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‘THE GUARDIAN

,Morning Dolly (Founded in 1887.. Authorised as Second Clasi Mail. Post Office Department. Ottswaf President, isn A. Burnett; Vice-President, Wm. It. Burnett; Secy.-Treos., G. M. Burnett: Editor und Msnnging Director, J. it. Burnett; Associate Editor Frank Walker. ‘

"The Strongest Memory is Weaker Th0" ' the Weakest Ink."

CHARLOTTETOH/N SATURDAY, FEB. 7. 1543

Second Confederation Bonspiel

Prince Edward Island will play host to visit- ing curlers from all over the Maritimes, Que- bec, Ontario and Newfoundland in the Second Confederation Bonspiel to be hold in Charlotte- town next week. Great plans have been made for this event and a full five-day programme has been arranged by enterprising committees.

The competitions last year were an un- qualified success and it has been due to popu- lar demand that a renewal of the Confedera- tion Banspiel has been undertaken.

Some 72 rinks will compete for the several trophies and individual prizes which go to the bonopiel winners. Best of all will be the new friendships formed and the old ones renewed as the rinks get together. In no other game is the spirit of sportsmanship and friendliness more pronounced.

During the course of the bonspiel, Island rinks will compete for the Provincial champion- ship. The winners will represent the Province in tho Dominion championship play in Calgary next March.

A new feature this year, which will be ap- preciated, is the opportunity afforded outsidc curlers of making scheduled visits to Summer- side and Montague. The clubs at these centres will act as hosts at Iuncheans and friendly games.

Curling has become one of the major win- tor sports in Canada. It is a far cry from the days when devotees of the game played on windswept rivers and ponds. Today modern arti- ficial ice plants abound and rinks have all the

. conveniences for players and spectators alike.

Good luck to the Confederation Bonspiel and may our visitors so enjoy our hospitality that they will be eager to return next year!

The Sales Tax

A total increaso of 21 points in the cost of living during tho past twelvo months-including only prices charged up to Jan. 2 and not taking into account the rising trends in prices of bacon. boof, horn and other meats, etc.—is announced at Ottawa. The index is now at a peak only surpassed by the all-time record established in post-war July, 1920.

But unfortunately the increase in the actual cost of tho necessities of lifo is not the whole story. There is also the fact that with every price boost, the iniquitous sight per cent sales tax, imposed on all the increases which are in- cIud-cd in the price of the finished articles, goes up too. The sales tax, in these limes of high prices, is proving a bonanza for the King Gov- ornment. With many prices double what they used to be, the consumer is paying compara- tively a sixteen per cent tax to what he paid formerly. And this notwithstanding that the Finance Minister anticipates another surplus this year of hundreds of millions of dollars. g

The worst feature of the sales tax is that it hits poorer people with the greatest severity. it is imposed an most al the necessities as well as the luxuries oi life, and the least the Govern- ment could do, by way o1 amelioration of pros- ont living costs is to reduce it to a minimum, or, batter still, wipe it out altogether. It is con~ ceded by all sound economists to be incquiyible; but unfortunately for the victims it is also the easiest of all taxes to collect, as the people, for the most part, either do not know or do not re- member that they are paying it on every pur- chase they make. Hence its popularity with the politicians, and the difficulty, once it_has been foisted on .u country, of having it removed. There should be enough public-spirited men on both sides in Parliament to refuse to condone this im- position, but the sad fact remains that very little is heard about it during budget debates.

