Euarrliau

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Ian A. Burnett, Publisher and General Manager Frank Walker, Editor Member Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association Member of The Canadian Press Member Adult Bureau of Circulation: Branch offices at Summerside, Montague and Alberton Represented Nationally by: Thomson Newspaper: Advertising Service 14 King Street West, Toronto, Ont. 640 Cathcart S1... Montreal

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FRIDAY Jan. 3, 1953

The British ‘Liberals

Reports from London indicate that, although the, Conservative Govennment of Prime Minister Macmillan is, undoubtedly, unpopul- ar at the moment, the Labour Party -led by Mr. Hugh Gaitskell is -not by any means as well regarded as it used to be when the moderates were led by Mr. Clement Attlee and the left wingers by Mr. Aneurin Bevan. The left-wingers have no leader at present, the once fiery Bevan hav- ing made his peace with the Gait- skell faction in apparent prepara- tion for his elevation to the Foreign- Secretaryship in the event of a La- bour victory at the polls. As for

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the moderates, they seem to put up '_

with Mr. Gaitskell for the simple reason that no better leader appears to be in sight. But they don’t par- ticularly care for his parliamentary approachiwhich they seem to think reflects his intellectual background a little too much to suit the rank and file membership. V

It is pointed out by political analysts that while in most recent by-elections the Conservatives went

down to defeat, many former sup-“ porters of the party voted Liberal

rather than Labour. This suggests" that in a general election the Liber- al Party might very well come once more to the front as a major politi- cal force. It might even in due course —though probably not in the next election—be raised to’ governing status.

A resurgence of the British Liber- al Party would surely be a bit of historic justice. For it wa that party under such glittering names as Melbourne, Palmerston, Glad- stone, Campbell-Bannerman, As- quithl and Lloyd George which in the 19th century and the first de- cade or so of the 20th. guided the destiny of Britain and, on the whole,

_ guided it well. Sir Winston Churchill

lent such‘ lustre to the Conservative Party in the trying days of the Second World War that the achieve- ments of the Liberals—who held office more than three-fourths of the time prior to the First World

, War-—-have been hidden in the‘ re-

cords of the years. They were very great achievements, nevertheless. Free trade, popular education, the extension of the franchise, growth of religious tolerance and broad social reform on many fronts- these were Liberal movements. Noth- ing that has been done by any oth- er party has eclipsed their value to British society. Mr. Grimond, the present leader, .has a well-filled storehouse from which to draw in-

spiration. .. Posthumous Victory‘ The spirit of the late George

Bernard Shaw can rest a little easier these days, thanks to a new" ruling respecting his will by a Brit- ish Court.

It will be recalled that when the distinguished playwright died his will disclosed that he wanted 100,000 pounds ,of his estate-—-practically the whole of it—to be put in an‘ “alph- abet trust” for the purpose of simplifyinguthe alphabet by the add- ition of 14 letters. However, the will had been made so complex—per- haps designedly—that the court be- fore which it came for review could make no legal sense of it. The court therefore directed that the money should be given to various academies and museums mentioned in the will as beneficiaries in the event of an adverse ruling on the alphabet be- quest.

. This judgement was appealed by the Shaw Society, an organization

, dedicated to the proposition that the

great man could do no wrong and make no error. After much argu- ment by learned counsel for all par- ties to the litigation, the High Court suggested a compromise settlement whereby 8300 pounds will be taken from the estate for the new alph-

abet, the balance going to the other beneficiaries. This has been accept-, ed.

Crazy as it may sound to those who are quite satisfied with the A-B-C’s as they are, the proposal ‘has some staunch defenders, in- cluding Isaac Pitman, a descendant of the inventor of the shorthand system which bears his name and a linguistic expert -in his own right. Mr. Pitman and two other experts have now undertaken to see what

can be done about building a new-

alphabet in a pattern which they be- lieve would carry out the testator’s wishes. They have called for “new ideas”; the winner of the compet- ition will receive an award of 500 pounds. The next step will be the translation of the play “Androcles and the Lion’? into- the new alphabet and its distribution throughout the world. Those who see the play will, of course, see nothing new about it, since the words will sound just as they do now. "Readers, however, will be in for a treat—or "for a nightmare, according to individual reaction. The important thing is that Mr. Shaw's wishes will not be total- ly disregarded. He did enough for

the arts to be entitled to that cour tes:’ ’ -

Economic Forecast

Trade Minister Churchi1l’s fore- cast of the nation's economy in 1958 may be described as cautious but not pessimistic. Inc Mr. Churchi1l’s opinion the economy is strong but there is little evidence of forces

