P.‘.G E FUU R

THE GUARDIAN

Morning lJully (Firumli-il In H187) Authorized uii Si-i-iiiid (‘Inns .\l:ill. I'm»! Office lii-jiiirinu-nt, Ottziiiis.

The lllkilllll (iiiiirllliui Pulillulilng ('0. Editor and hliiiiiiglnig lrlri-i-u-r, J. ls. Hui-nett- Anni-halo l-lilllur, Frank \\'ill|lCI'.

"The Strongest Memory is Weaker Than the Weakest Ink"

MONDAY, SEPT. l9, 194B

CH All LOT'I‘E'I‘OWN.

Privy Council Appeals

While there appears to be general approval of Prime Minister St. Laurent's proposal to call a conference to discuss questions of constitu- tional autonomy between the Dominion and the Provinces, there is another matter dealing with constitutional rights, embodied in the Speech from the Throne, about which there is anything but unanimity of opinion. This is the proposal to make the present Supreme Court of Canada the iinal court of appeal for all Canadians. Actually it is not the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council in London that is in issue, but the ques- riori of what kind of Canadian Court should now tie set up to deliver final judgments.

For one thing, points out the Montreal Ga- retfe, the Supreme Court cf Canada is the crea- rion of the Federal Government, and subject to ‘ederal legislation. lt was formed by the Supreme Court Act, and this act may be amended at any rime and in any manner by a party majority it Ottawa. The difference here with'the Supreme Iourt of the United States is important; for the iupreme Court of the United States is created ind defined, not by the laws of the Federal Congress, but by the Constitution itself.

Until now the Privy Council in England has been performing a function that Canada has not made adequate arrangements to perform for herself. As the court of last resort, the Privy Council has been able to pass judgment upon :ases involving both the Federal Government and the Provinces, without in any wcry being depen- dent upon either. The need has been to consti- tute in .Canada a court capable of performing I similarly independent function.

The situation is made all the more serious by the way in which the Federal Government pro- ooses to make the existing Supreme Court the fi- ‘10l authority, without in any manner indicating whether it would be bound by the decisions de- livered down through the years by the Privy Council.

in properly asserting legal sovereignty in Canada, it is vitaly important that autonomous steps be taken to avoid leqal confusion or anxiety. For the security and effective regulation of its legaltsystem Canada at present locks two im- portant things. The first is an agreed method of amending the British North America Act, which i= virtually Canada's constitution. The second is on agreed formation of a court fitted to pass fin- al judgment in disputes that may arise out of that constitution.

it is important to note that the Canadian Bar Association, considering this issue upon a nation-wide and non-partisan basis, last year re- commended consultation with the Provincial councils of the Bar "on the conditions on which the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council will be approved by the Provinces." At this year's an- nual conference, which met at Banff only a few days ago, tiie Canadian Bar Association urged that any bill to make the Supreme Court of Ca- nada the court of last resort should contain pro- visions for the reorganization of the court; for the clarification of the standing of past decisions of the Privy Council; and for the provision of ample time "ta permit the public to give consid- eration . . . to the effect which the abolition may

‘ have upon Provincial and minority rights."

Mr. St. Laurent was present at the conven- tion of the Canadian Bar Association at which this resolution was passed. lt seems probable that he will carefully consider these serious recom- mendations of his legal colleagues, and the ser- ious national concern for the security and pres- tige of the law upon which their recommendations are based.

The Journal’s Advice

Premier Smallwood is reported to have said in a recent address that his highway policy in Newfoundland will be to have provincial highways built by using the now almost primitive tools of pickaxe and shovel, wheelbarrow and horse-cart. Modern road-building machinery will be barred because its use requires relatively few men and because it qets jcbs done too quickly. Road con- struction bv metlicds in vogue in grandfather's day would keep a much larger labor force em- ployed for a much longer time, Mr. Smallwood reasons. The Newfoundland Premier from his in- specticns of the United" States military bases in the province, is fully aware of the capacity of modern construction machinery and the speed with which it moves mountains and fills in valleys.

By no means is Mr. Smallwood alone in his antipathy to the use cf modern, labor-saving, "job-stealing" machinery, comments the Ottawa Journal. Tho worker's hatred of and battle against mechanization has been going on for upwards of a c:ntury, since mobs smashed machines in England's mills during the industrial Revolution. British miners continue to look on the great new coal-cutters developed in the United States with a jaundiced eye and so do the miners in Cape Breton. Not even the assurance of Labor Minister Mitchell on the floor of the House that he knew of no instance in Canada where machines led to unemployment altogether reassured the Nova Stations. _ _