Mr. Abiiotfs Statement

The Halifax Chronicle (Liberal) recalls that in the series of Dominion-Provincial conferences which bsgcn in August I945 and terminated in May 1946, more than ono provincial representa- tive posed to the Dominion. tho question: "In What direction are these Dominion proposals tending? Is their purpose to centralize a great part of fh-erevenues in Ottawa and thus give the central or Federal government a-measure of fin- ancial control far greater than was contemplated at the tim-a of Confederation?" Protagonists of the Dominion point of view were quick to deny that they had any such purpose in mind, but when pressed specifically to indicate what fields of taxation would be left to the provinces, the Dominion uthorities answered rather vaguely _ that they were not willing to give general com- mitmcnts. Under the British North America Act the inion is givep tho power to raise money by shy mods or system of taxation, whereas the pfbvinooo ors confined to direct taxation. If the

. .- Ddnvinioii, under its wider power, can enter any " ‘ffldoffidiroct taxation for o time, and then,

strjrstirlng from that field, dictate to tho in“! what u» they shall make of the in- iwsodiirovsnuol which fail to thorn, obviously _ gilomiiiion’: pnavror over, mncisld adminis- i f ttomo oii incro , a increas-

cbyrtincii-yoifliioi contemplated in m1. 5Chronlclo maintains, "is what Fin- iAbbott sought- do in his roccnt _ lop of omino- ‘ol mo). "it storm that ii of tho htiiiittor wore pushed

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to its logical conclusion, the Domin’ n, for cause alleged, might occupy every indi dual provin- cial field of direct taxation in succession for o month or so, and then, on each successive sur- render of each individual lax, designate the use to which its future collection must be applied by the provincz. Th: Chronicle concludes:

"Mr. Abbott's r:::nt statement of policy in this regard is full of dynamite. He should now indicate whether, in making it, he has the gan- eral support of his colleagues in the Dominion Cabinet, or whether he is merely stating his own personal view. In any event, his statement ought to serve as a warning to the Provinces and to all who are concerned with maintaining in this country the Federal system."

- TDIIURIAL NOTES ~

A proposed ncw hotel in Summerside, be- sides a reconstructed airport und armouries, and new houses will keep the town fairly busy the coming summer.

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The recent spate of Russian protests to the United States Government is probably only their reaction to the publication of documents rc the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact.

A i i‘ i Today General Eisenhower retires from his country's army. His services to the cause of freedom will long be remembered. Now he goes to teach the arts of peace.

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The long uwuitcd break in commodity prices in the United States is a healthy sign. Thpro is a practically unlimited demand for wheat and corn but hungry peoples just couldn't buy at in- flation prices.

i l t Canada is not very directly concerned with the Russian decree forbidding Russians to marry foreigners as only one Canadian is among those vainly trying to get their wives out of that coun- try. Their sympathy, however, is wholly with. the families striving to bejeunited. I v1 l

The Provincial Government's decision will be welcomed to provide transportation for chil- dren in school districts lacking a teacher. It is only bare justice to the youngsters and will provide a test of the practicability of providing such transportation‘ on’a ‘large scale.

In one day of war, Canada, Britain and the United States spent over $112,000,000. This money would give five million children one good meal a day for a whole ycar. Let us respond generously to tho Canadian Appeal for Chil- dren. I I I ‘I

Isn't it another revelation of the Prime Min- ister‘: party tactics to learn that the_ Wartime Prices and Trade Board has been authorized to contribute to the financing of the Women's Con- sumers’ League, which is supposed to be coin- paigning against it? "Biting the hand that feeds it," as it were!

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Dr. Harold Show strongly upholds the opin- ion of Dr. W. J. P. MacMiIlan that we are in- viting public health trouble by permitting in- discriminate erection of dwellings in the sub- urbs without proper sanitary arrangements. It should be one of the first duties of the new City Council to insist upon proper action being taken to prevent on epidemic outbreak in the vicinity.

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What about Government work in Charlotte- town? There was to be new naval barracks and Navy League headquarters. There was to be $1,000,000 for new Fcdaral office buildings, be- sides thc reconstruction of the Armouries. Evi- dently soincono is asleep or the switch, and the Government's largcssa is going past the City. Believe it or not, all the public works possible are necessary if we are to keep our young men. and even older men, in the Province. Once they are last, they may Ire lost" tor cver.