,which would put new strength in

exports or investments. In 1957 total employment and production moved upward, but by the end’ of the year ‘both had “edged downward”. In

-other words, there has been a “level-

ling of” process. Despite this, Mr. Churchill sees a rise of about 3 per cent in‘ the gross national product- value of goods and services—in-19- 58, which will bring it to about $30 billion. This, however, will come from higher prices rather than from "greater production—which, of course, is not economically ‘sound. Mr. Churchill explains the pre- sent “leve1ling off” by saying that Canadian has now reached the stage’ where, for -the time being, less resources are needed -for the building up of basic industries. The pressing need for the moment as the Minister sees it, is for‘ “a tremendous volume of

‘new capital facilities to supplement

the expansion which has taken place. In fact, the great availability

' of resources provides an opportun-

ity-' to get ahead with public im- provements ‘which have been lagging in recent years”. This would seem to imply that a big public building program is in the offing and per- haps a gradual slackening of the tightvmoney policy. ’

EDITORIAL NOTES I

Pig weed may be a nuisance to

farmers; but, historically, it has a

proud position. Archeologists at Syracuse University say they have proof that it isvthe oldest wild grain on the North American Cbntinent. Its age has been established at not less than 6800 years.

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Asked by a school inspector what school he ttended in an American mid-west wn, a’ first grade pupil replied: "The Marilyn Monroe

‘School, sir”. Actually, the schooh

was iamed Ift-er James ‘.Vlon1-oe, the fifth President of the United States. Thus do modern movie heroines take precedence over great statesmen of the past. -I: 4: 1-"

A good story of political gobble- dygook comes from Norman, Okla- homa. After explaining to a quest- ioner in a long drawn out speech the difference between allowing Rus- sian membership in the U.N. and barring Communist China, a cer- tain Senator inquired: “Did that answer your question?” “Well, not exactly”, the questioner replied, “but I would’t want you to repeat it”.

1- 1- :-

Two Alberta hunters used a “tro- -jan horse” in hunting geese. The two men made a wooden horse big enough so that when it was support- ed over their stooped bodies their legs took the place of the four legs of the horse. It fooled the geese, six of which were killed at close range. It was an ingenious scheme, but there was precious little sportsman- ship about it

industrial * development ’

ANOTHER NEW YEAR TOAST , I

OTTAWA REPORT -

Ottawa: Every Christmas rais- ,es a storm of discussion, here about the use of the postal frank by Members of Parliament. “- The postal regulation reads as follows:

“Letters and other mailable matter, except air mail and par- cel post, addressed to or by any Member of the Senate or of the House of Commons while at Ot- tawa, during any session of Par- liament or during the ten days immediately preceding or follow- ing a session of Parhament, may pass free of postage provided these letters and othre matter 'are posted at or addressed to the Senate or House of Commons and not to the private residence in ‘Ottawa of the member.”

That is quite clear. M-any mem- bers of Parliament keep up a vol- uminous V correspondence with their electons, and never lick a stamp from the time they arrive, in Ottawa until after their de- parture. Many Canadians are discouraged. from writing to their own or to other M.l/Ps because theyare not aware that they can send letter after letter of sug- gestion, commendation or critic- ism without affixing a five cent stamp to" it—-always provided that they address such letters to the M.P. at the House of Com- mons, Ottawa.

. ,.T0‘FR.ANK OR NOT

, But there is always the sugges- ' tion that it is in some way im- proper to use this franking pri- vilege for the wholesale distri- bution of Cl. .‘ -tmas cards. Every other Canadian has to pay for the cost of posting Christmas

, ' o 0 o h The Frcinking Privilege « By Patrick Nicholson Special Correspondent for The Guardian

greetings, runs this argument, so why should M.Ps slip out from under that expense, and shuck off the cost onto the shoulders of all other Canadians. For af- ter all, whether a letter is stam- ped or franked, it costs the same to transport and deliver it; so if the sender does not pay that cost then it imposes a burden on the general revenue of the federal government, which has to be met by taxing every Canadian. Against the background of this thinking, it is interesting to see what happens each Christmas. It is generally recognized that Conservative M.«P:s buy stamps‘ for their Christmas greetings, while Liberals use their frank. There are exceptions to this rule, naturally. Social Crediters most often buy stamps for their cards, while C.C.F. Members are div- ided fairly evenly between stam- pers and frankersi, P.M’s EXAMPLE’ — Prime Minister John Diefenba- ker sent out no less than 14,000 copies of his. card this Christ-

mas, each bearing 9. two cent,-

stamp. Thus at a personal cost to himself of $280 he showed that he considers it improper for MP3‘ to use. their “parliamen- tary business” ’ franking privilege for personal or propaganda pur- poses. -