Rejection cf the use of power machinery in the mines, on the farms and on the roads is the highway to'lowered production, fewer skills, a losing battle in competition with those who do use it, and in the long run to lower standards of_liv- ing. "Mr. Smallwood," concludes the Journal, "is coming to Ottawa within the next few days. He would do well to talk this mutter over with Mr. Mitchell ‘and with Reconstruction Minister Rob- ert Winters, boss of tho federal side of the Trans-Canada highway. Or better still, bo_ could discuss highway policy with his near. neighbor, Premier Walter Jiinds of Prince Edward Island when fine new highways ion streaking out across

i rld soil tlirini ii the agency of some. of the Mind ' ‘drool-construction ~ lviocliihlry

THE GUALDLAN, CHARLOTTTYPUWN

HlEOITORIAL NOTES

The proposed new auto meters are receiving general approval from store keepers. The real test will come later from the auto customers and visitors. "

I

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The advocates of a united Christendom seems to have small chance of achieving their goal but at least their efforts tend to bring about a clear- er knowledge of other communions.

U U U

Chain letters ore a nuisance that spring up everywhere periodically. A Japanese police in- spcctor seems to have found a remedy. He arrest» ed a sender for intimidation, to wit, "you will suffer misfortune unless you send out l2 letters

within Z4 hours."

a n t

The itcd States is altogether too self suf- ficient for trade. What the sterling area coun- tries, and Canada also, need to do is start a fad for things foreign. it could clear up the world's currency difficulties almost overnight.

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The British Ministry of Health reveals that there are l02,000 more people registered for the health scheme in Middlesex than the population of Middlesex. Could it be that the modern Eng- lishman is going back to the ancient fiction that almost any place on earth is in the county of Mid-dlesex?

w

The strictly limited proposal to give Parlia- ment authority to amend the constitution on a national level without taking power to infringe on Provincial rights would merely put Ottawa on a level with Provincial legislatures which have al- ways had the power to amend their own provin-

cial constitution.

c- iv

Now we'll soon see for ourselves if we have any brains. A machine which projects a picture of the brain onto a screen for study has been developed at the Burden Neurological institute Bristol. Electrodes are fitted to the head of a person suffering from a brain disorder and the screened picture can be studied by doctors.

I

The City of Saint John is producing asphalt at aprice "less than half" that formerly paid to private contractors, the Common Council was alvised by W. R. Godfrey, director of works. Mr. Godfrey submitted a report to the council ad- vising that some 20,000 tons of asphalt will be produced by the ChesleyStreet plant by the

end of the season.

A C. P. London bulletin says a Canadian who identified himself only as "J. Bland, Brigh- ton," wrote to the London News Chronicle that gambling has "catcn away En land's moral fibre." "To the gambling craze l altribute strikes, 'go slow’ scandals, the five-day week and poor output," Bland wrote. "A nation of gamblers does not deserve one dollar from the U.S.A. or Jack Canuck, and -your best frjcnds are those who tell you so quite frankly."

in

Arthur Rackiiam, British author and illus- trator born this date i867. He illustrated such famous works as Rip Van Winkle, Peter Pan, Un- dine, Mother Goqse, English Fairy Tales, Cinder- ella, etc, etc. His drawings were purchased for national and municipal collections at Barcelona, Vienna, Melbourne, Luxembourg, Paris, Tate Gal‘- lery London, etc.; was an Associate of the So- ciete Nationole Bcaux Arts, Paris.

I

The multitude who have long asked just what good there is in a mosquito have at lgst been answered. The Canadian Army has discover- ed, for what it is worth, that in the Arctic sum- mer mosquitoes actually cause men to work more efficiently. Time lost in slapping the pests, if the onslaught is not too severe, is more than made up for by annoyance and resulting tension which results in speeding up "the activity in pro- gness."

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Apparently the majority of the City Council- lors are of the opinion of the spell-binder who ex- claimed in reference to the cost of a socialization scheme for the benefit of succeeding generations -"Posterityl What has posterity done for us?" The city councillors are seemingly convinced in their own minds and pockets that it will be,time enough to discover -whether their civic pension plan is sound or otherwise when, and if, later a deficit occurs which will have to be piade good by future taxpayers.

w w

Mr. R. A. Bell who has resigned as National Director of the Conservative Association was well and favourably known here where he visited on different occasions. His position was not. an en- viable one. He was made the goat for all the mistakes and misfortunes of the organization as a whole, notwithstanding the fact that ways and means were followed which ho himself disapprov- ed. He was strongly in favour, for instance, of educating and developing Conservatism by news- papEFMp-ropaganda which could be absorbed by readers with their daily news. instead the powers- that-be chose to flood the mail on the eve of the election with heavy, undigestible campaign literature, the bulk of which never was read and speedily found its way to the furnace.

