I

VG.U A R"Dl AN

‘building and use of land in the different

V will take years to overcome satisfactorily.

; Industry and Resources and of the preced-

o

W with a view to providing for future ex-

, tainty whether the effective time was mid-

I-tlons laid down were voluntarily agreed to , by any Government responsible to the peo-

' new Province should be one of understand- , in

1,enjoy great benefits from

' being ‘a colony to partnership in one of the ’ great nations of the world. “Their bargain

tensions were reported begun or completed

“-covers 89 new industries established in this

*9”.

ltornlnl Dilly ill‘--umlod In Illll Authunud as rvbmncl (‘Inn loll Pool llnniutrni-ill. Ultnnn / 'Iho I-lurid Iduurdlln Imlilluhlng Cu. l’.dIIm nsml Mimuglu; turning, .1. u. ||..n..-n r\~nIII'IiAlO hulllnr, I":-mi Wollu-r.

Olllu

‘ "The Strongest Memory is Weaker Than the Weakest Ink."

CllARl.0'I‘1'l'."l'0WN, I-'I&lDA‘i', li.'l'|RCIl 31, I950

§aiegoardlng The Future

In the rush of \vinding up the Legisla- tive business bcfore prorogation, time was not available for discussion of one of the most interesting documents tabled during the session. This was the regulations under the provisions of the Town Planning Act. of which a summary appeared in yester- day's Guurdian. The conditions for the

zones surrounding the City, including the section from" the North River on the west side to the Hillsbom River on the cast, are set forth in detail and present a very com- nehensive planning scheme for the develop- ment of the whole area in accord with mod- ern 'plann'mg practice. As stated yesterday, the regulations are similar to those adopted in Brandon, Manitoba, which are recognized as among the best in the Dominion.

It is unfortunate that -our existing su- burban areas have been built up without scientific planning of any kind, in marked contrast to the well-laid-out streets of Charlottetown which,were the result of a survey in Governor Patterson's time nearly two centuries ago. The result has been to create a potential menace from unsanitary conditions in areas adjoining the City, which

The new planning regulations are the re- sult of a great deal of work by the en- gineering staffs of the present Department of

ing Department of Reconstruction, in co- operation with the staff of the Department of Health, all of which has been co-ordinated

pansion and development industrially as well as from the standpoint of residential, business, tourist. and community require- ments. They deserve to be studied very carefully by our legislators and citizens gen- erally. even though the House is no longer in session. In the years to come they may prove to be of vital importance.

Tenth Province

Tonight at midnight it will be a year since Newfoundland became Canada’s tenth Province. No one can say with any cer-

night in St. John's or midnight in Ottawa, which latter would bring the anniversary to April 1st in the new Province. The un- certainty whichclouds the date of union is part of the consequence of the perhaps un- seemly haste with which the union was ef- fected. At that time Newfoundland was still tmder a commission government and, of course, the’Parliament at Westminister re- garded its_part in the proceedings as purely formal, so that Ottawa was the only truly free agent in the transaction.

The whole responsibility for the terms of union must be borne by the Canadian Gov- ernment and Parliament. It is unrealistic for Ottawa ever to insist that the -condi-

ple of Newfoundland. That being so, the attitude of the Federal Government to the

and very rarely should the precise terms of union be quoted as an answer to her aspirations.

The Newfoundland people undoubtedly their year-old status. Canada's social legislation assists them in childhood. in old age, in sickness. in unemployment. They have come from

was probably highly advantageous, but never let us forget that it was not nefoti- nted on equal terms.

"lnthstrlal lianarla's" llovlow

Continued substantial expansion was the characteristic of Canadian manufacturing industries during 1949, as shown by the an- nual survey compiled by “‘Industrial' Can'- ada", publication of the Canadian Manu- facturers’ Association. New plants. or ex-

by over 300 already established manufac- turing concerns and in addition the survey

-country- Whlleover 50 per cent.of.tl1e “expansion was in Ontario,‘-and much of it In Quebec and7Al}pertI, the Marl ‘_I_t least inclu('led'.,‘Ig‘.lt.hough th less rohusdlian that

a timewhen the prospects for capital to exploit great natural resotuces made pos- sible returns from investment in the Mari- tlmes seem petty. That day of reckless squandering of resources is practically at an end, except in the matter of oil reserves. Today lnvestinent in the Maritimes should be just about as attractive as anywhere on earth.

EDIIURIAL NU||'S

Eight da’ys till Easter. C O I

Federal steel controls end today. The post-war emergency is presumably over in

yet another field.

