next 1% miles to the Millvale Road.

A somewhat similar detachment walked from South Granville Church along the Nature Trail to the Devil's Punchbowl Park. Five or six diehards had even refused to ride to the church. For them it was on foot all the way from Hazel Grove to the Punch Bowl - at least 45 miles. Meanwhile, others were busy transporting or being transported back to Hazel Grove to collect cars that had been left behind. Lunch at the park was a most welcome interlude. Most of the group disbanded after lunch, leaving three cars and about nine persons to proceed to Malpeque and the site of the once-proposed county seat - Princetown. This is a treeless area, windswept and quite uninhabited, sloping gently to Malpeque Bay. (by Margaret Mallett)

MEMBERSHIP DUES. Membership dues for 1982 will be welcome any time during the next three months. New members may join this fall and continue to be members to the end of 1982. Annual rates are as follows: Regular - $3.00, Student - $1.00, and Family - $4.00. Memberships may be purchased at meetings or by forwarding the appropriate fee to Margaret Mallett, 53 Fitzroy St., Charlottetown, ClA 1R4.

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NOVEMBER MEETING. On Nov. 3rd at 8 p.m. weatherman Bill Stafford will be talking about the nation's most popular topic of conversation — the weather, and what makes it so difficult to accurately predict the weather in this corner of the world. He has promised to answer lots of questions so come prepared with all those things you always wanted to know about

the weather but were afraid to ask. **********************i***************

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