I

The Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, President cf Britain's Board of Trade, equivalent to Canada's Minister of Trade and Commerce; announced: Britain's trade gap -- the excess of imports over exports-was approximately {$8,600,000 ($234,- 400,000) in August, Harold Wilson, Board of Trade president, announced last night. This compares with a July gap of £44,700,000. Exports totalled iIi37,200,000 in August, Wilson said, and ie-exports of goods bought abroad reached £4,200,000. Exports to the United States were 53,300,000 off £500,000 from July. To Canada, the other main dollar-producing market, Britain sold goods in August worth £5,700,(Il0. This £3,300,000 off £560,000 from July. Despite intensi- fication of Britain's drive for exports, total solos abroad in August were £l37,200,00—tlmc per cont lm than in July. August imports wm £3,600,000 above thc figurI for July,

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Phiiiicy Money

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wmi COUNT¢RFCIT anus on nis aojiiose wuo wok four. or A on» serene PARTING Willi \T

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uow lllllLL LOOK LONG or one BEFOR€ ACCEPT~

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oust set ir mane, MEN, mo YOUR MONEY WILL Be READY uexr WEEK.’

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nieces NOT ivwcu LIKELIHOOD ruin iT WILL TURN our TO ac curios WORK

-STERS BECOME EY-PERTONCRIMINAL PRocsp- UllE FROM RGADING CRIME COMICS.

FOR Tue PRESENT or LEAST we who cousioec. A rizoeosrriou OF nus NATURE.

c0001, mu you“ come c been. oss Ten-wot,’

NOT

wo<i>ooc>oo¢>ooQ~s PUBLIC FORUM '

This column l: open to the discussion by uflrlelptlllfllllll of questions of Interest. The Guardian doc: not

ily endorse the opinion of, correspondent;

rlQOiX-Jki-cb ’_

PUBLICITY AND DE CENTRALIZATION

:--:.>-r-;i§-co<-s

Sir, _ This reader appreciated that cartoon 1n The Gunrdfen m hand (Sept. 10> showing Presid- ent MacMlllan (Dairy Farmers of Canada) fixing up a. recipe for a customer - P.E.1. Dairyman _ 1n the little matter of “How to oook- up more sales of dairy products" in the home market. It. was the economic rather than the political implications WhlCh appealed to me. I figure it s. constructive and epoctial decision of the primary producers to begin to "speak for themselves" to their customers across Canada - to invoke the un- matched power of modern advert- ising in the sale of milk, butter and other quality products.

Another point. of keen interest to me was that reference 1n your

Notes By The Way column, saying fn part. that “American education- lsts and scientists foresee ii city of ' the future that; is star-shaped and has a population of about. 50,000. This was the concensus of opinion acquired by Mr. Ken Cooper. pub- llc relations officer of the Saskat- chewan Teachers’ Federation while 1n Chicago recently . . . The aim of this type of decentralization would be to render atomic bomb attacks less profitable, This 1s all very well, from the point: of view of speculation, But 1f we are going to speculate about the future why not; B. future free of atomic bombs? _ Saskatoon Star-Phoenix.”

My reaction to the above idea. is that 1t. will be merely prudent for the nations to arrange their plans for future centres of population around the fact of the A-bomb menace, and leave speculation u! to the future 1n the hands of the free, near-free, and would-be-free nations. I very much like the gen- eral prlncfple of decentralization, In terms of political power, economic democracy. and the general wel- fare.

Under current conditions, it con- not. be successfully dented that a possible aggressor deciding on an aerial Pearl Harbor and fully "atomtzlng" Montreal, Tor- onto, Hamilton, Vancouver, Win- "JDEB. 8nd about a dozen of the next-risnkfng cities. would leave our industries in sorry shape. Of course the reverse ls equally true, if not more so; and this latter us- pect of the problem reduces the likelihood of any such disaster - because the men around Stalin are reallscs, even 1f their propaganda is often naive and somewhat ehild- ish. Nevertheless, the risks are very real. Industrial decentraliza- tion is a social principle which merits a high place 1n our nation- al policies.

I omfSfr, eta, "SMALLER CITIES”

EFFECT OF < NICOTINE

Sir _ Please allow me to refer to Rev, Wm. T. Mcrcei-‘e letter of Sept. 6th tn which he gives both liquor and tobacoo A bad name. It would be wail If other ministers would came out like Mr. yferoor and show their colours. ‘ Dr. EC. Principe in a recent. ar- ticle 1n the Christian Advocate under the title "Smoking and Bab- _1cs". sets forth some startling and little known facts. The writer re- fers to experiments with animals 1n recent you: which have proved that nicotine, the , loorio nlk0- itde of tobacco, consistently , ‘ nursing pupa and calves and that. it poisons the offspring while be- ing carried by the mother animals. Dr. Principe than goes on tn alto case after use when observation of human mothers and bobtoa points clearly to the some con- clusions. Doctors 1p the, Juwtch hospital tn Philadelphia found nie- ottne 1n the milk of nursing mot!» era. Many young women, Dr. Prin- clpe comments, ‘are ignorant: of

esc facts because then are cv- orage physicians who are not. aware of them themselves. _ _

The late Dr. A. Adolphus Knopf, internationally known tuberculosis specialist, 1s thus quotad: To avoid a child being constitutionally on- fcebled by nicotine pouonfng. and thus beoome more nlcoptttile to tuberculosis or pneumonia. I load wt all mothers not to oino .