‘Charles Dickens, English novelist, born this date 1812; son of poor parents in Portsea, the originals of Mr. Micawber and Mrs. Nlckleby. His childhood, in its general outlinespmay be studied in the early chapters of David Copper- lield, in his picture of young Pip in Great Ex- pectations, and in some traits of Little Dambey. Dickens was scIl-ediicatcd, became a journal- ist, first as a parliamentary reporter, later as a writer of sketches, and finally as an editor and novelist: '”Orscs und dargs is some men's fancy. They're wittlcs and drink to me."

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According to Canadian Press, Mr. P. Hart- ley, I(.C., of Moncton, regional supervisor of the Unemployment Commission, reports that nearly $1,500,000 had bcos paid to unemployed persons in Halifax during_ the last two years. Benefits to jobless in Halifax amounted to $75,000 dur- ing January of this year. To unemployed in the Maritimes’ "depressed areas”—-Hallfax, Sydney and New Glasgow, N.S., the commission had paid benefits of $6,789,000 during 1946 and 1947. Mr. Hartley said a total of 19,000 jobless in tho Maritime Provinccs gave the district the highest percentage of uncmplaycd in Canada‘, and oply 2,200 jobs were available. Four per cent of Halifax’: population was without work!

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The great- l.loyd George's son, Earl Lloyd George, has arrived in New York on a lecturing tour. Ho does not hold a very high opinion of the British Labour Government, which in- cludes a number of his late father's former col- leagues. Ho says that the Labor Government is the "most inefficient and incompetent sincs the reign of the Stuarts." "Democracy in England today is ‘democrazy’ and ‘bureaucr zy'," ho said on his arrival aboard tho liner, isuw Amster- dom. Ho said that he had come to tho United Stats: "to sock, lilo, iibsrty and tho pursuit of happiness," which lio maintained could not bs found in Britain. Ho claims tho food problem in Britain is more iiciito than during tho war, and

that tho "one person in England’ qualified to cope with the present situation is "good old Winston." y

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QUARDIAN. Cl-IARLOTTETOWN

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When George Bernard Show in 1905 was selectlngn place for per- manent residence, he ivandered into a churchyard at Ayot St. Lawrence. near London. ivhcre there is u toomb bearing the iri- scrlptlon: "Jane fhersley,_i3orn 1815. Died uses. Her time was short." Shaw says his biographer, Hesketh Pearson, felt that. ii place where the inhabitants who bled at 80 were considered shortllved had the right. climpte for hlm. So he settled down — Krlcgs Key- notes:

Geoiogiato have "found Arctic shells on the lsotlam of the Gulf of Mexico, which pro 'es, according to Dr. Parker D. 'rask of the U. s. Geological survey. that the shoreline at. one time was only a few miles away, Tresk infers that. during the Ice Age enough water was locked on the continents in the form of glacial lcc sheets to lower the ocean leve] all over the world thousands of feet. The sea level did not rise to its present height until the great ice masses melted. This means that 25.000 to 800.000 year; ago the oceans were much smaller than they are now. reports The New York Times. In fact Trask thinks that there were no oceans at all-only small seas that filled the deeper portions of present ocean basins.

Regardless of the responsibility for that accident, such a crash serves to point. up the tough Job WHICH all railway engineers have throughout Canada in sub-zero weather. No matter what con- dltions prevail, the engineer has to see ahead. When the tralxi is traveling 40 to 50 miles an hour and Ire puts his head out the window of the cab into a. wind charged with cold nearly '10 de- grees below freezing point, he does not leave lt. out there long. More- over, ivhlle he does face that test. l-e has to contend with tho glare of snow; and a great deal of steam that. swirls around the engine at that. temperature doesn't make his observing task any easier. —- Fort. William flmes-Jaumal.