The newly discovered metal, caliiornium decays at the rate of half its matter be- ing transformed by emission of alpha par- ticles in about forty-five minutes. It would seem to have the characteristic necessary l'or- a successful monetary metal, at least in Social Creditors‘ eyes.

0 I 0

If Mr. Donald Gordon could order 2,- 300,000 tons of Nova Scotia coal instead of the railway's usual 826,000 tons a year it would seem that what the Nova Scotia mines require in the future is salesmen who will be able to simulate strike condi- tions in the United States.

I O I

There used to be a popular ditty sung by the late Sir Harry Lauder entitled: “Be kind to yer nanesel, Jock!" “The war!’ may envy an‘ swear, but sae long as ye're in the saddle ma dear, Be kind to yer nanesel Jock.” Who will deny that our Provincial “Jocks" have not lived up to that ideal?

0

With the British House of Commons so evenly divided the importance of keeping every party member in good health has be- come almost a fetish. If the Labour Gov- ernment puts its faith in the public service, and the Opposition relies upon doctors in private practice, the stability of the Gov- ernment could well reflect the success or otherwise of State medicine. .

I 0

Housing made some progress on the Is- land last year according to the Bureau of Statistics. The number of homes completed in 1949 was 258 as compared with 230 the previous year. Starts on new homes were 375 compared with 225 in 1948. Dwelling houses under ‘construction at the end of the year numbered 292 as against the pre- vious year's 208. '

The American Government is seeking to restrict potato imports under tariff agreements to 1,000,000 bushels at‘ the rate of 37% cents duty per bushel instead of 15,000,000 bushels of table stock. With the present high advantage in volume enjoyed by American exporters of farm products as compared with American imports from this country, any such discriminatory altera- tion would almost certainly rebound to their overall disadvantage.

‘H. R. H. the Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ulster, Baron of Culloden, Colonel-in- Chief of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, born this date 1900. He married Lady Alice Montague-Douglas-Scott, daugh- ter of the Duke of Buicieuch and has two children, H. R. H. Prince William Henry Andrew Frederick, born Dec. 21, 1941, and I-I.R.l-I. Prince Richard Alexander Walter George, born Aug. 26, 1944. The Duke and his sons follow Princess Elizabeth and Prin- cess Margaret in the order of succession to the throne.

I I

About our diesels. Wonder if the Min- ister knows anything about them? Perhaps he thinks they are ‘already running be- cause they have been on service elsewhere for some considerable time. Wonder if he knows that aircraft jet engine principles are being applied to railway travel in Britain? British Railways expect to be running gas turbine locomotives towards the endof this year. Construction of this new- type engine is about to begin at Manchester. It will generate some 2,500 horse power and be capable of pulling a train weighing 650 tons at more than 80 m.p.h. ’

I C

We are approaching the end, of our Lenten fast days, and no doubt. those who religiously or zealously observed them will be repaid by the enjoyment of a period of

and one or two days a week through the rest of the year, are bound to pnive bene- ficlal.. At all events see what beiefit has accrued to the British people by ‘reason of their forced short commons in *loodstuff,. The health of the British people_.‘;.1II been well maintained despite the nuny ties ot"th0_ out an years. 'I‘hi-~tntl‘I0. eon- Ildorotl opinion of medical ism in nritun.

gain inmiuhoa ,

improved health. Forty days once I year,‘

l

Public

Slr.—'I‘he economic ch’Ios of the thirties had its inevitable effect on the potato grower and. incidental- ly. upon all of us-no matter what is our trade. calling or profession, because a large part of our econ- omy depended in this Province upon poutoes.

Farms were moruaged and in many cases lost; farm machinery became depleted and farm build- ings unbecoming lhc wholesome life of their occupants; crops were

either dumped or sold at a dis-

graceful price; credit was destroy- cd and the spirit of our farmers all but. broken: no adequate steps were taken to remedy the situa- tion uniil 1939, but then it was. ironically. not necessary. War changed all that—for a time. The problem during the war years was to maintain a high pro- duction of our product and yet not give in to the inflationary ten- dcncics created by war conditions. For the time. we could say the situation was succesfully handled. Production was high. markets were good. and ceiling prices were necessarily imposed so that oth- ers less fortunate would not pay too much i’or our gain. There was. too, a measure of orderly marketing under the Special Pro- ducts Board. '

Despite the ever-increasing cost of production and ceiling prices on sales. still we enjoyed a certain measure of prosperity. We re- newed our machinery and improv- ed our storage facilities and farm buildings.

And so it was at the end of the war that we looked forward to an era of peace and measured pros- perity for the primary producer as for all others. But the measur- ed prosperity was short lived for potato producers.