Nw to got this great evil cllli out, what 1| the belt way to un-

many that. will out 1t out aftlr they rmi than not: rlvcn p, mob

GOING FOB WATER

The well was dry beside the door, Arid so we went with pail and can Across the fields behind the house To seek the brook 1f otlll it ran;

Not. 10th to have excuse to go,

Because the autumn eve was fair

(Though chill) because the fields W676 OUTS,

Arid by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as 1t tio meet the moon

That. slowly dawned behind LX695-

The barren bougha without leaves,

Without the birds, without- breeze.

But once within the wood. we d

pause

Like gnomes the: hid us from the ‘moon.

Ready to run to hiding now

With laughter when she. found us soon.

Each laid on other is staying hand

To listen ere we dared to look,

And in the hush we joined to make

We heard, we knew we heard the brook.

A note as 110m ‘a single place.

A slender tinkilng fall-that made Now drops that floated or.- the pool Like pearls. and now a silver blade.

-—Robert Ifi-ost

Charlottetown (m r. n. u

NOVA SCOTIA COPPERS

Old

Writing in the Prince Edward Is- land Register of Oct. 2, 182-1, a correspondent signing himself "Re- tailer" complains of being inun- dated, along with other Island merchants, with "shoals of base to- kens styled ‘Coppers’, which have of late been poured in upon us so profusely from the neighbour- ing Province of Nova Scotia."

These coins, he writes, "are a composition of copper and some baser metal, of which the former forms but a small component part, and even of this villainous com- pound we are cheated of consider- ably more than half the weight; five of the best of them barely weigh an ounce, whereas a half- penny of pure British copper, with- out any alloy, ought to weigh half an ounce.

“The importers can supply any person with these halfpence at u fin-thing each and still have a handsome profit, as they can be procured in abundance at Halifax. at one-fifth of their nominal value. No wonder then that we have been so inundated with them! But. it is fortunate that their circulation has received a check, ns there are several kegs of them tn town still lying unopened in the hands of the importers, for which 1t was intend- ed that our good silver should have been taken in exchange, and are thus Wlthdrawn‘from circula- tlon.

"The quantity diffused through- out. the Inland mun be very 0Q- slderable; but people in buslnesl are the principal sufferers, be- cause many of them. not foreseelng the COIIICQUCIICv, continued to take them In payment of their com- modities, until now, when no per- son will take them, they are left with the amount of several pounds upon their hands.

"And what are we to do with them? The farmer will not take them for his produce; the servant for his hire, or the landlord for his rent. Are we then b submit. (amply to the lou, or will the law isllow us any redress? Have we no remedy against the notorious Importer: of this worthless trash? As we cannot do welt without lrnntl change, perhaps some of your correspondent: rnlghc be able to lulgeic some expedient until we have l Legislative enactment on the lubject, which I hope to lee before many moons elapse."

just. glvo their testimony tn the Public Forum, their example might. lava others, and one after another doing it would form a mutual no- ctsl brotherhood chat ohmila have

o power for. good. I urn Bu‘, eta, ‘TOTAL ABSTAINER

OI‘ PAGAN ORIGIN

May Day celebrations stun dir- Iotly from the ancient Roman

high cuthorltlel lDd l! lhfi ‘Imlll

Food For The World‘

Back in 1898, just: as the econ- omist Malthus had done a century before, a prominent British scient- ist thrust the spectre of mass star- vation before the world.

At. the annual meeting of that. august. scientific body, the British Association, its president Sir W11- liam Crookes, recalled Malthus‘ prediction that. the world was fac- ing starvation because its popula- tion was multiplying at: a much taster rate than its produce food.

Malthus‘ fears had been upset by the opening of great new food- producing areas 1n the 19th cen- tury. But, said Sir William, this process of expansion was over. ‘Ptiere were no new worlds left for the production of food and by the 1930's the world would go hungry unless crop yields were raised.

Sir William had an answer to the problem - vastly increased use of fertilizer. It. was a good answer and it provided the foundation of the great nitrogen fertilizer indus-

try. But it; was the plant genetic- ist, not. the chemist, who ultimate- ly solved the problem,

By crass-breeding and developing new varieties to meet specific con- ditions, the geneticists brought. whole new empires of land into wheat; production. Early-maturing varieties of wheat, wheat that was drouth-resistant -— all these help- ed tio thrust the frontiers of ivheni. production back into areas never foreseen by Sir William.