Comporstivoly soon most of the men who produce wood for the pulp mills will have working con- ditions similar to their fellow- Oanadlans in any other lines of industry. They will llve lri s homo with their families. A bus or truck will take them to tho scene of the cutting in the morn- lng-brlng them back for lunch at home at. noon; take them to and from the job for the afternoon shift. It will not be long now be- fore these men will be working on a production line, as machines do practically all the heavy work of sawing the trees into logs and of placing the logs on slelghs or trucks, the first. transportation step towards the mills. The happy- ga-lucky, transient bush ivorker will eventually lose his job, Ha may change his ways and join up with the mechanical crowd. but the day ls passing when he can work for two or three months, collect his pay and set out to the city for a celebration. - Fort. Williams Times-Journal.

Dld you over take a 100k l1- 11w Timmins skyline by night when the mercury has fallen down to about 25 below zero on the ther- mometer? Great gray plumes of wood smoke drift off at an angle conforming with the prevailing wind. These form a s’gna.l of the slnnrlarrl u! living in Timmins. 'I‘li<~ro iii-a more wood-burning. furnaces than lhcre are coni- burninpz. ‘flicre are lots 0f P6001? who prefer wood to coal in this tonii, “There's ri man over on Elm strrct who riiarlc a bit of money on lllt‘. stock market. ni- somewhere llllll thought he'd improvi- his sirintlarrl of living by putting on ol DUFTICI‘ m his furnace and keep- ing warm by merely touching a button or juggling a tbcu-nostat. He kept. warm all right, but the abrupt jump in 00st frcirn wood lo all was too much for lilm to take, despite his adequate income. Lust fall he had the all burner taken out and was seen several times in the bush around Timmins cutting carrlwood for‘ the wntci", w Tim- rnins Prcss.

in Loo Angelou a new wrinkle ‘in the gasoline buslnesswself-servlcc gas stations-had more than n few orthodox filling-station oper- rtors in n state of near panic. The new stations, flve of them, were doing a lnndofflce business, i:\vc'.it;.'-.'s=.:r hours a clay. Their prices on gasoline were live cents a gallon less than those of major all companies and ‘a tenth of a. cent. less than the nearest iride- pendent! 0n all they offered a saving cf live cents 3 quart. The stations occupy corner lots about an acre apiece at. busy in- tersections. They are of unique design. having eighteen to twenty pumps set an islands ‘which are lined up at. right angles to the street. Cars can pull in, in two rows twelve to fourteen abreast. Drivers can serve themselveflln s mlnuto and a hall or two min- utes at the orthodox filling station Those who need nlr or water or ivant their wilndshlialdis cleaned. drive to the has’?! the lot and

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help themselves. ve or six pretty girls ln sweaters d slacks roller skate from island to island making change and collecting. A supervisor in s glssuboath directs them b! loudspeaker and keeps on eye out for cuatomors violstlng the no- smoktng regulations. — Newsweek Msgozltis.

HUNGRY. N0 DOUBT ,

VIGIORIA -- (OP) — 1n rent- sls court. hero s lsndlsdyr ht. eviction of o young rnsrrtod couple charging that their child ohovrod up rubber mots. was too noisy and plucked onions from tho gsrdon. Judgment was curved.

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Tlils column is open ti-

the by oorro- sponaents of questions It Interest. The Charlottetown Guardian does not neoelsr ll; endoroe the opinion ri= oorrespondenn

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BEDEQUE CHURCH HISTORY

Sun-The History of the Church in Bedeque (by EBD.) ls being read avidly by Islanders at home and abroad. It gives readers o good grasp of the struggles of the early pioneers of the central part of this Province. "E.S.D." deserves credit for his great ivork. He (or she) appears to have the attri- butcs of n real historian. Such n work can auly be the result of painstaking and long continued research. It l: s commendable fact. that. many of our leading people are developing a penchant for history. 'I‘lie Guardian has a daily column on early Island lllSl/Oly dating from the British occupa- tion (I763 and the early 1800's). The Summerslde Journal had a series of articles ivrltten by Miss Carrie Holman an Indian llfe and lore, and the early French caipu- lzcrs (prior to the expulsion 1155). Miss ilaliriinfs opus is recorded and is being broadcast an Sunday nights. Lo! the poor Indian will soon have a softer earthly pilgrim- age than most of his white breth- ern, thanks to the mlnlstratlons of Judge Arsennult and n few other liumanltarlans.