By the spring of I9-l9. the de- mands of the consumer markets which we could reach were falling off but production had maintain- ed ils high production level. In fact. it had increased by 17,000.- ODO bushels over the i947 crop. al- though but 4.000.000 of this in- crease was in the Maritimes. The Potato grower faced a serious loss. In anticipation of just. such a situation. the Government of Canada. in August of 1944 passed “The Agricultural Prices Support Act. 1944“ (Chap. 29. 8 George VI), an act to provide for the support of pricu§ of agriculture products during the transition from war to peace: and which the government at the present session of Parlia- mcnl proposes to make continu- ing‘through the peace.

Politics would seem to be in- evliablc in democratic govern- mciit: national and international politics brought about the applica- tion of the Agricultural Prices Support Act to our I948 potato crop and thus saved the day. Com- mon sense tells me so.

The Government was fnced with the moral obligation, in the inter- est of international goodwill. to restrain our shipping of potatoes to the U. S. A. With this market closed. the already sagging prices would have meant the near total ion of the balance of the crop on hand at that time last spring.

The government wishes to co- operate to the fullest extent be- cause it is the saline Minister and the same government which had conceived this Act as a solution.

No. It was and is because of the precarious position in which the government finds itself due to failure on our part.

Let me psi-aphrase for you Sec- tion 9 of the Act and you will readily see what I mean. This section sets out the powers given the Prices Support Board by Par- liament. to be exercised under thr- supervision of the Cabinet.

lst: This Board could have pur- chased the potatoes at its own price-—which must be an adeqiiate price to the growcr—and could have then sold or otherwise dis-

os-..=cl of them; or 2nd. The Board could have bought the potatoes of contract prices but only to the amount it needed to fill a con-. tract for potatoes which the Do- minion Government might have made with any other govern- ment; or 3rd. The Board had the authority to pay to the producers directly or through Inch sum as the board determined. the differ. encc between a price set by the board and the average price at which potatoes were sold in the market during a specified period of time as detennined by the board. _

Last year the board acted under Optlon ‘I—l.hll5 is. it. bought the po- tatoes itself Ind took them over. There was no alternative because under Option ll there was no other government with whom the Canadian government could get I contrnct of sale. and. in fact. the U, S. A. government took Ictlon to cut out even private contracts: and there was no poul-blilty to Ict under Option Ill becIuu t ere Wu no local agency let up in our production IreI through which the bond could effectively opsnto. Ind -there was no time to organ- ize such In agency. A

Such as it wu. the board‘: salon (under Option 1) in buying all the remoining crop was I life- baver to us. but none at us on moral principles It iefut ' could deny thst the plan. from the point of view of the 258 members of Por- llomont who represent people or the non-comm'erciI[ producing Inc who did not benefit but helped pay for it. wu not 100 per cent In. the national lnuroot.

' The plnn under Option lcouid not continue In I permniont cure. willie we could-IIil along striving for the nnnlni polslblo , oo- tlon knowing‘ out the II ‘It 0-I V . ‘» ,-busty:

«Wat!-.

Forum

ATO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING PRO

support with him lut ycsr Ii,tho time the programme wu announc- ed that we would not have price support this yeIr- under Option I. which I have been discussing.

That is why to this line, no sup- port prlce has been forthcoming from Ottawa. ‘ ' insistent Ind widespread requests. Ind despite the fact than we are now selling at I loss.

This brings me to a discussion of the present situation as regards the remainder of our I919 crop. ,

I am ll liberty to Icy that the! door on price support as of this date is not closed.

The situation is being watched by the Minister from day to day. Should the situation become as bad as it became about this time

American market to us. I would hsszsrd I gue.ss—-not I prediction —that. the good in the price sup- port programme under 0ption_l would overcome the evil in the plan. and notwithstanding the warning of the Miniaer to the conti-Ii-y given I you ago. there could possibly be I support price.

There is. too. always the possi- bility that we might obtain the benefits of I support. price under Option II—-that is. by the Cona- dian Government obtaining a con- tract for an export order with I foreign government and uying the necessary potatoes from us at a price higher than the sale price and the support. boIrd stand the loss. Again. I must make it clear that I am not making a predic- tion. I am merely suggesting the possibility.

It might be well to point. out at this stage of our discussion. and before proceeding to Option III and our future outlook.-—-the diffi- culties which stand in the way of selling our crop in American mar- kets if we were limited to Option I (the government taking them over as with the 1948 crop and trying to dispose of them) and Option II (the government buy- ing at I support price to sell to another government, the U. S. A. government. for example).