, One of his Cabinet colleagues however arrived at a neat finan- cial compromise. This was app- ropriately Finance Minisicr Don- ald Fleming. He did not use his parliamentary frank, but neither did he buy a two cent stamp_ in at least one case; so the recip-

_The French city of Lyon is celebrating its 2,000th anniver- sary, and people of many lands are joining the year-long birth- day party. - -

In April, French President Rene Coty will personally open the 1958 Lyon fair. Highlights will include museum exhibits, lectures, relig- ious ceremonies, parades, “light

_ and sound” stereophonic shows,

and operas in Lyon’s archaic the- atre where Roman gladiators once fought.

In the eyes of the world, Lyon has long been overshadowed by its sister city, Paris. However, Lyon can boast that it was the glittering capital of Caesar's Gaul when Paris was a frontier town. Today Lyon, with a population of more than 470,000, rivals Marseille for the title of France’s second biggest city. ‘ CICERO’S FRIEND

Lyon is built on the river banks where the placid Saone joins the

Rhone tumbling from the Alps,

it CcTesé1r’s Gciiiic A/Col iicii P

National Geographic Society

the National Geographic Society says. The site was once occupied by the Segusians, a Gallic tribe. Ancient Phoenicians or Rhodians may also have settled there for a time. ' g.

In the year 43 B. C. Munatius Plancus, a friend of_ Cicero, es- tablished a Roman colony on the Fourviere hill, overlooking the site of modern Lyon. In 27 B.C., the emperor Augustus, on a visit to Gaul, made Lyon (then known at Lugdunum) his imperial resi- dence. -

Four great military highways met at Lugdunum. They led north to the English Channel, west to the ‘Bay of Biscay, south to the

Rhine. Magnificent temples, aque- ducts, a theatre, and a senate gave Lugdunum much of the gran- deur ofpagan Rome.

Under emperors Tiberius, Cali- gula, ‘and Claudius, ‘Lugdunum was the center for the Romaniza- tion of Gaul, including the sup-

The suggestion for an interna- tional food bank, as proposed by

lar proposal was ‘made almost 10 years ago by Lord Boyd-Orr, when he was head of the United Nations Food and Agricultural

now appear timely to revive the proposal.

A food bank into which surplus- es could be placed for distribu- tion to needy countries would have manifest advantages.

programs could be placed on an orderly basis. so that internation- al markets would be disrupted as little as possible. stand, large-scale gifts of food by one exporter can cause harm to its competitors. This has been the case with States gifts.

A World Food Bank,

Ottawa Citizen

| stant supply of food would be a- 3 vailable when they experience a

Prime Minister Diefenbaker atl shortage and when they cannot last week’s NATO meeting in Pa- j ris, deserves close study. A simi—«

afford to pay for imports - in brief, when they are faced with

distress conditions. Separate ne-'

gotiations with a number of in-

:‘dividual exporters would become j‘ unnecessary. Negotiations could

Organization. At the time, the: plan did not reach the stage of, detailed discussion among coun-: tries with food surpluses. It would ‘

For ; exporting countries, “give-away”

As matters -

be carried out with a single body, which-would have control over the food bank.

It would probably be best if a bank of this kind were adminis- tered through the United Nations. If it were handled by a regional alliance, such as NATO, it might become merely another weapon in the cold war, and in the re- sult add to international tensions instead of achieveing its real pur- pose, which would be to reduce friction and bring a degree of trust and confidence into the world. These details merit fur- ther discussion. In the meantime,

‘the principle behind a food bank

recent United

‘is sound. It now appears that, lfor the foreseeable future, cash

For the recipient nations, a con-1 markets will not be available for

Mediterranean, and east to the-

ient paid four cents “postage due” to receive greetings from Hon. Donald Fleming. . .

Due Liberal M.P. despatched his cards in the easiest of easy manners—perha.ps overcome by the burden of handling that chore himself iii the lean year of “Op- position” after enjoying the sten- ographic plenty of years in Gov- ernment. He did not write his name in his cards, butas he used his postal frank, it was pos- sible to decipher from his ini- tials on the envelope just who that anonymous well-wisher was.