It 1s qulte possible that only a small percentage of our people are cognizant of the fact. that. "Ile de St. Jean” (P. E. Island) was the first to be surveyed of all the British colonies tn North ‘m- erlca. by Major Holland (i764). Evidently lt. was the most. pram- lslng for cultivation of the ooll. We would all do well to read Har- vey's and Warburborfs histories of P.E.I.—and H. G. Wells’ Outlines of History, in order the better to judge the present and future by the pssb-oaaumlng, u the sov- iints tell us, that. human nature hasn't. changed basically since the clown of history.

I am, Sir, etc, KENSINGTON READER.

PLUMBER-S b WATER. SUPPLY

Sir, - The discussion now run- ning in. the Press regarding the condition of our water supply be- yond t-he Clty limits brings to light. but another reason in sup- port of my contention that all plumbers operating in this Prov- .nce should be required to hold a master plumbers license. Prince Edward Island ls the only Prov- ince in the Dominion where this is not required. Repeated efforts have been made since 1934 to fiave an Act, passed by the local legis- lature requiring all plumbers to pass an examination before receiv- ing‘a lrterisa to operate, Until something like this is done and only adequately trained. men ul- lcrived to make plumbing Installa- tions, It. will be impossible to avoid the potential dangers of such a situation as now confronts us.

The boring o1 bknd wells for sewage disposal ls a case in point

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ensed pliilllbbl‘ could be induced to make such on installation. Steel tanks often used for this purpose have praven themselves worse than useless. An example comes to mind: A farmer just. beyond the City lfinits pumped ground tripe w.tli his domestic pump situated just a mile and a quarter from n building where fox food had been prepared in which is blind well was being used fay the disposal of wash: matter.

Careless and incompetent plumb- ing exacts u frightful tall. From the September" issue of the Amer- iraii Journal of Public Health I quota llic following: “When a leak developed in a water pipe in n dnry, FUfnOIIOdy tied a dirty rag over the spot. to stem the flow- which it ilidn‘t. From the rag wafer dripped into pasteurized mill: being cooled, The result: nine bzibles died and fifteen others be- come citically ill." Too imuch care cannot be taken and too strict reg- ulations cannot be made for the promotion of safe and sound pr n- ciples and practices in plumbing.

I-am. Sir. eta. DAVID L. MscKlNNON Charlottetown.

PLEA FOR FAIR PLAY

Shy-J am n fisherman who un- like most. of our formers, have never had an old homestead left, me, neither have I had any "nost- egg" left. me by some dying aunt. or uncle. Like all fishermen, I've had to start from scratch and have followed fishing most all my llfe for a. living. About four years ago. a. boon came for the lobster fishermen. But what happened? The farmer got. otter what the fisherman was after, and the bet- ter it looked to the fisherman the better still it looked to the farm- er; whree years ago some of our farmers had all their families ox- capt their manher-ln-lows fishing for them. Some formers with from eighty to one hundred acres of land had from six to ten boats fishing for them whilo their hired farm hands stayed at. home and worked long hours to farm their land. while they themselves went fishing to make sure each of their boots had their lines run in the best suited ground. The result was that the market. was over-run with conned lobster. Lost. your while twine, lsthes, rope. ‘iota. soared even higher than previous yoors in prices the lobsters were vvortti- ioos. Doss this not amount to about the ssmo thing so o fisher- rosri going tn on“: flsrmor‘: ism; and attempting pon a crop What would hsppsnt Why tho fsrmorvvootd tots the shot-gun to lilm. The former pays tsxss on his isnd it to trao;_bot if osoh ftotierrnsn bod tho ssrno