The newspaper reports of the visit of Mr. Brennan. Secretary of Agriculture of the U. S. to Ot- tawa on March 3rd. speculated that he would ask our government to stop further shipments of po- tsiou from Canada to the U. S. If he did. at least to this date our government has been sble to re- sist because the markets Ire still open. However. it is obvious that our government could never have obtained a contract from the Am- erican government for the sale to thcm of our potatoes as would be necessary under Option II; and it is equally obvious that. had the government support board taken over our potatoes under Option I as it did with the 1948 crop. then our government would hIve had to grant any request of the Am- erican Secretary of Agriculture should one have been made. to close of! shipments to the U. S.. because‘ the government 'would have owned the potatoes and could not use any excuse. such as re- straining the rights of individual shippers to ship their potatoes into the American market: under existing international trade agree- ments.

On the other hand. while there are still markets for our product-I. I ‘ s of Parlisme ‘ from oth- er than commercial production areas (that in. four or five mem- bers out of 362) would be very critical of the Cabinet and Min- ister. were any action to be taken now under Option I. which would i-esult in the government dumping the potatoes. when, if things were let be. our potntoes can still be marketed .prlvItely.

we must therefore hope for the best on the balsoce of our 1949 crop. and take some Ictlon to on- suro that we will not be left from year to year in the future to the same crisis as hu annually mark- ed our past.

With this I pass to the future which you will by now have guessed rests on Option III—l.h&t is. the creation of I locIl Igency of the producers themselves through which the government can operote to Iuppo . prices on potatoes. -

Now. while Option I refers to I bond or Igent which I e Prices Support may iecomlu. no pro- vlslon is mI,do for the setting up of such I bond in the producing Ire: or elsewhere other than Commodity Bonds which in fIct are nothing more than Iub-coin- mitteu of the -Prices Support Boord itself Ind appointed by it.

However, Option III is nothing more thIn the emergency re-enIct.- meat of III Act of the Federal Parliament poued in my of 1089 Ind it in in the tnnolotlon of this Act. known ll “rho Agricultural Products Co-Operative Moi-ketlng Act. 1930'’ into positive Icllon by the potato grower himself that lies our future progrels Ind

stability.

The Minister of Agriculture. Mr. 0lrt’|'l£l’.‘lIIl mode it plus tint. he II promised I you Igo thIt._ tho pototo growors would It- tom-pt co-operation under this Act II I preliminary to Icy penum- ‘ant. price support 'prolrImme: Inl he still bus: future Iid to us on this Isnulnpt on. . - ..

It is true thst Provlnoiol Illn- lotorl of Agriculture Ire. It - thil time. Iuunoliug in Ottawa to discuss re into operation Pi-ovinolo -Mar sting loci-do. We now have I Pi-ovlnclIl llsi-hotlrig Board but nothing in: been done underthlt Act II yet to solve ad!

Dl‘0blIlII.‘_,_ ' . . , - , ‘To my ,m_lnd.V It. is» still‘ im- 015?

. micro of iaIi-kI_tioI-tIotIlo0I-bl‘- MEI!!!‘ ~

I tics of pomo. growers undor,ll"_o

-with the «move Podorol co-On-i‘I‘tIvi‘?lioz -«ll III}.

o ‘w-

last year with the closing of the ‘

1

Notes By

Movie patrons In London, Paris and Rome, as well as Alberta fans, soon will be seeing how Alberta is attacking its coyote problem from the sir. Alarmed by persistent raids of these predators on Al- berta livestock. the Government ordered an aviation company to hunt them by plane. During February two planes engaged in “Operation Coyote" reported bag- ging 890 of the animals. Now, the story is being told on the screen.

I

should certainly give effective support to any Eo-operative effort undertaken by the majority of the potato-growers. including help in establishing the necessary machin- ery to make the plan work. and the imposition of some form of production control such as I have already suggested.

With this long——but I trust not too wedrisome—-background. I come to discuss the purpose. plan. and possible achievements of tho Co-Operative Marketing Act of 1939, which Ls Mr. Gardiiicr‘s pro- posed answer to our marketing problem: ,

In short. this Act calls for:

i. The organization of potato growers into co-operative associ- ations which would be local.

2. An agreement between such co-operative associations to be called a co-operative plan. which plan would ‘provide for the sale of the members potatoes through the co-operative so that there will be equal return to every member for the some quality product.

3. A contract btween the co- opeutlve Ind the member potato grower covering the Isle of that member-‘s potatoes to the co- opentivt