Social Creditor George Hahn’s pretty card was stamped and postmarked in Vancouver. CL C. Fer Alistair Stewart was one of several M.Ps who used the “Un- icef” cards, in aid of, the United Nations children’: fund. Ex - Health Minister Paul Martin per- sonally wrote a message on his neat card. A,

‘And so, for another year, the -argument “To frank or not to frank” remains unsettled. But it is unusual now for Parliament to be in session just before Christ- mas, so generally the question does not .a.rise; for the frank is essentially a privilege which M. P's can use only during a ses- sion, or for the ten days iI'nn:ied- Tiately before or immediately fol- lowing a session. ‘

pression of the Druid religion and the imposition of the language and learning. of Rome.

Then tragedy struck Lugdunum. Fire laid waste the city A.D. 60,

burned. In a letter, the Stoic phil- osopher Seneca reported: “Lug- dunum, which was one of ‘the

in vain today; a single night suf- ficed for the disappearance of a vast city; it perished in less time -than it takes to tell the tale.” NERO AND RABELAIS

The emperor Nero contributed‘ heavily to the rebuilding of the city, and soon Lyon was flourish- ing again. As centuries rolled by, Christianity replaced the wor hip of Mars, Apollo, and Diana, w ich had succeeded the Druid religion. During the’ Renaissance the first book to be printed in the French language appeared in Lyon, and a local "doctor named Rabelais wrote two rollicking books now known all over the world:

Lyon’s great silk industry was thriving in the 1400’s. Other in- dustries have developed In re re- cently: cotton goods, chemicals, drugs, photographic supplies, automobiles, and airplane motors Today Lyon prides itself on being France’s chief trading and manu- facturing c.enter.

all the surplus food grown by the -exporting nations. Some form of

, to reduce surpluses. It seems be- ' yond dispute that an orderly pro- gram, based .-on international al- lotments, is better than one bas- ed on rivalry.

EXPEL GOVERNOR

PEIPING (Reuters)--Sha Wen Han, governor of China’s east coast province of Chevbi, has been dismissed, the Peiping People's Daily reported Wednesday. Sha and three of his senior aides had been branded “rightists”_and ex- pelled from the Communist party.

NEWSPAPERMAN DIES

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)—-Guil- lermo Perez de Arce, 84, chair- man of the board of the El Mer- curio newspapers, died Thursday. Before becoming chairman of the board he had served as director and general manager of the firm which publishes El Mercurio, San- tiago’s leading newspaper, and other papers in Santiago and Val- paraiso. -;

DUMB CHILDREN KILLED

PICAYUNE, Miss. (AP)—Four children, three of whom couldn’t walk or talk, were burned to death here Wednesday night when fire destroyed their home. A fifth child escaped. The par- ents, Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Windham, were not at home I when the fire broke out, author- lities said. Dead are Cleo. 10, Mary Ellen 8. John David. 6. all unable to walk or talk. and Betty Jean, who couldn’t talk.

I Many Homes Too "Hot And Too Dry

By Herman N. Bundesen, M.D.

WHEN the temperature drops outside, the temperature goes up inside. ‘

Many homemakers, peering at the plunging thermometer ‘on their open back porch, or hearing radio or television reports of a sub-zero cold wave, automatical- ly turn up the thermostat or heave -more coal on the fire.

HOT AND DRY

Too many of our homes are too hot and too dry during this cold weather!

Just remember. that you aren't going to spend all. your time in- side. You’ll have to go outdoors whether it’s to go to WOI‘k,_ to shop or merely to call the kids.

And even though you bundle up warmly, stepping from a room that is too warm into below freezing winds may be too great a change. Your body might suf- fer from the strain, especially if the procedure is repeated freq-

uently. So how warm should a home be kept during the winter

months ADEQUATE TEMPERATURE

Well, I think a high of 70 de- grees Fahrenheit is about right. Scientists and doctors have chec- ked into this matter pretty thor- oughly and they report this tem- perature is adequate for most homes.

Now, of course, a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit is not a steadfast rule.

If, for example, someone in the house is ill, or if. an elderly person feels chilly under such circumstances, a slightly higher temperature may be maintained, say up to 74 degrees, or so.

The bodies of aged persons, , you see, are not able to produce as much heat as those of healthy younger individuals.

CHILLED ROOM .

You probably will want to air

out your bedrooms. That’s fine,

a few years before Rome itself‘

show places of Gaul,_is sought for .

-‘giveaway program is inevitable,"

providing you don’t plan to sleep in a room thoroughly chilled by cold air pouring in through a wide open window.

The best bet is to open the bed-

room windows for 15 minutes be-

fore you go to bed. Then close them upon retiring. You’ll have plenty of fresh air and you'll be warm and comfortable, too. QUESTION AND ANSWER W.D.: I have extremely low blood pressure. Would it be harm-

ful for me to drink alcoholic bev-